You may have noticed an unseasonal uptick in the amount of activity regarding the marine aquarium trade in recent weeks, and this can mean only one thing; InterZoo, the biggest pet trade show in the world is happening soon! No other aquarium news outlet does InterZoo like we do, and many of our top stories from InterZoo 2012 were the first to introduce a wide range of exciting new developments in this wide world of reefing we all love.
Two years ago InterZoo 2012 was the world stage for debuting a whole suite of amazing products, many of which have gone on to be mainstays in the aquarium hobby. From exciting new lights, better performing devices and even a new strain of the beloved Banggai Cardinalfish, 2012 was a huge year for marine aquarium announcements and in two weeks we’ll be on the frontlines again, reporting the latest and greatest the world’s aquarists and manufacturers have come up with.
There were literally hundreds of new product releases at InterZoo 2012 and we covered damn near all the ones that mattered. While we can’t recap all of the news from the last big show in Germany, here’s a list of the top ten products and stories of InterZoo 2012 to showcase the significance of this seminal show.
The Elos Elite 3 was the first new LED from Elos in a while, it introduced exquisite styling as well as interchangeable LED boards. This refined LED light fixture led to the development of the Elos Planet Pro LED and who knows what the esteemed Italian aquarium manufacturer will drop on us this year.
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The Sicce Minu LED was an easy choice for one of the Editor’s Pick top new products of 2012. This standout LED follows a very different formula than practically all other LED lights and it is precisely this form of innovation we crave to discover at InterZoo.
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MaxSpect really outdid themselves with the wildly popular Razor LED fixture which has been copied and imitated countless times by less progressive manufacturers. MaxSpect is an aggressively prolific designer and creator of new LED lights and you can be assured they will have loaded bases come time for InterZoo 2014.
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Fluval’s diverse line of LED striplights is easily one of the most user friendly mass produced LED lights on the market. A dearth of options is more than made up for by thoughtful spectrum and careful LED selection. Fluval Sea really had its big splash in Nuremberg two years ago and it will be exciting to see how they plan to continue their push in the marine aquarium market moving forward.
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The SepArt system of magnetically separated brine shrimp cysts from Ocean Nutrition is without a doubt a very niche product, but man what a cool one it is. Check out Matt Pedersen’s full write up on this creative live food culture device.
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The Panda Banggai was easily one of our most exciting discoveries of InterZoo 2012, especially since it was the only mentionable news in the live reef creature department. We still haven’t seen any availability of this domesticated aquarium fish strain and our hopes of a “gem tang banggai” have not materialized, but who knows what will be in store for Pterapogon kauderni at the world’s largest pet trade show.
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Hydor took its sweet time getting the Smart Level ATO system from introduction to production but it was more than worth the wait, earning Hydor a coveted Reef Builders award. For a company that moves slowly and methodically we can’t wait to see what they will unveil at InterZoo 2014.
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Nyos is a fledgling German marine aquarium equipment company but their products seemed to have real reefers in mind. If their forthcoming Nyos Quantum Skimmer is any indication, we can look forward to big things from this company in the future.
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It’s been a minute since Royal Exclusiv exhibited at InterZoo on their own but taking a field trip to their factory in Cologne before the last interZoo was an altogether enriching experience. Now that Royal Exclusiv USA will be able to develop a deeper presence here in America, we can more easily get excited about potential new products like the Strong Flow Pump that was first hinted away back in the day.
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EcoSmart Live was one of Ecotech Marine’s biggest announcements ever and what started out as a simple online connection has matured into a powerful management platform for getting fine grained control of Ecotech’s Vortech and Radion devices. Ecotech Marine’s booth gets bigger every year and it is assured that they will introduce something new, and that prospect is multiplied with the recent merger with AquaIllumination.
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