by AquaNerd | Dec 12, 2013 | Corals, Science
At the end of November, EcoTech Marine officially launched their much touted and highly anticipated ReefLink wireless hub to the mass of aquarium keepers who have been yearning for a way to control their Radion LED fixtures via a real-time wireless connection to the EcoSmart Live platform. In conjunction with this release, EcoTech Marine also gave their EcoSmart Live a much needed mobile-friendly app that would allow smartphone and tablet users to be able to access and control their ReefLink from anywhere in the world. Available to download for free from the iTunes, the EcoSmart Live app has multiple menus that allow the light from the Radion fixtures to be finely tuned with a simple swipe of a finger. An Android app is also in the works, and EcoTech Marine has announced that internal beta testing will start this week and that they will be accepting external beta testers for that platform in the weeks ahead. Getting back to the app itself, we first saw it at MACNA 2013 when the ReefLink was initially being debuted. The app was being displayed on an iPad, and it ran quite smoothly and was very easy and intuitive to use. With the app, users can adjust the Kelvin (color temperature) of the Radions that are in use, as well as customize the RGB output or tinker with the intensities of any one of the six individual color channels. Also seen in the app is a “Radiant Color” tab, which is a special lighting schedule designed to hit your tank with some heavy blues in the morning to make the corals pop before ramping up to full spectrum during the middle of the day, then back down to the blues for some easy evening viewing. The ReefLink retails for $199 and is currently availble to purchase at your closes EcoTech Marine authorized retailer. The EcoSmart Live app is free and immediately available to download from iTunes. by AquaNerd | Dec 11, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Industry, Photography, Science, Tanks
By: Daniel Leija The use of cell phones is nothing new in this hobby, as they’ve been a vital tool with applications that help us calculate how much calcium to dose in our tank and give us the ability to monitor and control our aquariums from afar. While these apps haven’t been around for too long, comparatively, something that has been in use for what seem like an eternity is cell phone cameras, and hobbyists are always improving aquarium photography with their phones. With the constant competition of who is the best and top dog of the smartphone industry, it is the camera in our phones that is always upgraded. For example, the iPhone 5 has an 8 megapixel camera. This year the iPhone 5s was released, and while it stayed with its 8 megapixel camera, it increased its aperture to f/2.4, allowing up to %33 more light into the camera. It also got really neat features like the burst mode allowing you to capture things in action with more success. It also got the slow-mo feature slowing videos down making for really neat shots of fish eating or swimming. While DSLR macro shots are relatively nice, we all know that is another hobby that gets expensive. Nothing is going to beat a nice crisp shot you get with a true macro lens attached to that awesome camera of your choice, but we have found great success snapping close up pictures of our tanks with our phones by Francis Yupangco | Dec 5, 2013 | Conservation, Corals, Science
Marine biologists in Australia have found the first evidence that the coral animal itself, not just its algal symbiont, may play an important role in regulating local climate. The researchers have shown that the coral animal makes dimethylsulphoniopropionate... by Francis Yupangco | Dec 3, 2013 | Conservation, Corals, Science
Researchers on the Great Barrier Reef are freezing coral sperm to help prevent some of the coral species from becoming extinct. Researchers are using human fertility processes to to cryo-preserve the reef. … by AquaNerd | Dec 1, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Science
Since Thanksgiving has morphed from a day of family and togetherness into one of almost pure shopping frenzy, we figured we would try to do a good rounding up of all the sweet deals from the aquarium equpiment and livestock retailers. There seems to be a lot more people involved in the sale festivities, and for the first time on a Black Friday/Cyber Monday, aquarist can enjoy some rather generous discounts on products from EcoTech Marine (via online rebate), Neptune Systems, and Reef Octopus…all of which normally have strict pricing guidelines that forces most vendors to keep their prices the same all year round. Below is our list of retailers and each of their deals spelled out in the best way we could. We tried to cover a wide array of retailers, but unfortunately there are just too many to list. List of retailer specials, in alphabetical order. AquaCave Sitewide discount to a very generous 15% this year with coupon code “BF15″. The sale excludes products from Kessil, EcoTech Marine, ProfiLux, Neptune Systems, Digital Aquatics, CoralVue, Reef Octopus, Maxspect, AquaIllumination, Vertex, Korallen Zucht, Speedwave, Sweetwater, Atlantic, and JBJ Commercial Chillers, and AquaCave gift certificates. In addition to the sitewide discounts, AquaCave also has several deeply discounted doorbusters. by AquaNerd | Nov 26, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Science
Way back in May, we caught wind of an underwater scene in the video game, Call of Duty: Ghosts, in which the playable characters get to dive into a luscious reef scene to engage the enemy. Being aquarists and video game junkies, we filed that into the back of our finds, only to get a fresh reminder of that scene over the weekend when playing Call of Duty. Armed with an Xbox One, which has been chewing up a lot of our spare time lately, we flew through each level, eventually stumbling upon this beautiful part of the game. Instantly reminded of the original article we wrote, we knew this would make for the perfect follow up. The scene opens at the mouth of a cave, in which your two-man team enters as they try to find a way to attack a special enemy ship from below. As your character exits the cave, you are greeted with tons of reef life that includes everything from corals and fish to sea urchins and sharks. The corals all look great, and the fish are surprisingly accurate in appearance. We spotted yellow tangs, copperband butterflyfish, powder blue tangs, regal angelfish, and heniochus butterflyfish. At a couple of different points, my character was attacked and killed by a shark, which obviously prompted the mission to start over.
