IceProbe ChillerCoolWorks’ IceProbe Small Aquarium Chiller (IPAC-50W) is the perfect cooling solution for small aquariums and insulated fish egg hatching, bait, and specimen tanks.

* 50 Watts of cooling power
* Compact size
* Easy bulkhead installation
* Quiet, efficient & reliable
* Optional temperature controller
* 120V

IceProbe Chiller Dimensions
The Aquarium Chiller is a complete water cooling system. It includes the IceProbe, the nut and silicon washer for bulkhead installation, and a power converter with six foot cords on each side. The Aquarium Chiller can be easily installed in any orientation through a 1.25 inch hole into siphon overflows, pre-filters, sumps, or aquarium walls, or suspended with a bracket or lid over the top of the aquarium.

The chiller cools continuously when powered. In most aquarium implementations, the CoolWorks Proportional Temperature Controller is added to regulate the IceProbe’s cooling power. TEC-65 controller is designed for tropical water aquarium environments, with an adjustable temperature range of 65ºF to 85ºF.

aquarium, aquariums, chiller, fish, overflow, tank Hide

 Ok so I finally threw in the towel on the oceanic biocube skimmer.  That thing was just not helping me at all.  So I bought a refurb of the CPR SR3 on ebay a couple weeks ago for 89 bucks.  It finally came and I hooked it up.  It took a little messing with to get it going but its been running for a week now and it is definitely pulling out more gunk from my water than the oceanic one was.  The oceanic skimmer cup usually looked like it had light tea colored water in it.  I emptied out the cup of the SR3 the other day after about 3 days and there was about a half inch worth of this very very dark green water.  I was amazed. 

As far as the setup goes I didn’t follow the directions exactly because when I did my tank filled up with bubbles.  Instead of taking the false floor out of chamber 2 I put the skimmer on top of it.  This way I can keep the water level higher in chamber2 and the flow of the water coming out of skimmer is must less crazy because the water coming in from chamber 1 is not pounding on it anymore.

 The only issue I have with it so far is the noise.  It is pretty loud and I cant seem to find a way to quiet it down without drastically losing the amount of bubbles it produces. 

Either way for about 30 bucks more than the oceanic skimmer it was a great buy.  I think you can grab one new for around 150-200 bucks.  I would check ebay.  I lucked out on this one.

If anyone has one too please let us know your experience with it.

Here are some of the spec on this skimmer:

• Includes side mounted venturi pump to fit into confined spaces.
• Dual return chamber and underwater return to effectively remove excess bubbles.
• Simple skimmer adjustment using CPR’s collection cup assembly and O-ring support.
•  Easily slides inside of the Oceanic BioCube 29 sump area; fits in the middle chamber of the sump section of the BioCube 29 without any modifications. The lid closes as originally manufactured and the collection cup can be easily removed for cleaning through the rear access hatch.
• -Dimensions 8 5/8″L x 2 7/8″W x 14 3/8″H
  -19″H needed to remove collection cup.

more at www.cpraquatic.com

biocube, protein skimmer, skimmers, tank Hide

Current just released 2 new versions of the Solana.  They call it the Solana XL.  Both 60 gallon and 67 gallon’s are available.  Not sure about the price yet.  If anyone knows please fill us in.  Keep reading for the spec’s.

(more…)

aquarium, aquarium overflow box, aquarium tank, aquariums, auto top, bag filter, filter assembly, filtration, filtration system, glass panel, glass tops, gravity flow, lighting, lighting fixture, metal halide, overflow, solana, system filter, tank Hide

The Lagoon triggerfish, (Rhinecanthus aculeatus) also known as the blackbar triggerfish, the Picassofish, and the Jamal, is a triggerfish, up to 30 cm in length, found on reefs in the Indo-Pacific region.

(more…)

aquarium, fish, lagoon trigger, lagoon triggerfish, Nano Reef, reef, Saltwater Fish, tank, trigger, triggerfish Hide

I recently had a little bout of green hair algae and red slime algae.  More than likely my problems are caused by me overfeeding my fish and coral because my water parameters are always well within good ranges.   I could not figure out what was causing my issue.

Anyway, what I decided to do to get rid of this algae was to scrub my live rock.  I have about 10 pieces of rock in my biocube and there were only 4 pieces that were having this problem.  I DO NOT recommend doing this to all your rock at the same time but it did the trick for me.  This was a last resort for me because I could not get rid of the hair algae and it just kept growing and growing.

Basically what I did was fill a bucket with saltwater.  Then i took out the culprit rocks and put them in the bucket.  I then used an ordinary scrub brush to get all the algae off.  Once I did that, the water in the bucket basically turned black.  So i emptied out all the water and refilled it with new clean saltwater.  After I refilled the bucket the 2nd time i just shook off any excess gunk and then put the rocks back in my tank.

So far so good.  The algae hasn’t returned yet and I am trying to decrease my feedings to keep it away.

aquarium, fish, live rock, marine rock, Nano Reef, rocks, Saltwater Fish, scrub live rock, tank Hide