by AquaNerd | Sep 23, 2013 | Equipment, Industry
Flipping and flopping magnetic algae scrapers are all the rage these days, giving hobbyists multiple options when cleaning their aquariums with a single device. The latest scraper to surface in this expansive hobby is this Magnetic Scraper from ZetLight, and it puts a slightly different twist to the otherwise straightforward process. Besides having the typical algae scrubbing pads and bayonet style scraping blade, the ZetLight version of the scraper also has a thick foam pad for finely polishing all those internal aquarium surfaces when heavy duty algae scraping just isn’t needed. Attached with velcro and held in place by the magnetic force, this thick pad helps significantly in the cleaning process. It provides a soft and very acrylic safe cleaning pad that will remove all of the dust-like algae without scratching the tank up, and glass aquariums will certainly benefit just as well. The Magnetic Scraper is quite powerful despite its size, as it is suitable for tanks with a wall thickness up to 18mm (nearly 3/4″). The Magnetic Scraper isn’t listed on the ZetLight sight, and we don’t have a retail price or a release date, but those details will emerge soon enough. by AquaNerd | Sep 20, 2013 | Equipment, Industry, MACNA
The CoralVue booth was full of all sorts of goodies at this year’s MACNA. Besides all of the sweet Maxspect and Elos products (some of which we haven’t even gotten to yet), they are showing off a brand new Sharkman controllable powerhead, which will be Reef Octopus’ flagship powerhead. Like many controllable powerheads on the market, the Sharkman produces a strong stream of water flow at a relavitvely low energy consumption. A two-channel controller allows users to modify the flow rates for a pair of pumps, which includes a pulse mode that can create significant wave action. Only one model was on demo at MACNA, which we believe is an 8,000 LPH (approximately 2100 gph) model, but it won’t be the only one available to this new line of controllable pumps. The Sharkman pumps aren’t wholly dissimilar to other powerheads on the market except in two key areas, their controller and their mounting system. The Sharkman Wave Controller is simple and easy to use, providing a digital readout for the selected speed of the pumps and a countdown timer for the food timer function. Both the speed of the pumps and the frequency of the pulse can be independently adjusted to allow for whatever sort of wave action is desired by AquaNerd | Sep 19, 2013 | Equipment, Industry
embedded content The Hydra FiftyTwo is the latest addition to the AquaIllumination lineup, and it’s their most promising fixture to date. Although we’ve already covered the details of the FiftyTwo in our original MACNA article, we couldn’t help but mention it again worth the recent release of this fun video. Highlighting all of the key features, this promo uses plenty of bright flashing lights and techno music to get the get the point across. As for all of the new features if the Hydra FiftyTwo, we just have to rehash the details of our original article. The fixture sports the same color offerings of the original Hydra, but spreads them out over a whopping 52 LEDs. The diodes are spread across four different clusters, with 13 diodes per cluster. The light gets focused into the tank with the same 80 degree optics seen in other AI modules, and 50 degree lenses are always there as an option for those deeper aquariums by AquaNerd | Sep 18, 2013 | Equipment, Industry, MACNA
The most anticipated new product that was announced at MACNA was undoubtedly the ReefLink from EcoTech Marine. This new gadget basically acts, and even sort of looks, like a wireless network router that allows users to communicate with the Radion LED fixture wirelessly and in real time. So, no more hooking up the computer to make changes to the light settings. Just hop on your favorite net connected mobile device and start tinkering away through the EcoSmart Live platform. EcoTech was showing off this new gadget with the help of an iPad, which responded beautifully to our every move. Users can navigate between three different screens (all shown below) to adjust the color and intensity of the fixture in various ways. The first tab we encounters was the “Kelvin” settings, which allowed us to pick the color of the light based on the color temperature scheme that mist hobbyists are all too familiar with. Just drag the tiny circular cursor around the color wheel to pick the setting you want. Similar to the “Kelvin” setting is the “RGB” selector by AquaNerd | Sep 18, 2013 | Equipment, Industry, Opinion
When it comes to moving water around, old salt buckets and plastic water jugs have always been the go to containers. But they have always had a significant downside. Lids would fall off, water would splash all over everything, and you might even accidentally drop one on your foot and cause some significant damage. Fortunately, Seachem has a terrific and very durable plastic container that eliminates all of those issues and then some. Called the HydroTote, this 5-gallon soft plastic jug can take all the abuse in the world and not spill a single drop of water. In fact, Seachem reps were literally dropping a HydroTote full of water from various heights, sometimes going as high as six feet or more. In each situation, we watched nervously as the HydroTote crashed to the ground. Normally, we’re not afraid of a little water
