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Upgrade Time!


Arsonmfg

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Not sure what you can do to improve as this one looks amazing......

 

Maybe figure a 20 footer for the new house :unsure: something you can swim in :laugh:

 

Thanks man, 20' would be sweet but I'm afraid I'll end up paying the mortgage solo if I were to do that one! Biggest thing will be the addition of a real fish room and a slightly bigger footprint. Maybe 8' but we'll just have to wait and see. There's still a lot to be figured out since we're going a different direction that originally planned and the tank isn't exactly the first priority. 

 

This will definitely be my last tank upgrade for many years!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

You have an absolutely stunning system.  I lost my membership a while ago (site got hacked apparently) and rejoined because I wanted to follow your tanks progress.  Love the FTS shot.  

 

What is the T5 combo you are using on the tank and the light duration?  Many thanks.

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You have an absolutely stunning system.  I lost my membership a while ago (site got hacked apparently) and rejoined because I wanted to follow your tanks progress.  Love the FTS shot.  

 

What is the T5 combo you are using on the tank and the light duration?  Many thanks.

 

Thank you for the compliment!

 

I don't really update this thread very often, but you can always catch me on my FB. I probably should update this more since that FTS already feels out of date considering some of the rapid coral growth, the formosa stags will need to be chopped pretty soon before they start growing flat against the water surface, the front colony is less an inch from the water line now and the tips are branching again.

 

So for bulbs I recently switched out all of my Blue+ bulbs for FM Ultra Royal Blues, so far I'm really happy with the bulbs and I think they have just a touch of something special that the Blue+ doesn't, some pieces just seem to pop a little more. Long term effects will be interesting as well as bulb life. I know quite a few Europeans that swear by them. I need to talk to FM about getting setup as a distributor here in the US because ordering directly from Germany is kind of a pain.

 

A few months back I also added the LED strip to the front of the powermodule, Thanks Rudy & Matt =) It's nothing crazy, just 15 LED's to help with a little more pop. It also helps light up the front of the tank a little more which I like because it always felt a little dim to me. I was going to upgrade to a used 10 bulb PM but since this tank will be coming down in the near future with the build of our new house I've decided to just leave things as they are till I make a final decision on the dimensions of the new tank.

 

Bulbs are:

 

FM Royal Blue

Purple+

ATI Actinic 

AquaBlue Special

FM Royal Blue

ATI Actinic

Purple+ 

FM Royal Blue

 

Actinic's come on at 9:00am

Led's come on at 9:30am

Mains turn on at 10:00am

 

Mains off at 9:30pm

LED's off at 9:45pm

Actinic's off at 10:00

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Nice FTS Chris!

Your photo box works perfectly also. You get more detail pictures.

 

Thanks buddy =)

 

The last few pictures are with my new larger port hole I built, and yes I have had more than one person ask me of I built it from an old skimmer cup and NO that was not my intention lol.

 

It works quite well, the 15+ year old Nikon D70 still keeps ticking, the real quality is in the 55mm Micro Nikkor Nikon lens. It's great piece of glass.

 

IMG_4275_zpswh6ybduk.jpg

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Thank you for the compliment!

 

I don't really update this thread very often, but you can always catch me on my FB. I probably should update this more since that FTS already feels out of date considering some of the rapid coral growth, the formosa stags will need to be chopped pretty soon before they start growing flat against the water surface, the front colony is less an inch from the water line now and the tips are branching again.

 

So for bulbs I recently switched out all of my Blue+ bulbs for FM Ultra Royal Blues, so far I'm really happy with the bulbs and I think they have just a touch of something special that the Blue+ doesn't, some pieces just seem to pop a little more. Long term effects will be interesting as well as bulb life. I know quite a few Europeans that swear by them. I need to talk to FM about getting setup as a distributor here in the US because ordering directly from Germany is kind of a pain.

 

A few months back I also added the LED strip to the front of the powermodule, Thanks Rudy & Matt =) It's nothing crazy, just 15 LED's to help with a little more pop. It also helps light up the front of the tank a little more which I like because it always felt a little dim to me. I was going to upgrade to a used 10 bulb PM but since this tank will be coming down in the near future with the build of our new house I've decided to just leave things as they are till I make a final decision on the dimensions of the new tank.

 

Bulbs are:

 

FM Royal Blue

Purple+

ATI Actinic 

AquaBlue Special

FM Royal Blue

ATI Actinic

Purple+ 

FM Royal Blue

 

Actinic's come on at 9:00am

Led's come on at 9:30am

Mains turn on at 10:00am

 

Mains off at 9:30pm

LED's off at 9:45pm

Actinic's off at 10:00

Thank you for the detailed lighting info.  The FM Royal Blue is different from other tubes because most of the other Blue+ type tubes from ATI/KZ/Giesemann have a peak around 460+nm...whereas the FM tube peaks at around 450nm.  Krzysztof Tryc uses these tubes and rates them well.  The 450nm peak fluoresces pigments a little better.  The Radium 20K MH has a massive 450nm peak as well.  I really like your tube lineup; very balanced and covers the full spectrum nicely.

 

 

Thanks buddy =)

 

The last few pictures are with my new larger port hole I built, and yes I have had more than one person ask me of I built it from an old skimmer cup and NO that was not my intention lol.

 

It works quite well, the 15+ year old Nikon D70 still keeps ticking, the real quality is in the 55mm Micro Nikkor Nikon lens. It's great piece of glass.

 

IMG_4275_zpswh6ybduk.jpg

 

I bought my Nikon D70 around 15 years ago as well. Unfortunately it died a couple of weeks ago.  I've now moved over to Canon because my brothers shoot Canon and have loads of Canon gear.  I am keeping all my Nikon lenses though; including the legendary 105mm f2.5 Nikkor (all metal  construction, made in Japan etc).

 

Your port hole looks way better than mine!  I made mine out of large old mug and a piece of square acrylic. :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thank you for the detailed lighting info.  The FM Royal Blue is different from other tubes because most of the other Blue+ type tubes from ATI/KZ/Giesemann have a peak around 460+nm...whereas the FM tube peaks at around 450nm.  Krzysztof Tryc uses these tubes and rates them well.  The 450nm peak fluoresces pigments a little better.  The Radium 20K MH has a massive 450nm peak as well.  I really like your tube lineup; very balanced and covers the full spectrum nicely.

 

 

I bought my Nikon D70 around 15 years ago as well. Unfortunately it died a couple of weeks ago.  I've now moved over to Canon because my brothers shoot Canon and have loads of Canon gear.  I am keeping all my Nikon lenses though; including the legendary 105mm f2.5 Nikkor (all metal  construction, made in Japan etc).

 

Your port hole looks way better than mine!  I made mine out of large old mug and a piece of square acrylic. :D

 

Krzysztof is actually one of the people who recommended trying the FM tubes over the Blue+.

 

​I've had Nikons forever so every time I pick up a Canon is feels completely backwards lol.

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