by AquaNerd | Jul 3, 2014 | Science
Ahh, the teaser photo. My how we loath and love your existence. You reveal just enough information to get us talking, but not enough to satisfy our curiosities. AquaFX, a company that specializes in reverse osmosis filtration, is the latest company to employ this strategy, apparently signaling a new direction for their product offering. They are looking to break out of the category in which they’ve focused for so many years to now include other forms of water filtration. According to an image released on the company’s Facebook page, AquaFX will now be producing media reactors for aquarium use. As with any teaser, there was literally zero textual information associated with the image. Just a picture of a reverse flow (aka bottom up) media reactor that isn’t that dissimilar from other makes and models. by AquaNerd | Jun 30, 2014 | Science
We’ve been dying to make this announcement for almost three weeks now, and the cat is finally out of the bag. EcoTech Marine is releasing their all new XR15w Pro, and as the lingo suggests, this version of the Radion is smaller than its XR30w brethren, offering up a single LED cluster but all of the same awesome features. A total of 21 LEDs fill out the lone cluster, and it features a full spectrum output with a touch of UV that has been optimized for coral growth. In terms of size, the new XR15 measures just 7″ x 7″ with an expected light spread of roughly 20″ x 20″. This spread is achieved by the standard issue 80 degree TIR lens, though a 120 degree TIR lens will also be available for those needing just a bit more. The wider lenses give the XR15 a 24″ x 24″ light spread. The maximum PAR levels are around 825 with a peak power consumption of 85 watts. In typical EcoTech fashion, the XR15w Pro will be equipped with the same wireless technology that is found in other products of the brand. The on-board RF Module makes compatibility and communication seamless, letting the light work with other lighting and flow products via the ReefLink and EcoSmart Live software. by AquaNerd | Jun 26, 2014 | Science, Tanks
Aquariums stands are every bit as crucial to the overall process as the aquariums themselves. They provide a place to out the tank as well as store all of the other gear necessary to keep the tank functioning properly. For years, aquarists have relied on various types of wood to serve as the structure of the stand, with particle board (MDF) and plywood making up the largest portions. In more recent times, metal stands have been put into service, but these huge and heavy stands had to be built by welders and they often cost a small fortune. While these two options have generally been the only ones available, the guys at Primo Reef are looking to shake things up a bit by introducing their T-slotted aluminum stands. These metal stands are made from aluminum, a real shocker huh, but they don’t assemble like other metal stands. Instead, these stands piece together with aluminum tubing that is slotted down the middle and fastened together with nuts, bolts, and angles brackets. It’s a whole new way to look at aquarium stands, and they can be pieces together by any hobbyist with even the slightest amount of mechanical skill. As for the benefits of using these slotted aluminum stands, for one, they look pretty slick by AquaNerd | Jun 25, 2014 | Science, Tanks
When it comes to reef ready aquariums, hobbyists gernally have two choices. Those are to either accept the typical huge black box style internal overflows that dominates the pre-made reef ready aquariums, or to add one of a number of different custom overflows to an existing tank that wasn’t previously reef ready. For the latter option, aquarium keepers have been limited only by their imagination, but there are few pre-fabbed choices on the market short of those unreliable HOB overflows that we all know and hate. Thankfully, the crew at Custom Aquariums has a different take on the retrofit overflow design with their including this H2Overflow. This take on the overflow box uses a small surface skimming intake attached directly to PVC plumbing that runs out the back of the aquarium. The surface skimmer sits high enough in the water that it is hidden from sight by the trim of the aquarium (assuming your tank isn’t rimless), which also helps hide the water line. The H2Overflow can handle up to 1200 gallons per hour and it measures 7.25 inches long by a mere 1.75 inches wide. And to add to the versatility, the overflow can be positioned in numerous different ways, as it can rotate a full 180 degrees. To keep the trash out of your sump, and potentially out of the intake of your protein skimmer or return pump, a removable lid sits atop the H2Overflow. To prevent clogging, the teeth of the overflow are tapered so that as water levels and/ or flow rates increase, the overflow can handle more flow by AquaNerd | Jun 24, 2014 | Science
It’s unboxing time once again, with our newest toy to play with being the Atlatik Compact WiFi LED fixture from Orphek. This compact light is essentially a shorter version of the popular Orphek Atlantik, offering the same spectrum and efficience but packaged in a smaller light. It sports a whopping 42 emitters broken down into 8 different colors and spread across four channels of control. It has wireless capabilities built-in, allowing users to control each of those color channels via any Android powered device running the Orphek app. As for the colors offered in the fixture, Orphek uses 18000K white, 450nm blue, 470nm blue, 420nm – 6000K dual chip, 410nm – 18000K dual chip, 395nm – 6000K dual chip, and wide spectrum red. Of this offering a total of twelve LEDs are of the dual chip variety, a not too common feature of aquaruim LED lighting but one that opens up all sorts of color blending possibilites. Speaking of all the possibilities, with the use of the Orphek app and an Android device (tablet or phone), each of the channels on the Atlantik Compact can be individually controlled. The light features eight pre-installed programs, full dimmin capacity on all channels, the ability to create and store custom lighting programs, elaborate dawn-to-dusk programs, cloud simulator programs, and the ability to control up to 252 Atlantik fixtures simultaneously. Other benefits associated with the fixture and its software are the face that each light fixture is assigned its own IP address, aquariums can be located in different areas as long as they are in the range of the wireless router, and a built-in calendar lets users store up to eight programs per month
