LED Spotlight DIY: changing the light spread by swapping the lenses

Disclaimer! The following article is intended for entertainment purposes only. Any attempt to repeat this uber delicate surgical procedure could result in death, serious physical harm, electrocution, blindness, fire, death, impotence, sea sickness, drowning, death and perhaps qualify you for…

Pygmy Angelfishes can get really dark under intense lighting

Pygmy angelfish of the genus Centropyge can change color and appearance dramatically from juvenile to adulthood. Like most marine fish, their adult coloration can also change quite a bit depending on their captive aquarium environment. In the past when aquarium…

Reef Builders Staff picks best aquarium products of 2009

2009 has come and gone and from where we’re sitting, this has been a very dynamic and exciting year for the reef aquarium hobby. A ton of innovative new aquarium products made our reporting that much more fun and looking…

Digital Aquatics MyReef software delayed until April 2010

Digital Aquatics hot software called myReef is so hot that quite a few of customers have been waiting for it for a very long time. Originally the myReef software was slated to be out before the end of 2009. Not…

Nano Customs PAR 38 LED lamp produces the most dramatic spotlighting effect

LED spotlighting is an exciting new offshoot of the even lighting spread of LED and other conventional lighting. The image of this little nano cube reef shows the extremely dramatic effect of LED spotlighting. This ADA mini S cube garden…

Reef Central removes years of Seachem customer support following pulled sponsorship

We here at Reef Builders like to maintain a positive tone in all of our writing but occasionally we have to bring light to very selfish and myopic actions which are deleterious to our hobby. Case in point: Reef Central…

Waikiki Aquarium’s outdoor reef display chronicled in this video from the year 2000

The Waikiki Aquarium’s outdoor stony coral reef display has long been one of the first great examples of stony coral growth in a captive environment. The dense coral growth, amazing colors and the pioneering techniques that are a part of…

Nano Customs: PAR38 LED Bulb gets 25% increase in PAR

Nano Customs has announced that their new PAR38 LED bulbs have received a bump in the specs department. In their own words: Our manufacturer dropped a nice little surprise on use with our last batch of PAR38 lamps: MORE POWER!!…

LeDio LED spotlight 7W and 21W: PAR values and first impressions

Earlier this week I received two LeDio 7 watt LED lamps and one Ledio 21 watt from my friend Eiji in Japan who is running the best community site for reefers, 1.023 World.   Actually, he got some samples from…

New aspirator “venturi” valve from MyReef Creations really sucks

The MRC aspirator valve from My Reef Creations is a finely crafted air and water mixing device.  This aspirator valve is designed to suck in air for large needle wheel protein skimmer pumps.  Unlike the more typical venturi valves which…