NEW from Tunze: The Care Booster

First of all, let’s agree on how to properly pronounce Tunze. It’s not Toonz, or Toonzie. It’s Toon-zeh.

We first talked about the upcoming Care Booster on Reefs via this article by Richard when he was able to get a hold of a prototype. It’s exciting to see that it’s actually available to buy and has become quite popular too.

The Tunze Care Magnet just got an upgrade with the Tunze Care Booster. It’s a snap on feature that makes the wet-side float should it become detached from the dry side. The Care Magnet has been around a while and comes in 4 sizes: Nano, Long, Strong, and Strong+ (Although I have seen a Pico version in some stores) which are designed for different glass thickness and with different blade sizes. The blades are plastic which means they can be used on both glass and acrylic tanks. The larger size Care Magnets also come with a steel blade for those stubborn spots.

I got the Care Magnet Long along with the Care Booster a couple of weeks ago. While I use steel blades as needed for a deep clean, they are usually hand held scrapers. I have for the most part avoided a magnetic cleaner that has a steel blade because you have to pull it out of the tank when you’re done, rinse in plain water and put it somewhere to dry. That’s too much work for me and I have preferred to use a velcro magnetic cleaner like the Vertex triplex which I can leave in the tank. So when I saw that the Tunze Care Magnet had plastic blades attached to a magnet, I wanted to try it.

The Care Booster is a breeze to attach on to the wet-side magnet and super easy to retrieve if it becomes separated from the dry-side since it makes the wet-side magnet float to the surface of the water. I’ve been quite happy with the magnet and how well it cleans. I am not worried about scratching my glass and I am able to scrape the front glass below the sand line too. That’s a plus. The velcro cleaners don’t always get the calciferous spots or hard to scrape algaes, but the Tunze Care Magnet makes short work of most of it. The Care Booster package comes with 2 pieces of foam in the box. Tunze suggests an optional use for the 2nd piece as a gripper for the dry-side magnet. I can see how that is helpful when you have either wet hands or need a larger surface to grip.

The booster is a fairly large add on, making the entire Care Magnet pretty visible and hard to hide. While I don’t notice it as much when it is on the side panels, I would say that having it in the front detracts from my tank.  Tunze has a long standing history of having some of the best, possibly the strongest magnets in the industry. Overall I am quite happy with this magnetic cleaner and would recommend it for any tank.