Reefs.com - Saltwater Aquarium - Reef Aquarium

Aquatronica Light Sensor Lets You Control Equipment Day or Night

by | Apr 14, 2013 | Equipment

Aquarium controllers typically change the operation of specified aquarium equipment based on things like the time of day or a host of water parameters (pH, conductivity, or temperature for example). Such is the case for the Italy-based Aquatronica controllers as well, but they are adding one more input to their system for even more control options. Their new digital Light Sensor allows the Aquatronica controller to manipulate water pumps, filters, alarms, or any other piece of equipment attached to the system based on whether the lights are on or off. While many of these functions can be driven by time based controls, having the controller physically detect if the lights are off or on makes a huge difference, especially if you want to have certain safeguards in place to protect your valuable aquarium livestock. Aquarium controllers using time based controls usually work very well. But the drawback to using just this parameter to control various equipment is that the controller doesn’t actually know if the lights turn on or off. Sure, the controller can tell the lights to turn on at 10 am, but what if a bulb just never turns on? The light may have gone bad, or maybe it broke. That’s where a ight sensor comes in handy. If the lights are programmed to turn on, but don’t actually do so, you can receive an alarm letting you know of such a situation or you could preimptively program other equipment to respond to a lights out scenario. Or, say you have made some adjustments to the timers and made a mistake. Well, if the lights come on too soon, the Light Sensor would be able to detect that and adjust other pieces of equipment to appropriately respond to that situation. It’s just another form of control for the control freak aquarist in all of us, and it adds another layer of security to help protect our delicate aquarium systems. The Aquatronica Light Sensor (ACQ325) is compatible with the Tunze (ACQ460) and Koralia (ACQ455) modules for controlling their respective pumps. « Previous post Next post »

2013 to Bring Higher Prices for Elos Products

by | Dec 17, 2012 | Equipment

Here’s a bit of tough news for Elos fans. According the Elos USA, the Amercian distrubtion arm of the Italian aquarium equipment manufacturer, the prices on many of the items they offer will be seeing a price increase for 2013. The increases apparently come as no surprise though, at least for the guys at Elos. It is commonplace for prices to increase after Interzoo, the single largest pet trade show in the world. And while prices did increase on Elos products this year, the crew at Elos USA chose to eat those increases in favor of giving a break to customers. Unfortunately, the price increases mean that Elos USA won’t be offering any special holiday discounts for 2012 and they will be increasing the prices on “some of the Elos products sold in the US” for 2013. The price increases are expected to be anywhere between 7-10%, and Elos USA has decided to make the announcement now so that customers an take advantage of the prices as they are, before any increases. This is obviously an exceptional approach to providing customer service, especially in a time where money is tight for most companies. To view the full announcement, please visit the Elos USA blog .

Never Leave Your Couch Again!

by | May 24, 2012 | Eye Candy, Industry, Tanks

Interior design is not for the faint of heart and when it comes to the placement of an aquarium things can get even more complicated.  Reefers have always had to make a decision between the positioning of their tank and that of their TV, forced to choose between two...