When it comes to aquarium illumination, hobbyists are often left with a tough choice for mounting their lights. On one hand, you can go the route of style and aesthetics, beig left with a difficult install from the ceiling or some sort of hanging hardware. On the other, you can use unsightly tank brackets that are simple to incorporate, but really detract from the overall look of the setup. Fortunately, lighting hardware producers have started to get smart and make gooseneck brackets, which are both simple and stylish, and the latest Lamp Clamp from Coral Compulsion is no different.

The suitably called Lamp Clamp is a very simple, elegant way to illuminate your marine aquarium. It has a power cord, power switch, and socket built right in, giving new life to the Par30 and Par38 form factor LED lamps that have sort of waned in popularity over recent years.

The Lamp Clamp has a flexible arm that is coated in vinyl to give added protection against corrosion. It holds up to 2lbs worth of LED goodness and an acrylic mounting clamp with nylon screws holds it securely to aquariums up to 1″ thick.

Besides being an incredibly simple light source, the Coral Compulsion Lamp Clamp is also very affordale at only $39.99. It is available in both black and white versions, and comes with a 90-day warranty.

Plastic light diffuser, otherwise known as eggcrate, is one of those tools of the aquarium trade that has tons of different uses. Besides making for the perfect frag rack, eggcrate can also serve to block jumping fish from escaping the open top of an aquarium, separate unruly and aggressive fish, or even act as an in-tank refugium for growing macroalgae. In terms off assembly, the plastic can be bound together with zip ties or various types of glue and plastic bonding chemicals. The uses of eggcrate are virtually limitless, and because it comes in also comes in a black version, it won’t stand out like a sore thumb in your aquarium.

When it comes to stylishly functional lighting, there are few that hold a candle to Giesemann. They’ve introduced some of the best looking light fixtures that the aquarium industry has seen, and in recent years they’ve only added to their allure with products like the Teszla and Futura LED. In keeping with the same styling cues that made those too fixtures so darn beautiful to look at, Giesemann has revamped their Matrixx T5HO fixture, giving it a very similar look.

Appropriately dubbed the Matrixx-II, this T5HO fixtures has a body made of heavy duty extruded and formed aluminum alloy that comes either coated in an anti-corrosion anodized silver finish or painted in a high gloss white. But the corrosion protection doesn’t stop just there. Each item that makes up the outer body of the light fixture (e.g. all joints, faces, internal faces, etc.) receive the same treatment and are either anodized or painted prior to the production of the fixture.

While still on the topic of the fixture’s externals, a rather snazzy looking glass panel adorns the top of the Matrixx-II and, as we sort of mentioned, the bodywork is borrowed directly from Giesemann’s flagship LED fixtures, the Futura LED.

Getting into the internals, the Matrixx-II doesn’t employ all of the same run-of-the-mill products found in other, far more boring T5HO fixtures. Where most other manufacturers might battle with quality versus price in an attempt to keep their products within a certain price range, Giesemann didn’t skimp on anything. According to the German aquarium equipment producer, each Matrixx-II is assembled using only the finest quality internals from ballasts, to lamp holders and wiring. The reflector, long thought to be the most important aspect of any T5HO system, is made from highly polished aluminum that is 99.8% reflective. Additionally, it was designed in such a way to maximize the light transfer back into the aquarium. Of course, protecting all of these internals and keeping the reflector clean is an acrylic splash guard.

Temperature control was also an important aspect that Giesemann included in the Matrixx-II. This stylish T5HO fixtures uses both passive and active cooling, with the passive coming in the form of the aluminum chassis and glass panel facilitating heat transfer, with circulation fans forcing air through the system. Both of these types of cooling techniques make sure the lights are run at their optimum temperature to prolong their lifespan.

The last major feature of the Matrixx-II is it’s flexibility with illuminating your aquarium. Lamps are grouped onto several power cords, allowing for added control over with the use of timers and aquarium controllers. Also, a dimmable version of the Matrixx-II is available. In terms of sizes and bulb configurations, the Matrixx-II will come as two, three, four, and five foot models, with layouts ranging from four bulbs up to eight.

The goal of the Matrixx-II, as with most Giesemann products, is quality and reliability over being affordable. While this approach prices the fixture out of the hands of most aquarists, it’s hard to argue with the quality and style this fixture brings to the table.

Monday is gracing us with its presence once again, and we’ve got some great things to share while you sip your coffee. To kick off your week, we’re looking back at last week’s top articles before pressing on. From the week of May 12th through the 18th, our most read articles include a new Mitras fixture from GHL, a pet store being shut down, a wildly popular picture of the week entry, an updated Orphek LED fixture, and an aquarium livestock wholesaler shutting down. We hope you enjoyed the articles, and as always, we’ll have another week full of aquarium hobby coverage ahead of us, so stay tuned.

• GHL Releases Newer, Bluer Mitras LX 6200 HV LED Fixture
• Michigan Pet Store Without Water or Power Shut Down for Deplorable Conditions
• Picture of the Week, ORA Sprung’s Stunner Ultra Closeup
• Orphek Announces 4th Generation DIF 100 LED Pendant
• Oculus Aquatics Closes Its Doors for Unspecified Internal Reasons

For this week’s AquaNerd Picture of the Week, we’re revisiting Daniel Leija’s 40-gallon mixed reef aquarium, which houses one very beautiful Maxi Mini carpet anemones. Carpet anemones have always been a favorite among aquarium keepers, but they are far too large to house in smaller aquaria. So, it’s no surprise that the Maxi Mini anemones are so popular with the small tank crowd. These anemones often exhibit a rainbow of colors, often outlined with a green ring. Despite their name, these anemones can get quite large. While most are sold in the 1-2″ diameter range, they can grow to be 4+” across.

When corals start to rapidly decline in your aquarium with no obvious reason in sight, there are a few paths to take to prevent all out destruction. For one, don’t lose your cool and panic. Chances are that the problem is simple and fixable. Once you’ve gathered yourself, prepare and perform a water change. This will dilute any chemicals or metabolic byproducts that could be harming your corals. After a big water change, add carbon to your filtration scheme to further remove any harmful pollutants that might cause damage. After these two important steps, start trying to find the source of the issue all the while prepping for more water changes. Check every piece of equipment in use to eliminate voltage issues. Then make sure there is nothing within the tank that can be releasing harmful chemicals. If none of that works, try bouncing ideas off of fellow hobbyists and keep troubleshooting until the problems are resolved. It may take a while, and you may lose a lot of livestock, but acting quick and being smart are key to ensuring that you minimize those losses.

We’re back with our usual set of aquarium and ocean life based memes to round out your weekend. There isn’t a particular theme to this week’s meme collection, as they are just a random assortment found from all over the web. Some of the memes included this week feature some adaptations of the more mainstream memes like Grumpy Cat, The Most Interesting Man, and Bad Joke Eel. As always, if you would like to send a few more our way for next weekend’s roundup, hit us up on our Contact page.

GHL has been pretty busy in recent months with the release of their Mitras LX 6200 HV and Mitras Full Spectrum LED strips, but they still have one more cat in the bag that’s ready to be unleashed. Their new Mitras powered Simu-Sticks are another set of strip lights that function really nicely with the ProfiLux line of aquarium controllers, but instead of being the primary light source like the other two fixtures, the new Simu-Sticks are meant to be supplemental lighting. GHL is primarily marketing them as supplements to T5HO lighting, most like due to the shimmering effect that the LEDs provide, and as of just a couple of days ago, they have officially been made available to pre-order.

The GHL Simu-Sticks will come in two lenghts, 21.5″ and 37.5″, and are designed to help create sunrise and sunset effects, moon phase lighting, and even weather patterns. In typical Mitras fashion, the Simu-Sticks are loaded to the brim with multiple colors, as least as far as strip lights go. They have 4 separately dimmable light channels that include neutral white, red, green, and blue LEDs. To take advantage of the dimmability of these LED strips, they must be hooked up to a ProfiLux and ManuDimm controller. Without the controller, the strips will run at 100% on all channels.

The strips are made from an anodized aluminum body with cooling fins, and adjustable mounting brackets give you some flexibility with mounting them. The strips are waterproof, and the LEDs are sourced from Samsung type 5060 emitters. A total of four Simu-Strips can be controlled simultaneously through a single driver, though all four will operate at the same settings.

As far as pricing goes, one 21.5″ Simu-Stick and one driver will set you back $149. The price jumps to $169 for the longer version, and if you want just the strips themselves without the diver, they run $59 and $89 respectively.

If you have a particularly picky significant other, chances are you have a hard time getting an aquarium set up in your home. While you long for your hobby to be right in front of you when you come home and kick off your shoes, your loved ones might be more concerned about splashing water and weird smells. If you’re in that situation, you might have to move your setup to the garage. Many hobbyists put aquariums in their garages, and with man caves popping up more frequently, an aquarium in the garage might not be too far fetched. Just be weary of the summer heat, wandering bugs, and chemicals used outdoors.

Greenwood Pets and Plants, a Michigan-based pet store that has been around for more than 30 years, was shut down yesterday when officials happened upon deplorable conditions brought on by a lack of water or power. Officials removed nearly 100 animals from the store, including cats, dogs, birds, and all of the usual pet store residents. The fish, on the other hand, were left at the store temporarily, as there was probably no safe place to put them. The store’s owner, Dennis Jones, was found hiding in the basement and had to be carried out on a stretcher, the whole time screaming that it was the mayor’s fault.

As the story progresses, we find out that the owner was more than $9000 behind on his water bill, and therefore had his utilities shut off. Addtionally, the store also doubled as his residence. Jones was pulled out of the store/residence and taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for a previous injury. Officials temporarily restored power to the store in order to make sure they found and removed all of the animals, some of which were even in the attic.

Regarding the fish, as of 10pm last night, they were still at the pet store. Because fish require large volumes of water and proper equipment to survive, they present a logistical nightmare for law enforcement officials and would probably have a better chance where they’re at. This isn’t the first time law enforcement has left fish at a run down store they were in the middle of shutting down, so it’s no surprise that they were treated this way in this case as well.

For information on this story, be sure to visit MyFOX Detroit. Story found on Facebook via Tal Sweet.