ATB that skimmer company that completely redesigned their hang on back skimmer also released some of their other new skimmer designs. The Xtra tall skimmer which is 15″ in diameter rises to a height of 42″ inches tall. If you notice you can see the small redbull can for a relative size. A new airstar pump using a 4200 motor will be powering this tall beast. Also to is pictured is a XXL skimmer which as the name suggests is XXL, perfect for larger aquarium systems or systems in which you want your reef friends to be utterly jealous of you. We don’t have a release date or prices for these systems but we don’t expect any of these new protein skimmers to run on the cheap. Click on the more link to see the rest of the pictures.
That Red Sea Max 250, the 65 gallon all in on aquarium has been detailed even further then before. We got our hands on a PDF tech sheet that spills the guts on most everything. Thankfully what we reported earlier is right and we do still expect to see this aquarium sometime in November at the earliest. The size of the Max 250 is 38 x 21 x26.2″, the brochure also reports that just like the orginal Red Sea max, the Max 250 will come with a analogue timer, no digital timer in sight. The price like we mentioned a while back is still set to come in at $1499.
We are taking this all with a grain of salt but we are getting numerous reports that the online forum reefcentral has crashed. Some say that reefcentral has even pulled the plug for good, finally deciding to hang up the archaic technology and calling it quits. You be the judge is Reef Central up for you?
The Elos Manta bracket, which is the device that connects two Elos Epower metal halide units will be hitting the US shores with another size. The Manta bracket which already comes in the now standard 40cm size will now be available in a 60cm size as well. What prompted Elos to release a longer Manta bracket? Apprently Elos has more plans in store with their Elite LED lighting units which come with their Elos Mini aquariums and will be sold serperately too. Want supplemental actnic lighting with metal halide Epower lighting? Then you’ll want a manta. Have a larger tank? Then you’ll want the new extended 60cm size. A favorite among aquarists is placing metal halide’s 2 feet apart, it just so happens that 60cm translates into 23.62 inches. Seems those Italians aren’t so crazy after all. We don’t have pricing yet but we don’t expect that to be to far off.
It’s not everyday that a new marine and reef aquarium product manufacturer pops up on the scene but we are very excited about what we see on the AquaticLife website so far. It appears that their core line of products include water pumps, T5/Halide combination light fixtures, digital chemistry monitors and controllers and reverse osmosis units and components. From the looks of it, it appears that the company has an environmentally conscious objective by providing performance products with high efficiency benchmarks. Its hard to tell just by looking at pictures of products but it seems like their products could be very nice or very cheap, only time and testing will tell. We greatly look forward to seeing some of AquaticLife’s products in person, perhaps at the forthcoming Reef-A-Palooza, and we will be sure to let you know when we hear more about this spankin’ new aquarium product manufacturer.
Here at Reef Builders we are constantly looking for new and important information that we think you would be interested in. However, what are you intersted in seeing more of? The poll asks that exact question. Help us out by answering the question by selecting one answer below.
We know how it is, you’ve been busy reading our news coverage of the saltwater industry and haven’t had a chance to drop in and vote for your favorite tank. It’s October and we need your vote, and if you are interested you can submit your tank for next month’s voting too. Have you seen some of the prizes you can win? Trust us it’s worth entering.
These snailfish who happen to be the deepest living fish in existence were filmed for the first time ever in history. Scientists had to develop no camera technology to support 8,000 tons per square meter water pressure. Which can be likened to “1600 elephants standing on the roof of a mini car.” How far down in the ocean do you have to go to get that kind of pressure? Try 4.6 miles.
The scythe butterflyfish, Prognathodes falcifer is a rare coolwater fish which comes from the East Pacific Ocean in southern california, USA to Baja California, Mexico. Apparently, this species occur in shallower waters in the U.S. where it is not legal to collect but it occurs in really deep waters in Mexico where it is possible but more difficult to collect. This species hasen’t been collected since 2001 so it is exceedingly rare in captive aquaria. There is a single pair of this relatively local beauty which has resided at the Denver Downtown Aquarium for 7 years in which time they have grown to become exceptional specimens. The video below was filmed just last week, we hope it tickles that fish fancier funny bone.
GHL, the guys that bring you the Profilux have just confirmed that they are hard at work at their newest model to be named the GHL Profilux III. We don’t have specifc details on when the product will be close to a release date, its a long time from that even. We do know that it will be backwards compatiable with current hardware in the Profilux II systems. Straight from the horses mouth: “Everything that currently works on, or you can purchase now for the profiLux II will work with the profiLux III (backward engineering/compatibility)”. Nice.
A new pump design is making its round across the pond. Royal Exclusiv has upped the ante with 2200 RPM while sucking 1200 LPH worth of air. Not to shabby. This will be available as a dealer option, if you like what you see ask your dealer about ordering details. Royal Exclusive was kind enough to offer a price point of about $90 for it and it should be coming stateside early December. However, Royal Exclusive is also testing the devils at 4000 RPM pulling 3300 LPH. After your finished wiping all that drool off you’ll be in for a wait as we don’t expect the later to come forth to market until Mid 2009.
Well it appears that the batch of rare Amphiprion mcculochi which we reported on several weeks ago have not touched down in the U.S. but the few that do arrive will be sent out to those who pre-ordered this coolwater gem from Lord Howe Island. Although normally this fish is not available for collection, a clownfish zealot if Australia who goes by the name of “mr.blue” on the Marine Ornamental Fish and Invertebrate Breeder’s forum charmed officers at the park service office of Lord Howe Island to grant him a permit for collecting Mcculochi clownfish for breeding purposes. This extremely limited batch of clownfish are over valued for what they are, basically a black tomato clownfish and with a base price which is more than most people’s entire reef aquarium, don’t expect to see this one at your local LFS. You can read more about the “McCulochi Story” on MOFIB.
One of the most popular sources of live copepods for home reef aquarium is about to have us seeing double the density. Reef Nutrition, the manufacturer of unprocessed feeds for marine corals and fish has announced that they are doubling the density of their Tigger-Pods product. Whereas the 8oz bottle of Tigger-Pods used to contain just 1000 pods now the product will be packed with over 2000 live Tigriopus californicus. The new double-density copepod product will be replacing the previous bottle and it will cost the same as before. The new double-density bottles should already be on Reef Nutrition store shelves nationwide.
We try to only post about fish which are available for sale when they are exceptional specimens and this pair of Shaw’s boxfish is one of those deals. This coolwater boxfish is an exceptional beauty from Southern Australian waters. at $899, the pair of fish if not cheap, especially since the male hasn’t developed full adult coloration which should kick in when he reaches 6-8″ at full adult size. The image below shows what a studly male Shaw’s boxfish can look like in full adult garb. For more information about coolwater take a moment to visit Steve Weast’s webpages on his coolwater fish and invertebrate system.
This weekend, October 11-12th, the Southern California Marine Aquarium Society will host their fifth annual Reef-A-Palooza event at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa California. Out of humble beginnings in backyards and the Marine Depot parking lot, Reef-A-Palooza or “RAP” eventually moved to it’s current location at the fairgrounds where the event drew over 2000 attendees last year. This year the event will feature Jake Adams, ANthony Calfo, Charles Delbeek and Bob Fenner as speakers. As in years past attendees can expect tons of exhibitors and more nice and rare corals frags than you can shake a stick at. In contrast to many other shows around the country, RAP and other West Coast marine aquarium shows tend to be attended by many more Asian reef product manufacturers which typically don’t attend other national shows. We attended last year’s event and we were fortunate to see many new exciting products and corals and we fully expect this year to be just as rewarding. We’ll be there before the show opens so we’ll be sure to give you a great sneek peak before anyone else. Attendance is $10 per person per day or $15 for the entire weekend.
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