The company KNOP was founded in 1990, originally only to produce foam fractionators for marine aquaria. The first production facility was in the cellar of a residential house and measured 16 square metres. The companie's constant growth due to broadening of the product range and a larger distribution area created much demand for space, and consequently the company frequently had to transfer to larger rooms. In the year 2000 the company finally moved to its own production facility with a 1.600 square metres building and a lot size of 8.000 square metres which allows further expansion in future. Aside of producing their own product line, KNOP is now also active in producing stuff for other companies in the aquarium market.

The KNOP products – technical aquarium goods and supplements – are not only distributed in Germany, but also in the whole European Union as well as in Japan, Australia, Israel, Brazil and the USA. Aside of those products, the company also offers a large variety of aquarium related books in several languages authored by the founder of the company, Daniel Knop.