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Reef Builders | The Reef and Marine Aquarium Blog

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  Hands on with the Hydrowizard medium, a pump for the 1% of reefers

  Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 11:42pm CST by Jake Adams

  

  The HydroWizard medium is quite an impressive piece of hardware with an equally eye-catching spec sheet; neodymium, titanium, carbon fiber, bamboo, 120 watts, 15,000 gph and €1100 (~$1400). Before we sully up the HydroWizard medium by trying it out in some jumbo reef tanks we had to share with you this series of hands-on photographs of the finished, production version water pump.

  Although the HydroWizard medium is way more power than 99% of reefers could ever need, we can only hope that all this raw sexy power gets condensed into a smaller and more suitable propeller pumps for the 200 gallon reef tanks – a HydroWizard Small. Check the break for lots of close-up pictures of the HydroWizard Medium and stay tuned for first impressions of this flow machine in action. 

  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Readers also viewed:

  • First look at the production HydroWizard medium pump, now rated for 15K GPH
  • Hydrowizard Medium water pump: exclusive prototype testing on a 1500 gallon reef
  • Hydro Wizard medium now available for pre-order from Panta Rhei, shipping in December
  • Hydro Wizard from Panta Rhei is a carbon fiber reinforced water jet

  
  

  
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  Seaweed biofuel getting closer to reach with help from E.coli

  Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 11:14pm CST by Brian Blank

  
  Seaweed biofuel might be the next generation of fuels thanks to ally in E. Coli. The benefits of seaweed over land-based crops is it grows underwater and requires no watering or fertilizer like corn or other land plants plus it contains no  lignin — a strong strand of complex sugars that stiffens plant stalks but is a big challenge to converting the sugars to ethanol.

  Recently researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle and Bio Architecture Lab, Inc., (BAL) built a microbe capable of digesting seaweed and converting it into ethanol or other fuels or chemicals. According to synthetic biologist Yasuo Yoshikuni, a co-founder of BAL,  they took Escherichia coli, a bacterium most infamous as a food contaminant, threw in a few genetic modifications and now can take the sugars from edible kelp (called kombu) and turn it into fuel.

  The team reported their findings in the January 20 issue of the journal Science. The analysis of the research hints that the U.S. could supply 1% of its annual gasoline needs growing the seaweed in less than 1% of its territorial waters. And if you fear, this engineered E. coli escaping into the wild and consuming the seaweed already out there or something else drastic, Yoshikuni states. “E. coli loves the human gut, it doesn’t like the ocean environment,” he says. “I can hardly imagine it would do something. It would just be dead.”

  [via Gizmodo and the Scientific American, image via Laguna Bluebelt Coalition]
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  • Most popular nature galleries of 2011 include lots of fish and aquatic images
  • Deep sea yeti crab grows its own food — on its arms
  • Algae-grazing fish help preserve corals
  • New glass dramatically reduces glare, reefing applications abound
  • Shedd Aquarium hosting Seahorse Symposium this week

  
  

  
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  “Diversity and Evolution of Coral Reef Fishes” lecture tomorrow at California Academy of Sciences

  Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 9:19pm CST by Brian Blank

  
  The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco is presenting “Diversity and Evolution of Coral Reef Fishes,” a lecture by Dr. Luiz Rocha, as part of the Pritzker Lecture series. Rocha is the Assistant Curator, Ichthyology at the academy and will talk about the evolution, biogeography, and ecology of coral reef fishes. His overarching goal is to understand what drives the extremely high biodiversity found in tropical reefs. The lecture takes place from 7-9 p.m. and costs $12 for adults (seniors $10) and is free to academy members. Since space is limited, make sure to reserve your seat online or on the phone at 415-379-8000.
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  • Algae-grazing fish help preserve corals
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  Pseudochromis ammeri and P. eichleri add to the dizzying array of dottyback species

  Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 8:23pm CST by Jake Adams

  

  Striped form of Pseudochromis ammeri, Rajah Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. Photo Gerald Allen

  Pseudochromis ammeri and Pseudochromis eichleri are two new species of dottybacks which have just been described from the Philippines and Indonesia. Both Pseudochromis ammeri and P. eichleri are described as species of striped dottybacks, similar to each other in appearance as well as Pseudochromis colei, which is redescribed in the same paper. 

  Pseudochromis ammeri is a dottyback species that is known from the Rajah Ampat Islands of West Papua Indonesia. At least two distinct color forms of Pseudochromis ammeri are discussed in its official description; one with strong striping and another form with very weak striping. Pseudochromis ammeri is said to be “essentially endemic to the Raja Ampat Islands, where it is the most common dottyback encountered.”

  

  Weakly striped form of Pseudochromis ammeri, Rajah Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. Photo Gerald Allen

  Pseudochromis eichleri sports a similar color palette as P. ammeri but the horizontal dorsal stripe does not extend the entire length of the body. Furthermore, Pseudochromis eichleri is described from the Philippines, where sightings of this species were previously attributed to Pseudochromis colei. The three striped species of Pseudochromis are described by Anthony Gill, Gerald Allen and Mark Erdmann in the January 2012 volume of Zootaxa.

  

  Pseudochromis eichleri, Palawan, Philippines. Photo Gerald Allen

  
  Readers also viewed:

  • Pseudochromis fuligifinis just described from the Philippines
  • Pseudochromis erdmanni, a new dottyback species from Ambon and Sulawesi
  • Manonichthys scintilla is a beautiful new dottyback from Apo Reef, Philippines
  • Pseudochromis socotraensis and P. chrysospilos are two new species of dottybacks from Socotra Archipelago
  • A closer look at the elusive Pseudochromis marshallensis, the Marshall Island dottyback
  • The black-margin dottyback, Pseudochromis tapeinosoma, is rarely seen and full of character
  • The Mysterious Albino Dottyback, Pseudochromis sankeyi “Albino”
  • Over 200 new invertebrates and 11 new fish discovered in Philippines

  
  

  
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  Coral-Shop aquarium products now officially available in North America via Finsreef

  Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 7:13pm CST by Jake Adams

  

  For the last couple of years we’ve covered the unique Coral-Shop products from across the pond first as a curious line of balling and seawater chemistry management solutions. However, as of this week the Sol additives and Profitower dosing pump are no longer just the domain of European reefers as the first shipment of Coral Shop products has landed at Finsreef.

  Chemical additives are not easy to get excited about so besides the phosphate-reducing liquid additive DispoPhos, the Profitower dosing pump we already love and the Coral-Shop test kits are what we are interested in trying out, especially the Sulphate, Potassium, Organics and Chlorinity test kits. Coral-Shop and Finsreef are both sponsors of Reef Builders.
  Readers also viewed:

  • Coral-Shop expands test kit line again, adds a Sulphate and Potassium test kit
  • Fins Reef official US Coral-Shop and DIDOSY distributor
  • One-on-one with the special edition Profi Line doser from Coral-Shop
  • Video walkthrough of the Profiline digital dosing system from Coral-Shop
  • New Coral Shop dosing pumps are a little different from the norm
  • Libra dosing pump video quickly shows off touchscreen and dosers
  • Vertex Cerebra and Libra touchscreen have been retooled to be completely flush-mounted
  • Reef Angel announces new two-channel dosing pump, availaible for pre-order shortly

  
  

  
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  Pharos LED module prototype appears with a familiar form factor and appearance

  Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 5:37pm CST by Jake Adams

  

  Pharos LED lights so far have been mostly large and bulky thick fixtures that are more reminiscent of the larger LED boat-lights like the Solaris but a new prototype Pharos is taking a decidedly familiar direction. This new svelte Pharos LED fixture boasts a recognizable design of having most of the electronics riding the underside of a sizable, fan-cooled heatsink.

  The new prototype Pharos LED fixture has an attractive matte black finish with a few onboard digital controls and what appears to be a larger, more full function remote controller. The bank of LED used by the new Pharos LED light are all XP series Cree mated up with secondary lenses. LSS has only just teased this prototype Pharos LED light so it’ll be a while still before we expect to see the new Pharos LED module in the wild.
  Readers also viewed:

  • Pharos LED reaches third generation design, coming to US via CoralVue
  • Pharos LED aquarium light, a Chinese light box on steroids