by AquaNerd | Sep 25, 2013 | Equipment, Industry, MACNA
AquaticLife had a great showing at MACNA this year, and we managed to get some serious one on one time with a brand new, yet to be released product called the Halo. This LED pendant is still in the prototype phase, but it’s already fully functional and shows great promise. The fixture sports a single multi-chip LED that is loaded with three different controllable color channels. These are broken down into your typical blue, UV, and white emitters. Each channel is manually controllable via dials on the top of the pendant, and users can set up custom lighting schedules with the on-board timer. All in all, the Halo consumes somewhere around 90 watts total, with the LEDs chewing up about 75. While there is no release date or price that has been settled upon, we were told that AquaticLife is toying around with the idea of offering two different models by AquaNerd | Sep 24, 2013 | Equipment, Industry, MACNA
The guys from across the pond were out and about at MACNA this year showing off some great new gear from Giesemann. Of course, LED lighting is all the rage, so it was no surprise to see a booth full of gorgeous LED hardware. Included in that bunch was a black version of the sleek looking Teszla, which we really liked, along with a much longer version if the same light, called the Teszla-XT. The Teszla-XT has all of the same features of the standard Teszla model, but just packs in more of it. Instead of a single circuit board full if diodes, it has two, effectively doubling the length of the fixture. This boost in size allows it to cover larger tanks more effectively, and is great for those ultra deep (front to back) tanks. Priced at $799, the Teszla-XT has loads of features, including: 0-100% adjustable intensity on all three color channels Three different color LEDs: white, blue, and royal blue channel Built-in 24hr timer Built-in moonlight cycle Sunrise/sunset feature Computer interface Bluetooth remote control via tablet/PC/Smartphone (requires external kit) Active temperature control system As for the black model, none of the hardware is different from the white, standard sized Teszla, but that black housing sure does look great. It gives users just one more way to make their aquariums look their best, and the choice between iPod white (Giesemann calls it Polar White), anodized silver, and piano black should allow the Teszla to just about fit into any design scheme. Like the white and silver models, the black Teszla will retail for $499. by AquaNerd | Sep 23, 2013 | Equipment, Industry, MACNA
MACNA is always a playground for new products, and the high end aquarium equipment manufacturers from Elos didn’t disappoint. Although their typical vehicle for new product releases has traditionally been the internationally renowned aquarium show, Interzoo, they treated MACNA attendees to their latest developments in the LED world. Elos unveiled their Plant PRO while shacking up with CoralVue in one sprawling booth. CoralVue recently took over exclusive distributorship of the entire Elos line for North America, hence the announcement at this year’s show, but I digress. The new Planet PRO is absolutely packed with features, including impressive modularity of the LED components, programmable NFC tags (a first for the aquarium industry as far as we are aware), an on-board timer, WiFi connectivity, and Bluetooth. It’s basically got all of the most popular methods of wireless control, and the fixture looks oh so sexy to boot. The new Elos Planet PRO comes packed with 24 LEDs, but that number can be tripled (up to 72 LEDs total) by swapping out the LED strips. With this option, users can not only customize the intensity of the fixture, but they can also pick and choose which colors to use to give you the most control over how the aquarium looks. The color options include white, red, blue, green and UV. The fixture comes stock with 120 degree lenses, but they can be easily exchanged with a variety of available lenses that include 15, 25, or 80 degree optics 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 16, 2013 | Equipment, Industry, MACNA
One of the neatest products we’ve come across at MACNA is this set of ramping digital timers from Current USA. These timers are designed to be used with the LED strip light products from Current USA and Ecoxotic, though they will work for other brands. The Ramp Timers work by slowly increasing the brightness of the LEDs at a user programmed time, then slowly dimming the lights at a second time point at the end of the day. The timer ramps the light over a 15 minute period, slowly changing the brightness over a whopping 227 steps. That’s such a gradual change that you’ll probably never notice the change happening. Two models will be available, with one targeting single LED strips and the other being capable of handling two at once. Both are super simple to use and are run inline with the power connectors already on the strips. The retail price starts at $39.99 and we should start seeing these show up at fish stores in no time.
