Seachem had a huge display at MACNA 2009. The product I was most interested in was their Aquavitro Salinity. This is their new salt line that looks very promising. I’m currently using their Seachem Reef Salt with good results. The new salt will be produced in-house and batch tested for consistency. Also, it will be priced similar to their existing salt, be more concentrated, and offered in their ultra cool looking 200g buckets. This salt will only be distributed to their LFS network and not available online. Can’t wait to try this stuff out (hint to Seachem, send me some salt to try out!). www.aquavitro.com

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Here’s a video of the Ushio rep, at MACNA Atlantic City, discussing their new’ HID’ (150w G12 base) bulbs. It appears that with these bulbs,  ‘Japanese’ style spotlight/ pendants will be available to the US market soon. I’m excited to use their bulbs and create spotlight effects on specific high light demanding SPS.  Hopefully they’ll introduce different color bulbs to really do wild things with spotlights.

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After months and months of waiting, my APEX control finally arrived! First impressions: This thing is sick! Web interface is the cat’s meow. Program is much more complicated than my old Aqua controller Jr, but I’m getting the hang of things. Amp metering is cool, but wish it could do it for each outlet instead of the entire power strip. Much more options available and I like the web program aspect. I’m going to try the seasonal temp table option. This varies the temp gradually,throughout the year, to be cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer, to save energy. I just ordered a wireless bridge to connect the controller to my wireless network and hopefully have that up and running soon. Right now, if I want to access via web, I need to hardwire to my router. Once this is connected, I should be able to monitor my tank anywhere, via Iphone. More detailed report to follow…

Had to contact Curt to fix a bug, but all is well and he knew exactly what was wrong. Good customer support so far. Here’s some pictures of the actual controller.

The Package: APEX system w/ base unit, AquaDisplay, EB8, PH & Temp probe.

The brains of the APEX. Outlets to control the EB8, old DC8, ethernet, temp, I/O, PH and ORP probes, and Tunze pump control.

AquaDisplay. Shows all the information you could possibly want on one screen. Can have an additional 4 screens to customize, if you are monitoring additional outlets. Reminds me of an old Ipod!

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I’ve always ‘tried’ to keep a clean layout for my equipment and their electrical cords. This is not always the easiest thing to do because over time, you end up with a ton of electrical cords. Some important things to keep in mind is to make sure you have a drip loop for your cords, so water can’t run down the cord and into your electrical socket/ equipment. Also, keep the cords and outlet switches higher than the tank water, if at all possible. A little thing called gravity helps us here. Finally, organizing your cords will help you manage your equipment and hiding them offers a cleaner look to you tank. Here’s some before and after pictures.

The before picture. Not shown is the outlet strip for my frag tank and the power strip for the lights and pumps.

The after picture. I built a box to hide all my cords. All the power centers and my controller are now in one location. I still have too many cords, but things look much cleaner now.

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Below are some pictures of recent MH bulbs I’ve owned. From looking at the construction of theses bulbs, they are definitely from different manufacturers and not just branded differently. The following bulbs include: Ushio 10k, Phoenix 14k, Iwasaki 14k, XM 20k,& Icecap 14k. Judging from the construction alone, the Ushio 10k (German built) wins. The bulb looks like it’s been ‘finished’ the best, end crimps are clean and bulb is smoothest around the crimp end. Judge for yourself.

Ushio 10k:

Phoenix 14k:

Iwasaki 14:

XM 20k:

Icecap 14k:

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