Lighting

Yesterday I got my shipment from Ecotech Marine. It included the new ReefLink device that was on display at MACNA two months ago. This connects to your home (or business) network to communicate with the Radion LED fixtures and in the future, wireless Vortech pumps.

Since I'm a beta tester, I'll be providing feedback about how it works to Ecotech. Here are some teaser pictures.

During the programming mode, you'll see several colors ...

With the 60g on the stand, leveled and positioned near the wall - I left a small gap behind the tank to avoid salt-creep damage to the sheetrock - I needed to determine where to hang the Radion LED fixture over the tank. Using a 4' level, I placed it across the tank and set the light fixture on top. This permitted measuring the fixture from all four sides to get it centered. Hence, I was able to ascertain the distance from the rear wall and the right wall precisely for the hanging kit.
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The metal halide bulbs are key to growing corals in my reef. Day after day, the bulbs light up the display and the corals grow. Over time, the bulbs weaken and even shift spectrums, which can result in unpleasant pinks or yellows that make the corals appear ugly... and even worse: algae will grow. The easiest cure is to replace the bulbs. I've been dragging my feet on this project out of sheer stubbornness. I really wanted to change them out when the 400g was back. That's when I have to take ...

I was up at my LFS tonight, and he was ready to install his brand new Radions into the canopy fixture. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with these for a bit, and took pictures with my iPhone4 as time allowed. Two days ago, i posted on our Facebook/reefaddicts wall that Ecotech released information to upgrade the current LED reflector with their new TIR lens. Frank had a bag of these lens already, so I offered to swap out a pair to see what was involved. Initially I figured you had ...

While attending NERAC last weekend, I never had a chance to purchase any raffle tickets that day. A friend of mine named Kathy offered to loan me $20 cash since they only accepted cash or checks. With her assistance, I was actually buying my tickets as they pulled the first ticket. I bought $10 worth of $1 tickets, and got 12 green tickets. Then I spent $10 more on the $2 tickets and got six red tickets.

I quickly separated the green tickets and tossed them in the community bucket. ...