Eclipse 3 Salt Water

[nugrad2005]

I was wondering if the eclipse 3 set up would be suitable for a small salt water tank(1 fish and maybe a shrimp) or a nano-reef? From what i hear their bio-wheels are good for bacteria and such. I have a little 3g eclipse for my bettas and love it, but didn't know if the set up would be okay for salt water as the requirements are very different. Assuming the setup would be okay, could i then put in a hunk of live rock?

Thanks.

-Dan

 

[fergieturk]

Hi Dan,
I had my Eclipse 3 set up for SW (FOWLR). I was really pleased for it except the light that comes with it isn't the best, but the good news is you can upgrade the lighting with the Smartlight retrofit for $65 (cheapest I found online). I had a 20 gallon tank on it and put about 18 pounds of LR in it. I followed the setup exactly as outlined in The New Marine Aquarium (in the book list). It says what you can put in there and how to do it. I had 1 ocellaris clown, 1 yellowtailed damsel, 2 peppermints, 1 brittle star, and a few hermits and snails. I also added a hang-on powerhead for more flow. IMHO, I think the Eclipse 3 works pretty good for a smaller tank - just be religious about water quality! Good luck!

 

[nugrad2005]

That is exactly what i want. I guess it can be done then.

Do you remember how much you paid for the 20g eclipse? I know how much all the other stuff is, just i've been pricing the tanks and wondering what a good price is.

My hopes are offiically up!

-Dan

 

[d9hp]

I have a 7 bow, and yes the 32 watt retro would fit that, I ordered one last week, still has not showed up though.

 

[fergieturk]

Do you remember how much you paid for the 20g eclipse?

I have seen the eclipse 3 hood in LFSs as low as $80 and as high as $130. I bought a glass aquarium, the eclipse, a stand, heater, CC (I didn't like the CC), and other stuff for the tank for about $250ish - it was a package deal so I don't know how much I paid for the hood. The eclipse 3 will fit a 30 inch by 12 inch tank (just measured mine) - you can get glass tanks for pretty cheap.
You might also want to check for deals online - I think marineland makes the hood.

 

[loganj]

I would remove the bio wheel if I was going to have LR in the tank in sufficient quantities to handle biological filtration. The reason for this is that bio wheels are so efficient at converting ammonia/nitrite to nitrate that the nitrates will build up in the tank rather quickly. This will likely cause an algae bloom and could kill some of the more sensitive inverts...some of them are intolerant of high nitrate levels. If you set it up with a DSB and use enough LR (20lbs min IMO), you should have a suffiecient biofilter. I wouldn't run the filter pad either...maybe a bag of activated carbon once in a while for just a few days at a time.
Here's my opinion...for what you'll pay for the Eclipse hood, you could buy a couple of power heads for circulation and have enough left for a good start on a PC lighting system. JMHO.

 

[thrlride]

I bought an Eclipse 3 system 29 gallon at a LFS and it was made for saltwater. The kit came with the hood, aquarium, stand, live sand, water test kit, salinity kit and three boxes of salt. It also came with a heater, fish food and water conditioner. All of this was $365.00 plus tax. I bought it the other day and am in the process of setting it up.

The tank has been running for two days now like this so I am going to pick up some live rock and maybe a few damsels for the bacteria process.

Wish me luck as this is my first saltwater tank!

Here is a pic: Day one...

 

[loganj]

I bought an Eclipse 3 system 29 gallon at a LFS and it was made for saltwater. The kit came with the hood, aquarium, stand, live sand, water test kit, salinity kit and three boxes of salt.

I can only reiterate that the bio wheel will produce nitrates. Nitrates=trouble in a SW tank. There is certainly no reason you can't use the Eclipse hood, but I would remove the wheel and the filter pad unless you intend to have a fish only tank with no or little LR. If that's what you want to set up, then the system should work well for that. It will require regular water changes to keep nutrient levels under control though.

The tank has been running for two days now like this so I am going to pick up some live rock and maybe a few damsels for the bacteria process.

Have you thought about doing a fishless cycle? See the articles link on our home page here. Good article in there about cycling a tank without using fish.

Wish me luck as this is my first saltwater tank!

We certainly do and hope you will enjoy it. Please feel free to post any questions you might have.

 

[Guest]

I would also suggest cutting the down tube in half...the sand will kill the pump in the filter. I have the small Eclipse at work and I had to do this....

 

[fergieturk]

I would also suggest cutting the down tube in half...the sand will kill the pump in the filter.

Oh yeah, good point! I think the manual says to keep the intake about an inch off the substrate. I had to cut and recut - then I got a starfish that liked to pile sand under the intake - so I had to cut again. It's pretty easy to cut - I didn't have a saw so I used a razor blade and scissors.

 

[thrlride]

That's a good suggestion. I need to stop listening the the lfs and listen to you guys. They told me to put in LR and a few damsels. I have 17 lbs LR now and three small damsels. I checked the conditions last night and they are as follows:

PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temp: 76-78
Sal: 1.022

 

[nugrad2005]

but I would remove the wheel and the filter pad

Once you do this you have a regular old tank thus defeating the purpose of buying the eclipse setup in the first place. If this is the case though then i will save myself the time and money and just get a regular old glass or acrylic tank.

So i was going to put my pakistani butterfly in this tank. WHat is the minimum size tank i should have for him? 20? 30? It will just be him and maybe a cleaner shrimp or two(i'm addicted to cleaner shrimp).

I know they make a 20 and 29g eclipse set up, but since that idea was defeated maybe i'll just get a regular tank that size. I am leaning twoard the 20, but if people say its way too small and he'll die, then i might have to go bigger.

-Dan

 

[loganj]

but I would remove the wheel and the filter pad

Once you do this you have a regular old tank thus defeating the purpose of buying the eclipse setup in the first place.

Yeah...that was my point. If it's a FO tank with no LR, then the Eclipse is a good deal. If it's a FOwLR or a reef, then it's unnecessary and limits the amount of light you can add. JMHO.
As for the butterfly, I'm not sure...would have to defer to someone who knows more about them than I.

 

[clownfish]

I'm running the 30 g eclipse with about 20lbs of lr and the bio wheel. It's been running for about 7 months with 2 clowns 3 shrimp and a bunch of snails and I've had no problems with nitrate levels.

 

[thrlride]

Wow, where has the time gone! The 29 went full blown reef, mostly LPS and softies. It has since been torn down and I now have a 90.

Here was the 29 before it was torn down:

Here is a link to a quick page on my 90 that I'm doing now. It's going to be mostly SPS hopefully.
http://www.freewebs.com/thrlride/showcase.htm