The Many Possible Purposes of the Saltwater Refugium

“Refugium” is a hobby term that resists easy definition. This is probably so because, unlike most aquarium accoutrements—heaters, powerheads, protein skimmers, lights, etc.—there’s no single, readily identifiable purpose for a refugium. Ask 10 different hobbyists what a refugium is for,…

Reviewing the tiny and efficient Tunze DOC Skimmer 9001

Nano aquariums have been growing in popularity and new equipment and technology are finally making it easier to have a slice of the ocean on your desk.  During Interzoo, Tunze released multiple nano gadgets that turned heads and the Tunze…

ReefGreenTech’s uniquely designed R200DC cone skimmer gets a video overview

When it comes to breakthroughs in protein skimmer designs, Germany and the U.S. come to mind, but France? Not so much. That might change with a new protein skimmer design from ReefGreenTech that has a seemingly familiar appearance, but functions…

New Reef Octopus hang-on protein skimmer spied at MACNA

Reef Octopus has a new hang-on protein skimmer model which really breaks the mold for what we generally expect from this category. There have been plenty of hang-on protein skimmers made in a plethora of shapes and sizes in the…

Clearing the Air on Ozone: Part 2

In the first installment of this series, we examined the confirmable uses of ozone gas in the home aquarium. We saw ozone having a positive effect on the nitrogen cycle and doing a great job creating ultra-clear water conditions by…

Marine Aquarium Contingencies I Never Anticipated

If you’ve been watching the news lately, you may have heard about the massive Microcystis algae outbreak that is currently affecting the western basin of Lake Erie and, from this past Friday until around 9:30 this morning, rendered the tap…

Top 12 new reef aquarium products of InterZoo 2014

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…

Schuran & Abyzz collaboration creates the biggest Berlin protein skimmer

Schuran is an established crafter of fine acrylic aquarium equipment and tanks. Abyzz is a newer company making high performance controllable water pumps. Together Schuran and Abyzz have collaborated to create, or rather recreate, a classic protein skimmer design, venturi and all.…

Vertex Omega 180i and 200i places powerful pumps inside proven skimmer design

The Omega-I line of internal skimmers was just unveiled at InterZoo in Germany and we’ve got the low-down on what these new protein skimmer models are all about. The first two models of the Omega-I that were announced are the…

Waveline Side-mounted open volute skimmer is a sign of things to come

RLSS Waveline was the first company to get our attention with a powerful, controllable DC powered protein skimmer, then they did it again by being the first to deliver a novel open volute design, both of which were heavily copied…