Dave Anderson

At some time or another most everyone in this hobby will need to move a tank. Either because they moved to a new house or because they bought a sweet system from a private party and want to get it to their house with as little livestock loss as possible.

This month the we will have two masters of tank moves to tell us how it’s done!

Dave Anderson and Cliff Stradling will show us all the tricks and tips they’ve used over the years and to move Cliffs TOTM beauty just two months ago. You will see before and after pics of this tank that will blow your mind.

Cliff Stradling

Come to this meeting and never worry about a tank move again!

Of course in addition to great meeting content, we will also have light snacks, coral raffle, and prize giveaways awarded for forum activity.

Thursday 3/15 @ 7PM at The Living Planet Aquarium

Meetings are FREE to everyone.

The Living Planet Aquarium

725 East 10600 South

Sandy, UT 84094-4409

For the month of February we are showcasing Cole’s (Spike on the Board) 90 Gallon Reef Tank.

Cole began in the saltwater hobby in 2004. Starting with a used 55 gallon tank and a home-made stand he jumped in with both feet. Originally this tank used a bio-wheel HOB filter, a few power heads, and a two bulb PC light fixture. It was only after several mistakes and reefing lessons that things changed. The bio-wheels were quickly removed and the filter was filled with valuable media such as activated carbon and phosphate/nitrate reducing pads. The next investment was a skimmer and an upgraded light system. Shortly after getting the 55g stabilized he added a 30g tank to his collection. After 6 years of having these tanks he moved and upgraded to a used 90g tank with sump/refugium.

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Thanks to Mike at RapidLED for donating the 12 LED Plug N Play kit for our evaluation and as a Prize for the February 2012 meeting. RapidLED is a great source for DIY LED builds. Not only do they provide quality parts but they also give you helpful information on how to use the products they sell. We  are proud to recommend RapidLED as a source for your LED needs.

First impression.

I received my order on January 17th. Everything was well packaged and protected and arrived in great shape. Inside the box I found everything I had ordered and a plus. They included a single LED tester so that I could test each LED before assembly. This is a nice touch because it is possible to damage the LEDs during installation if too much heat is applied when soldering the wires to the terminals and once soldered it’s difficult to determine if the LED was DOA or damaged by the end user. The tester allows you to verify that all LEDs arrived in working order. While this isn’t so much an issue with the PNP LEDs because the wires are pre-soldered to the terminals they still included the tester. It’s little things like this that set RapidLED apart from other vendors. Overall I found everything in order and was very happy with my order.

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You’ve heard all the buzz about LED lighting. The roamers of incredible growth and color. Low power consumption, reduced heat transfer and the High Price tag associated with commercial LED fixtures.

You’ve thought about building an LED fixture for your tank but didn’t know how to pick the right LED’s for the job, or were intimidated by the prospect of soldering all those LEDs into a circuit that would work.

RapidLED and UTMAS are taking the mystery out of building a quality DIY LED fixture. At the next meeting of UTMAS we will be highlighting the new “Plug and Play” LED system by RapidLED. This system makes building your own LED fixture a breeze and in addition well show you how to pick the correct LED’s to make your corals grow like crazy and their colors POP!

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