Aqua Medic Live is set up for success

Sometime this summer Aqua Medic of North America began expanding its business from just hard goods to the import and wholesale of live corals with a new division called Aqua Medic Live. Aqua Medic itself is a well-established brand and manufacturer of many readers’ first metal halide lights, among many other products. We visited the new facility in Loveland Colorado and came away very impressed with the new directions that Aqua Medic is going with its Live business.

The North American arm of the venerable aquarium company has always been an oddball among the various branches of Aqua Medic but it seems like the super progressive reef scene in North America is rubbing off on them. What makes Aqua Medic Live really stand out is the energy of the place, they’ve got a lot going on.

The Aqua Medic warehouse is home to a huge inventory of products, it houses Aquarium Water Testing, and now the Aqua Medic Live division is one of the biggest displays of Aqua Medic products in use we’ve ever seen. Aqua Medic sumps, refugiums and top off tanks are all in use and in full glory on the coral holding systems – all using salt water made with their new and improved AB Reef Salt mix. Even the relatively unknown Aqua Medic controller is employed to manage an impressive amount of equipment.

What really bodes well for the future of Aqua Medic Live is the close quarters within which the staff all work and have their own aquariums right next to the coral holding tanks. The place is clean, quiet and looks uber modern through the use of modular Aluminum framing that is used for everything from the stands to the suspension for the lights. With a ton of pet fish in the place including that old pair of black ocellaris, and being willing to DIY Kessil LED spots into the Ocean Light tells us that everything about the new Aqua Medic Live facility is to put the corals’ needs first.

Of course, what matters most in a live coral dealing facility is the health and quality of the corals. We visited Aqua Medic Live in between shipments so the stock wasn’t at full capacity but it was still extremely nice. The quality of the Euphyllia corals coming from Australia and Indonesia is unbelievable these days.

With the facility being run by a ton of reef nerds, there’s some special corals being put into propagation but it’s still too soon for many of these to be available. Aqua Medic doesn’t yet have a webpage up for their Live division but you can reach them through Aqua Medic’s main website all the same.

Correction: AquaMedicLIVE.com

Aqua Medic Live benefits from having Aquarium Water Testing in the same facility, mere feet from the coral holding

This large male crosshatch triggerfish is one of the Pet fish at Aqua Medic Live

The modular aluminum used in the construction of Aqua Medic’s Live coral holding tanks makes for a beautiful modern Euro look – we hope they sell this stuff in the future

Aqua Medic practices what they preach by using the whole suite of Aqua Medic products on a range of small to large aquariums

The rarely seen Aqua Medic refugium and top off tank are on prominent display around the various coral holding aquariums

As much as we hate DSBs and disdain the use of Caulerpa to “filter” water intended for corals, this one looks more like a beautiful planted tank

We may not be very familiar with the AT-Control aquarium controller by Aqua Medic but this one remote was in employ monitoring and controlling a whole lot of hardware

Even obscure AquaMedic LED lights get some usage over some great looking live coral exhibits

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Jake Adams

Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.