My New Lights - Finally!

Well, after much debate and going back and forth several times, I finally decided on a 72" Current Extreme Nova Pro T5 fixture. It's got 12-36" bulbs - 6 12,000k white and 6 420nm Actinic. While its not as cutting edge and sexy as LED, the price was right and I love the fact that I'll be able to change the look of the tank with just a change of the bulbs.

On to the pictures:

I ordered this from Drs. Foster and Smith - everything arrived very well packaged and the cat approved, so that's a plus:


All the lights work!


Full tank shot. The biggest difference is I finally have light on the edges of the tank - and the fact that everything is brighter overall.


Actinics on:


Glowing GSP:


Full basement shot:


So far I'm loving the light and it seems to be getting a bit "bluer" the longer it's on - I'm guessing there is a bit of a break in period. I plan to use the stock lights for a few months and then switch to an ATI combo, probably going with a little more blue overall. I'll be cutting back the light cycle for a few weeks to give everything time to adjust to 3x more light. I can't wait to start stocking more corals. (After I get rid of the flatworms :grumble:)

WOW!!! That looks awesome in your wall, I want your basement!

WOW!

And you got a cat! You lucky man!!!

We've got two cats actually - both from a local rescue shelter. We have no idea how past owners gave these two up. We're very lucky to have them!

So purdy!

All cats are precious little angels sent from heaven!! :D (I have eight...)

Oh and nice lights. ;)

Your lights look great, and the black sand really sets things off. Very nice!

Can I come over and watch the game?

Your basement (and tank) is amazing!!

Congrats on the new lights...your set-up is amazing!

Wow, that is a lot of bulbs to replace every 10 months or so!
Looks great though! ATI bulbs are awesome, you'll love them, especially their Blue Plus and new Purple Plus. Crazy par and the best blue you can get.
Nice setup. :)

Thanks for the great comments everyone! Yes, its defintely a lot of bulbs - I hope to start a rotation of some kind so I don't need to replace them all at once.

I likey the tanky.

I always feel like I have too much rock when I see tanks like this that look nice without a ton of rocks in them.

I wanted to put my tank in my bonus room but it is upstairs and I can't have an accident up there and ruin my house haha.

I do need more rock, but I'm going to add slowly. If there happens to be an accident, there is a drain on the floor several feet away from the tank - hopefully it wouldn't be too bad!

Here is my 80 gal bow with 160 pounds of rock. There is my custom crab trap hanging in there and my daughter looking in the tank.

I rearranged the rocks after sponge and crab hunting/removal so there is a lot of swimming room in the front and so may caves. I decorated with shells from the beach(I cleaned them) This is TBS rock and sand.

That is the same lights like yours but the 48" 6x54 which I am getting a whole new one as this one is not working right so Faster and Smith is sending me a new unit because they don't have a new ballast but I don't think it is the ballast as it works upside down but it turns on and off like this. Tried different bulbs but it still turned off and on.

Lizardgi, VERY NICE! Im jealous. Holy crap thats a lot of bulbs!

Bifferwine said:

All cats are precious little angels sent from heaven!! :D (I have eight...)

Oh and nice lights. ;)

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Tank and lights look awesome. What sand did you use? I was looking everywhere for a black sand like that, and all I could find was way to fine, of way to coarse.

Also, if cats are precious little angels sent from heaven, why are they always portrayed as evil in the movies, or they are the pet of choice for the evil bad guys? :shock:

My sand is: Aquarium Substrate for Marine Aquariums: CaribSea Instant Aquarium Substrate Tahitian Moon

Lizardgi said:

My sand is: Aquarium Substrate for Marine Aquariums: CaribSea Instant Aquarium Substrate Tahitian Moon

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Looks awesome. I actually looked into that sand, but it was too fine for my system.

Absolutely gorgeous! I love the moon reef substrate.

We have basically the same lights (w/different colored bulbs). I love the dusk setting. Are you going to add the LED moonlights? (R2 Extreme 4 3/8" LED Moonlight)

Then you would have those sexy LEDs you wanted as well. :)