vortech-pump-controllers-1 A trip down memory lane of Ecotech Marine VorTech pump controllers As Ecotech Marine celebrates ten years of business in the reef aquarium scene, I am reminded of how I came to know the once scrappy three young founders Tim, Pat, Justin and first employee Mark. The company cut its teeth on reef tank product engineering with a magnetically stirred kalk stirrer with a built in
DSC_5775 Sicce’s booth at Zoomark 2013 featured lots of goodies for the future
Abyzz 100 is Venotec’s smallest hot rod water pump to date

Fix all your fish tank and reef aquarium problems with 95% water changes*

Having worked the retail marine LFS beat for many moons, we’ve seen countless people come in to the shop, day in day out, trying to get their water parameters right or worse, trying to figure out what the problem is. The chemistry of fish tanks and marine aquariums is very complicated, and sometimes the more Read More

How it’s made: Reef Aquariums

On the science channel there is a popular show called “How it’s made”. The show which has been running for some time now investigate popular gadgets or products and tell us (the audience) how these nifty products are made. For whatever reason the show’s producers decided to do a snippet on reef aquariums or more Read More

3 days, a camera and a reef aquarium: Upgrade recorded in stop motion

Setting up or upgrading your reef aquarium is hard work but despite being time consuming and frustrating, it is one of the most rewarding yet sadistically fun parts of the hobby. One hobbyist set up a camera to capture his aquarium upgrade and put together this fun stop motion montage of the three-day process. YouTube Read More

The beauty of unintended good planning

This summer has been unusually warm across the US, brutally hot, actually. My area of the Southeast was recently hit with a triple digit heat wave. Around the same time, my air conditioner decided to break. Needless to say, my first concern was the reef aquariums. At my old house, I didn’t have a basement Read More

Stunning reef aquarium gets even better after upgrade to Elos Epower and E-liteXp lighting

We love seeing great examples of interesting reef aquariums and this stunning aquarium definitely snagged our attention. We were poking around at DaniReef where we noticed this fine example of a reef tank by Andrea Negu so we figured we would share. The tank has a great blend of coral colors, shapes and textures and Read More

This simple two-bommie aquascape exudes subtle beauty

When it comes to different school of reef aquarium aesthetics, our penchant definitely lies on the side of less is more. Case in point is this beautiful simple reef aquarium featuring two bommies of rock, a few choice corals and handful of colorful fish. The carefully chosen corals appear meticulously arranged to produce an aquascape Read More

Simple, low tech reef tanks can be bliss

My home office is down in the basement of our house. There are weeks where my job has me working late nights down there and at some point, I figured a little aquatic life would make my work environment more relaxing and cheerful. However, I didn’t want something requiring a lot of attention and maintenance. Read More

France’s Neo Aquarium creates then sells unique all-in-one display

Neo Aquarium in Antibes Juan-les-Pins, France is showing off and selling a unique all-in-one display tank sure enough to turn some heads. In a nice bright yellow with clean, sweeping lines this display really is a work of art that looks to be more than quite functional. A lot of attention to detail was incorporated into Read More

Are Reef Aquariums Getting Too Lifelike?

A recent story in the New York Times discusses the possibility that the oceans are being over-harvested for the saltwater aquariums of the world. Millions of blue legged hermits being harvested every year, up from hundreds of thousands from years earlier. But apparently the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation disagrees that the fishery are over-harvested.  Read More

Avatar’s marine life inspired Pandora will seem familiar to reef lovers

Avatar is arguably one of the most important movies in a decade and the absolutely magical world of Pandora is strongly inspired by some of the iconic marine creatures of our own planet. Spoiler Warning! I may discuss some nuances of the film that you may wish to discover in the movie yourself. The hammerhead Read More

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