Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blogtag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-18468072011-02-01T23:23:37-06:00A freshwater, saltwater, reef aquarium and aquatic ecology blog with beginner and advanced articles, led reef aquarium lighting info, aquarium product reviews, and more!TypePadSWC150 BMK Protein Skimmer Reviewtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0147e19fc1e6970b2011-02-01T23:23:37-06:002012-09-10T01:32:12-05:00Saltwater Connection has yet another product to be proud of. Their Xtreme Cone 120 and 160 are favorites among many aquarists, and the 150 BMK is going to be no different, I expect! Build Quality Upon opening of the box, I did not know what to expect since the retail value of the skimmer was much lower when compared to name brand skimmers. The 150 BMK was well packed without anything dangling or falling apart. The skimmer body is made of acrylic while the diffuser plate is made out of plastic. So what is given up? At the price level of this skimmer, you think to yourself "What am I sacrficing?" None to very little if anything. The skimmer utilizes a wedge pipe instead of a gate valve. The skimmer is unbelievably quiet. It does not compromise much for its price. Specifications For those on the market looking for a small footprint skimmer, the 150 BMK is 9” x 6.5”. It is 21” tall needing only 1/2” of clearance to remove the skimmate cup. The cup is easily detachable at the neck. The skimmer is intended to be in 7-10” water. Like its cone brother, the 150 BMK is using...Ryan BurdiosReview: Plusrite Metal Halide Bulbstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0147e0e16f39970b2011-01-25T15:50:47-06:002012-09-10T01:32:59-05:00Introduction: As with every hobby, there are the name brand products, and the poorly constructed knock offs. Products that are a fair combination of practicality and cost are few and far between. Yet, the cheaply made products often draw us in with their exorbitantly low prices. Affordableaquatic.com was generous enough to send me a lamp, and let me try it for myself. First Impression: They were packaged very professionally, a generous portion of bubble wrap was added, and the bulb was blemish free. When I set it up, and turned my fixture on, the color I saw impressed me. I had asked to receive a 20k bulb and what I got was close. While I expected somewhere between 12-15k for the bulb, it ended up being very close to the "crisp blue" that many hobbyists, such as myself, like. Left: Metal halide bulb 20k Right: Standard T-5 fixture with 12k bulbs. The Good: The price, at $21 plus a little more for shipping, they are one of the cheapest metal halide lamps out there. For the price they perform well. They come in both base types, and two different Kelvin ratings. The Bad: After a week of running the lamp,...Kyle PhillipsAvast Marine Top-Down Porthole Reviewtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0133f64b7546970b2010-11-22T14:55:36-06:002012-09-10T18:53:50-05:00Avast Marine gracefully sent us their new Top-Down Porthole for review. It was designed along with the expertise of Tony Vargas, a reef aquarium expert. The Porthole attaches directly to the lenses of DSLR cameras via three thumbscrews. It even fits some point and shoots. Dimensions The inner diameter is about 4” providing extra room to fit a variety of DSLR lenses. The plastic screws can converge to a 1-1/2” diameter. The depth inside the barrel is 2-7/8”. The overall length of the Porthole is 3-3/8”. Features The Top-Down Porthole is machined with a cross-hatch texture to provide extra grip. It uses an acrylic lens that is glued between the barrel and an outer ring to provide a surface for the Porthole to sit. This helps prevent scratching the lens. The outer ring contains a small hole to allow air bubbles to escape. Why It Is Different Many hobbyists use floating viewing boxes that allow for photography. To get these boxes to stay still, the pumps have to be turned off. With the Top-Down Porthole, the pumps can be left on as it will be synced with the lens. Without having to turn off the pumps, the Porthole can be...Ryan BurdiosEcoRay 60 LED Light Reviewtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0133f5e87ed9970b2010-11-16T15:19:28-06:002012-09-10T18:54:30-05:00Yet another LED light hits the market, this time called the EcoRay 60, presumably because it contains 60 diodes with 60 degree optics (more about that later). Since LED lights are a dime a dozen these days, I'm no longer impressed by them. So - does the EcoRay stand out? Read on... Firstly, I apologize for the lack of pics in this article, I've misplaced my SD card reader! So, I've made a video review, instead: I was sent the Ecoray 60 for review, and I must say that it is a confusing light fixture. It has a compact size (measuring 8.5"x14"x2.5") in which it fits 60 uknown diodes in, (Editor's note: apparently they're not Cree diodes - thanks, Clive!) with, as I mentioned, 60 degree lenses. The body is presumaby aluminum but well coated and constructed, includes hanging wires, and is cooled by a single fan (but no real heatsink, although 1w diodes don't produce all that much heat. Update: the manufacturer says the enclosure also functions as a heatspreader). The model I was sent for review includes a single power cord, although Ecoray makes a model with two power cords for separate on/off of the blue and white...Captive AquaticsTMC Ozonizer Reviewtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c013488cba0fe970c2010-11-08T00:12:47-06:002010-11-09T08:29:40-06:00Ozonizers don't get nearly enough attention as they deserve, and rarely does a new ozonizer hit the market. Commercial systems and public aquariums don't leave home without ozone, and neither should you. I put TMC's foray into the ozonizer market through its paces over the last few months, so read on to see how it performed! Using ozone offers many benefits, most notably the rapid oxidation of organics, antiseptic/sterlization action, improved dissolved oxygen lvels, and the best non-mechanical boost to water clarity there is (yes, better than using activated carbon!) A few companies have made ozonizers for a while (Sanders, Red Sea, Ultralife), but TMC is a newcomer on the ozonizer market, but a good one that stands out from the crowd. Unlike coronal discharge or other generation techniques typically used, TMC uses a "High Purity Ceramic" cell to generate O3, although doens't elaborate on the exact method of production. The method is very efficient: the TMC produces a ton of O3 with very little electrical consumption. Also included in the box is a mounting bracket for vertical or horizontal installation, flexible silicon tubing, product manual, and a screwdriver for disassembly/cleaning. The unit is programmable, and can be adjusted to...Captive AquaticsPacific Coast Imports Gen-X Pumps: Settle For Lesstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0133f50c663b970b2010-10-18T22:59:10-05:002010-10-18T23:00:13-05:00This is a bit of a longer article so please bear with me. First and foremost, if you have submersible Gen-x pumps IMMEDIATELY inspect the back of the pump for rust. There is a plastic cover on the back that is easily removable. This article was written about two years ago, but I went to a local dry goods wholesaler last month and the pumps still had exposed metal so if you've got one of these in your tank chances are you've got a rustbucket. The sad fact is that this company has been knowingly manufacturing this substandard and quite likely dangerous product for more than 5 years! A few years ago I'd been having some long-term issues with my farm. Even with impeccable paramters and vodka dosing something was wrong. Algae was growing out of control, there were mysterious LPS deaths, all of my Acroporas browned out completely. Then, one day while the floor was wet I put my hand into my tank, and zapped myself pretty good. Hmmm, probably should have checked that first. I bought a voltimeter from Home Depot (best $10 I ever spent by the way), and found a stray 5v shooting through that tank....Miguel TolosaReviews and Honesty Policy at the Captive Aquatics Blogtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0133f4f1d09a970b2010-10-09T02:48:50-05:002012-09-10T19:09:39-05:00We wanted to write a post letting everyone know a bit about reviews here at the Captive Aquatics blog. A few of our reviews have been getting quite a bit of traffic and controversy, so we thought we'd let you all know our ideals here. The Captive Aquatics blog is not intended to make a profit. In fact, we have declined some offers for additional sponsorship, especially offers from aquarium product manufacturers. Let me tell you my reasons... Why have I declined additional sponsorship, you ask? I find it very refreshing to be blatantly honest about my experiences with products and companies without worrying about who's toes I might step on in the process. Many readers assume this blog operates in a similar fashion as Reefbuilders, and that I bill manufacturers for the reviews I write on this blog and thus are are suspicious when I post positive reviews. This is not the case: I am not paid for the reviews that appear here, and I would not accept payment if offered (where's the objectivity in that?!). In the past I considered monetizing this blog, but realized that the money wasn't worth the hassle and the possible negative impact in...Captive AquaticsCoralife Aqua Gloves Reviewtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0133f4a8b3a2970b2010-09-30T01:16:54-05:002010-09-30T01:18:30-05:00I recently purchased the Coralife Aqua Gloves to minimize the introduction of any contaminants. If you’re like me and constantly find crud on your arms and hands, gloves are absolutely necessary. Fit and Features My hands aren’t quarterback quality, but they’re definitely not the smallest hands either. When I first put the gloves on, there was plenty of room for my hands and arms. Since the elastic garter extended up to 28 inches, the gloves went well past my elbows. One thing not stated by Coralife is that the gloves are not powder free. The gloves are made of out PVC which makes it hard to conform to the shape of your hands. There is a hole near the elastic garter to allow air to escape and keep the inside ventilated. Unfortunately, there is not enough ventilation as my arms felt completely drenched from sweat. Water Change with Aqua Gloves After inserting my hands into the water, I realized how hard it was to handle things. I could barely manage to hold the siphon tube and kicked up a storm of sand in the process. At least 5 of my corals and part of my aquascape were knocked down due...Ryan BurdiosReview: GlassCages Aquarium Builderstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0134878006bd970c2010-09-20T00:01:00-05:002012-09-09T07:42:38-05:00Ugly. From a seam on a brand new GlassCages Aquarium Review of GlassCages Aquarium I recently had the (dis)pleasure of attempting to work with a brand new Glasscages aquarium, and the only comparison I can make is that it was built like a bunker: solid with extra bracing, but with no attention to detail, craftsmanship, or style. Unlike a bunker, some aspects of construction were slipshod at best, and falling apart at worse - and this was straight out of the shrink wrap. I'm honestly astounded that workmanship like this actually allows Glasscages to stay in business, it is that bad! Although we usually stick to Elos or X-Aqua for our glass aquarium systems here at Captive Aquatics, we thought we would give a US company a chance - and boy, did they blow it. From day one the customer service was terrible (the employees aren't just abrupt, they're downright rude) and this should have been our first warning that things were going to go downhill from there. After picking up the aquarium from the delivery truck location (one of the few good things about Glasscages is that they offer a delivery serice to major cities in the Southeast USA),...Captive AquaticsOrphek PR-156 Reef Aquarium LED Light Reviewtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0133f3b5c31b970b2010-09-04T03:11:21-05:002012-09-09T07:37:30-05:00The Orphek PR-156 Fixture and all Orphek Products are considered to be 'purchase at your own risk' due to several complaints of poor warranty service that keep cropping up on There's a decent amount of hearsay floating around about Orphek, and most or all of it is wrong. A conference call with Orphek's lawyer, Simone, got me the scoop, and the review unit she sent my way told the rest. Orphek is a Brazilian company that spent two years on R&D to produce the PR-156 led light: most of the light's components were engineered by them, including the actual diodes. The components aren't cheap, hence the light's price, but you do get what you pay for - this is not a poorly made light with the mass-produced feel of many LED lights. I'm more impressed by the quality and color of the PR-156 than any LED light I've seen. That's the real kicker here - the color of what Orphek has dubbed their 'Power LED' is far superior to any Cree based LED light I've seen, and the reason for that seems simple: Cree doesn't make a diode for reef aquariums, and Orphek did. Orphek's PR-156 120w LED light packs...Captive Aquatics