New MONSTER AquaMaxx ConeS CO-3 Protein Skimmer

So, I have been pretty happy with my Bubble Magus Curve 7 Skimmer: it was easy to set up, quiet, skimmed well and I liked the wine-glass body design a lot. However, I have horrible feeding habits and my nitrates are consistently high. My high bio-load and my over-feeding was just too much for the Curve 7 to handle. I figured that it was time to go big or go home.

After looking over all the skimmers on the market, I decided to go with the AquaMaxx ConeS CO-3. What sold me was the huge 8" diameter body, the nice Italian Sicce pump, the great reviews and the cool "conical diffusers" that look like little rocketships.

I thought (and still think) the Bubble Magus is a nice skimmer, but this new AquaMaxx is definitely on another level. The nice cast acrylic, all the heavy-duty CNC machined parts and the sweet Sicce pump. Having the two skimmers side-by-side, you can definitely tell the difference between a "nice" and an "AWESOME" skimmer. The Curve 7 is like a Honda Accord, while the CO-3 is like a fully-loaded Mercedes S-Class with laser cruise-control and messaging chairs.

The skimmer is breaking in and is doing a great job. The little diffusers do seem to reduce the amount the turbulence in the reaction chamber: which is suppose to improve skimming. Thus far, I'm definitely glad that I went ahead with the upgrade!

Reefapalooza 2013

So, I was looking forward to RAP to take pictures of new equipment, nice display tanks and cool corals... however, I couldn't help myself from picking out sweet frags from all the livestock vendors. Some of these include Chucky's Bride, Pink Elephants, Bam Bams, Orange Mauls and Naked Clowns... ooh la la. Had a great time there and left with my wallet feeling a lot lighter, lol...

So purrrddyyyy... can't resist

Being a reef addict, I'm always looking at my tank for spaces that NEED to be filled. As I'm sure you all know... corals these days are sold as either tiny frags on little frag plugs, or outrageously-priced colonies that you need to take out a loan for. When I saw these pieces, at very affordable prices, I just couldn't resist...

MaxSpect Nano Razor LED.. and my new Solana

So, I guess I'm just not meant for pico reefs. The temperature always fluctuated too much and water quality was just never as good as I liked. While browsing on www.SoCaliReefs.com, I found a tank that was perfect: an used 34-gallon Solana AIO (all-in-one).

The Nano Razor I had was perfect for this 20" x 20" x 20" cube: seemed like it was just meant to be. While the tank was in great shape, the stand that came with it needed some work. After a long afternoon in the garage, the stand was chopped down to a comfortable 27" height and was sanded and repainted to look as good as new! Water and sand was taken from my 150-gallon aquarium and some cured liverock was placed into the back chamber for filtration to minimize the cycling time.

 Current inhabitants include 2 tank-bred ocellaris clownfish and 2 tank-bred "Maine Blizzard" clownfish.