TMC Signature 600

G

gex23

Member
Thought i'd start a thread on my tank.

This is my first foray into the saltwater side of the hobby having kept Discus, Apistogramma, L numbered plea biotopes and hi tech planted setups, along with Poison Dart frog terrariums - the journey started last August when I saw a brand new TMC Signature 600 come up for sale as new at a bargain price - fast forward to January and I was setting the tank up thinking 'i'll have no need to upgrade anything for a few years'.....yeah right!:spin2:

So the tank itself measures 24" x 18" x 18" along with an overflow system and sump, with a volume (DT) of 34 US Gallons / 128 Litres.

The current equipment list is as follows :

- TMC Signature 600 tank with sump
- Black matt painted background
- Eheim compact+ 5000 return pump running at 2500 LPH.
- X-Aqua in-out overflow / return system
- Kessil A360W-E Tuna blue x 2
- Bubble Magus C3.5 protein skimmer
- Kessil spectral controller
- Bubble Magus Mini 70 reactor running 100g Phosban
- 200 micron filter sock with filter flow / acrylic filter sock holder / carbon
- Santa Monica HOG1 upflow algae scrubber
- Siporax / 25mm / 6 litres volume
- 2 x Vortech MP10w ES running : Reef crest mode @ 10% power.
- STC 1000 temperature controller set to 27c
- 100w titanium heater
- Aqua Essentials auto top up in 4l food container
- 14kg of Fijian live rock
- TMC coral sand / Red Sea reef sand substrate mix (50:50 ratio)
- Osmotics 4 stage RO / DI unit

Invertebrates :

- 5 red legged hermit crabs
- 3 narcissus snails
- 4 Mexican turbo snails
- 5 sexy shrimp
- 6 bumblebee snails

Fish :

- 2 Percula clownfish
- 1 Hectors Goby
- 1 Royal Gramma
- 1 Peacock Wrasse

Lots of corals

It does have its issues right now. I'm dealing with a major flatworm (Red Planaria) outbreak, along with algae problems but I can't complain too much I guess.

Anyway a few poor photos taken with a cabbage :

















Unknown Zoa SP by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

Hoping to keep learning from this forum and this tank, while continuing to empty my wallet on needless purchases:roll face:

Cheers

Anthony
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Cheers man.

Yes one A360W-E would have covered the tank, but I applied man logic.

Better to have too much of something and dial it back rather than something running flat out all the time.
 
Added a few SPS frags which i'll photograph as they settle in :

- Montipora capricornis 'purple'
- Montipora digitata 'blue'
- Montipora 'apple-berry'
- Acropora 'purple tipped'
- Acropora tricolour

:)
 
 
Out with the old and in with the new :

11234881_10153024726302006_7858932772986891594_o.jpg
 
Well the AFM skimmer seems to be pulling out bigger chunks, though there is hardly any skimmate - must be attributed to a low bioload :



Also had to move things around in the sump (excuse how dirty it is) :



So the current sump configurations is as follows :

Chamber 1 - Filter sock holder / 200 micron filter sock / carbon / filter floss
Chamber 2 - 5 litres of 25mm Siporax
Chamber 3 - AFM PSK 2.0 protein skimmer / Santa Monica HOG 1 upflow algae scrubber / 1 litre of Siporax
Chamber 4 - Bubble Magus mini 70 reactor / Phosban / auto top up / titanium heater / Eheim compact 5000+ return pump
 
any chance you could take a photo of the ID tag on your fan's power supply? I seem to have misplaced it during a recent move..thx.

Nice progression by the way!
 
gex23 said:
Because the colour rendition, growth and PAR figures were all poor.

This ATI unit will have no such issues.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty big assumption.

On a tank this small, I'm surprised you had issues with any of those. As far as PAR, what is your expected increase in PAR? Then your expected increase in power usage in watts? I bet you'll get only slightly more PAR for a lot more watts. And you weren't shy on PAR before either. And as far as color rendition, it'll be different, but probably not better, and you'll just get into the bulb-swapping hobby, trying to dial in the perfect light. I know because I've seen it a million times. But that's fine, I like tweaking and toying with things too.

I still hold that you don't need any more PAR than you currently have, and your lower growth probably wasn't hindered by your LEDs.

What are you doing for calcium/alkalinity additions? I've found that to impact growth rates much more than lighting (assuming you have decent lighting to begin with).
 
I should have said - 'I HOPE will have no such issues'

I used an Apogee PAR meter to measure the PAR.

I dose using pharmaceutical grade salts plus Fauna Marin Ultra Trace elements via a Kamoer 3 channel dosing unit.

This tank is still less than a year old so yes i'm still a newbie, and yes I am probably a pretty poor reef keeper compared to a lot of you guys here on RC. But I like to use equipment that gives me the best chance of success.

Though one point is irrefutable - the colour rendition and overall appearance of the Kessils was so so poor IMO, very dark and no pop. I moved from a Hydra to Kessils and was disappointed from the outset.

Using the same Apogee PAR meter on the ATI shows i'll have less PAR issues, plus the colour rendition / colour index is much more pleasing to the eye.

Just to add - it's not growth rates that concerned me as such - more the colour of the corals, with growth being a secondary concern - for example the forest fire that lost the green shimmer on its growth tips.
 
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