national geographic aquarium products at petsmart

stopped by petsmart this weekend and noticed a lot of new products under the national geographic brand. the canister filters caught my eye. they look exactly like my Eheim Ecco. flipped the box over and sure enough. Made in Germany. i'm guessing they're rebranding other products under the national geographic name. saw some heaters that look like Eheim Jagers too. also made in Germany. interesting.

The resemblance to eheim stuff is pretty evident
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I noticed that some of the Top fin stuff was being cleared out to make room for the new Nat. Geo. stuff. I picked up a 150 watt heater for $14.07. This is a great deal considering its a pretty open warranty. It basically says if you dont like it you can return it. I will save my receipt for sure but thats basically a lifetime warranty since they dont really stipulate a time frame.

I was purchasing some gravel and notice a nice small gravel by Nat. Geo. that was larger than sand but not as big as the normal Petsmart stuff. Was kind of interested in it but the Petsmart stuff was on sale so got it instead.

I would love to see a Nat. Geo. line of Classic Eheims, 2217 & 2262

DMD123 wrote:I would love to see a Nat. Geo. line of Classic Eheims, 2217 & 2262

me too. love my 2217 the most.

With this rebadged stuff there is a good possibility that we can get Eheim quality stuff at some good sale prices. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Those are not visually pleasing at all.

hobbyorobsession wrote:Those are not visually pleasing at all.

None of the Eheim stuff is to me looks good with the horrible green. The Nat. Geo stuff is at least black and looks more modern.

DMD123 wrote:

hobbyorobsession wrote:Those are not visually pleasing at all.

None of the Eheim stuff is to me looks good with the horrible green. The Nat. Geo stuff is at least black and looks more modern.

very true, but the work great. i also prefer the black nat geo color.

Wow my grammar is bad! I have been on the computer way too long today.   

I noticed these the other day. The Nat Geo canister is an exact copy of the Eheim Ecco. I wonder if these are going to be the same quality as Eheim branded stuff though.

I bought one of the powerheads today, it has an Eheim warranty card for it...

like i said, the back of the box says made in Germany. i'm guessing they're maid by eheim in their factory and rebranded for nat geo...........at least that's what i hope is going on.

I thought eheim moved from Germany to whereever, did they go back to Germany?

I wonder what their LEDs are like. they have a programmable one that starts at $80

The LED's say they have 'tubes'. This reminds me of the Aqueon design but these look like they have a better built case and not have the replaceable 'module' styling. Wonder who make this one....   

DMD123 wrote:The resemblance to eheim stuff is pretty evident
(SNIPIT)

I was purchasing some gravel and notice a nice small gravel by Nat. Geo. that was larger than sand but not as big as the normal Petsmart stuff. Was kind of interested in it but the Petsmart stuff was on sale so got it instead.

I actually bought that gravel/sand for my 25gal in my hotel room. I think i like it better than sand, and is a bit more dense then gravel. I mixed it with flourite so the plants have something a bit more natural to dig their roots i to. The only thing thats even remotely negative is it really needs to be hosed down. It has no residue, but seems to grasp onto air and floats to the surface. So if you get this stuff, spray it down as you put it in to avoid air bubbles and random clumps floating to the surface  

I saw one of the 'gravel' they had and it was a perfect size. Not really sand but just a bit bigger.

iandraco wrote:like i said, the back of the box says made in Germany.  i'm guessing they're maid by eheim in their factory and rebranded for nat geo...........at least that's what i hope is going on.

No, see the box was made in Germany. That's why the box is labeled as such. Nothing like high-quality German cardboard   

But seriously, if Eheim is selling the same quality equipment in a big box store... I like that!

bronzefighter wrote:

iandraco wrote:like i said, the back of the box says made in Germany.  i'm guessing they're maid by eheim in their factory and rebranded for nat geo...........at least that's what i hope is going on.

No, see the box was made in Germany. That's why the box is labeled as such. Nothing like high-quality German cardboard   

But seriously, if Eheim is selling the same quality equipment in a big box store... I like that!

Doesn't petco still sell eheim canister filters? I know they sell eheim skimmers and the eheim automatic feeders.
Maybe eheim is catering to petsmart customers under Nat Geo. Hah. Genius.

Yep different name makes for a no compete situation. This could work out good when it comes to sales.

DMD123 wrote:Yep different name makes for a no compete situation. This could work out good when it comes to sales.

Exactly. Even though it is an exact copy of an Ehiem Ecco, because it's a different SKU there is no way to price match against competitors. Though, it is funny that you can buy both an Eheim Ecco or the equivelent NatGeo CF filter on Petsmarts website.