Hehehe... Dude, you opened a whole can o' worms on this one.
I totally get ya on not wanting to do it for the money and not wanting to post the recipe for the big guys to take. I was in the same situation a year ago with a water desalination technology I developed. I was only doing it to help others, especially those in need. I don't really care about the money. But a very wise business man explained to me that the best way to reach the largest market possible it through a business model where I DO make money (and hopefully a lot of it =P) as I will have the liquidity to drive my prices lower, produce more at a lower cost and reach a larger distribution network. I suggest you do the same... but do it for the love of the hobby and not for the money... make that a focus of your business plan (which you should write up!) and you will set yourself apart from everyone else.
That being said, I understand the arguements that others make about not knowing what goes into it. I specifically have a rule that I don't put anything into my tank that I don't know the ingedients of. This is the reason why I don't use Zeovit. I have no idea what Pohl puts into his magic sauces, so it doesn't touch my tank (especially when he charges a STUPID premium for them). This has actually driven me to research what his ingredients might be and I might actually be creating my own "zeovit" system this summer if I can find the time. Trust is a serious issue in this business, as it is in most industries.
It's tough. You need to find a balance between transparancy (to keep the trust of us scrutinizing customers) and keeping the secret to yourself. If anything else, you should let the product do the talking and people won't care what goes into it... hell, it could be pixie dust and people wouldn't care if it did the trick. Instead of having threads defending your product, have threads that promote it... tried and true testiments to how good it is. For example, I have a Candycane that have been suffering for months and I'm convinced that it's nutrition causing the problem. If I could easily get a hold of your product I'd gladly do a thread doing a trial of Acan+ on my corals and hopefully show a major rebound... problem is, I don't really have the time or money to spend trying to track it down and have it shipped to me (that's just the way customers are, unfortunately)...
Be a business for the common reefer and make the big guys afraid. Find that balance between transparancy and secrets and you'll succeed. Don't be defensive, be offensive.
PM me if you ever wanna talk shop.
Cheers and good luck dude!
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