If one thing became clear walking the floor of InterZoo 2014 a couple of weeks ago, it’s that there an avalanche of innovation happening in every sector of the marine aquarium hobby and industry. The marine aquarium companies who displayed at InterZoo really brought a ton of new ideas, with design and functional refinements across a huge range of product categories.
Water pumps which seemed to have reached their zenith got two major new takes on the aquarium water mover. Meanwhile there are so many new entries with vastly different ways of combining LED types and color that it’s hard to single any of them out for being better. We tried very hard to narrow the best new products of InterZoo 2014 to just ten, but we just couldn’t so we had to expand the selection of noteworthy products to 12.
The following list includes a baker’s dozen of the best, most memorable new gear and devices announced in Nuremberg last month and we think you’ll agree that they can’t get into production and working on our reef tanks fast enough.
Tunze NanoStream 6020 & controllable 6040 pumps – Tunze is going to have a huge hit on their hands with the new NanoStream 6020 and controllable 6040 propeller pumps. Being able to create more constructive water movement in a small to medium sized tank while hiding the pump itself is enough to make Steve Weast proud. A fair price for solid German construction and practicality guarantees that the Nanostream 6020/6040 are going to power a lot of reefs in the near future, could be cool for some planted tanks too.
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MaxSpect RipTide new design pump – MaxSpect blew the doors off what it meant to build and design an aquarium water mover pump. The patent-pending design of the MaxSpect RipTide pump is neither a propeller pump, nor a centrifugal pump, but more of an elongated water wheel which creates a strong laminar, mostly unidirectional flow that generates serious momentum for the creation of gyre flow. The manner in which the RipTide moves aquarium water is completely new and different, and as a long time user of gyre flow principles, we simply can’t wait to try it out.
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Tunze Care Magnet – Tunze clearly has the creative juices flowing being the only company to make the InterZoo top 12 list twice, with an algae scraper magnet that is also unlike anything currently available. A part of us has always chuckled at the sight of the huge old school Tunze Iron Magnet that many salty reefers still have around, and sometimes in use. With the Care Magnet Tunze has ensured that their magnetic likeness will be around for yet another generation of reef keepers.
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AutoAqua WeCam and fish feeder – AutoAqua has one of the funnest new entries of 2014 with a combination webcam and novel type of fish feeder which is web-enabled. While not connected to a controller like the Neptune AFS, the WeCam is the only other fish feeder that can be activated by the press of a remote button and the interoperability with a webcam puts it in a league all its own.
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Cubic Aquarium Orbit 20 – Can you imagine how good, novel and eye catching a jellyfish tank has to be in order to make it in the top-anything list here on Reef Builders? Jellyfish are not exactly part of “reef-building”, there were tons of jellyfish aquariums on display at InterZoo, and we don’t particularly even like jellyfish. Without a doubt Cubic Aquarium’s Orbit 20 is the first All in One Jellyfish Aquarium which we actually want to keep, especially if we can start dabbling in the keeping of flame jellies and other smaller species of jellyfish.
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Sicce XStream propeller pumps – If anything about the Sicce XStream Pumps seems underwhelming, it’s because we expect Sicce to release highly refined and efficient water movers like the XStream. The Sicce Syncra and HP Voyager line of water pumps have been rocking our aquarium world for more than half a decade; the XStream pumps are a natural progression of Sicce’s skills in design and building a new line of water movers which are first in class for efficiency, longevity and exceptionally quiet.
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Elos Absolute Line aquarium stands – We absolutely love it when so much attention to detail gets paid to one of the most important yet overlooked parts of the aquarium system and display. We may brag and cheer for our favorite brands of lights, pumps, additives, protein skimmers and even the maker of the aquarium tank, if it’s nice, but no one ever says “oh hey check out my sweet Perfecto stand”. The aquarium stand has always been a lowly piece of aquarium “equipment” but if you’re rocking an Elos Absolute Line stand, you’ll definitely be proud of it.
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Hagen New Fluval EDGE tanks – The first two generation of Hagen’s Fluval EDGE aquariums were usable with previous generation technology. With a brand new redesigned SimpleTec power filter and a basic but thoughtful LED striplight, the new Fluval EDGE tanks have the potential to be the foundation for some amazing aquarium concepts. A protein skimmer option in the Fluval EDGE Reef and some gorgeous aquarium stands help push the new Fluval EDGE to the top of the All in One list.
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DaStaCo Xtrema Calcium Reactor – The DaStaCo calcium reactor was already widely regarded as being one of the most efficient designs on the market with a built-in CO2 reaction chamber that promotes an extremely thorough dissolution of carbon dioxide. We never could have thought that an Automatic calcium reactor could exist but with a few sensors and switches, DaStaCo Xtrema is now also the easiest calcium reactor to use.
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GHL Doser 2 – With their Profilux doser GHL has all but dominated the high-end, high-performance dosing pump market and with the GHL Doser 2 they are set to carry that crown for longer still. A multi-channel peristaltic dosing pump can be a complicated device to use and to program but by using mobile applications and a graphical way of interfacing with the unit, GHL’s Doser 2 is really modernizing the way we use this important aquarium chemistry management machine.
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Thieling Roller Mat – Man we’ve been dying to try out an automatic paper roll filter for like four years but at more than $1500 a piece, not to mention huge size and clunky operation, that just hasn’t happened. With their $350 Roller Mat automatic mechanical filter roll Thieling is democratizing the convenience of extremely infrequent mechanical filter maintenance.
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Triton Reef Elementz and Triton Lab – It’s reassuring to know that it takes a quarter million dollar machine to show us that our understanding of seawater chemistry has been in the dark ages. Thankfully, Triton Reef has opened up access to their ICP-AES machine for extremely precise testing of more than 30 necessary and toxic elements which can get wildly out of balance in some aquariums. Europeans have been learning about important nuances of their seawater aquarium chemistry for some time now and we can’t wait for this sophisticated testing service to gain traction in America.
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Honorable Mention:
Waveline Side Mount Open Volute Skimmer – Since Waveline essentially kicked off the DC-powered protein skimmer in a huge way, and then the surge in Open Volute skimmer designs, it’s easy to pay attention to their next bold move. The Side Mounted open volute protein skimmer was only demoed in a huge commercial protein skimmer with a powerful DC 10,000 but we’re really excited to see what this new orientation can do on hobby-sized aquarium protein skimmer models.
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