Flsprophet2
Aquarium Advice Regular
what is everyones opinion on eclipse hoods?
eclipse hoods good or bad????????
- Thread starter Flsprophet2
- Start date
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lando
Aquarium Advice Addict
I am not a big fan of them for SW. They limit your filtration options and the biowheels can cause nitrates to climb.
luckycat
Aquarium Advice Freak
I have an Eclipse hood on a 37g FOWLR tank. The only PRO is that it is one self-contained unit. You can throw away the bio wheel assuming you're using lr.
There are tons of CONS, the biggest is limited lighting capacity. I put in a 65w retro kit (which I believe you can purchase from Champion Lighting or other sources), the issue with that is that the normal plastic enclosure around the lighting heats up big time with the 65W and actually will change shape due to the heat.
The other CON is adding additional equipment. You need to mod the top to suite your needs (mod = use a hacksaw). I purchased a Red Sea 60 protein skimmer that I was able to insert into the rear right square access point, but had to cut off part of the hood (on the inside, so nobody can see it) to fit it in. The nice thing is that with the cut it almost fits perfectly into this square. The skimmer requires cleaning, but seems to produce a good amount of brown gunk every day.
I basically use the built-in pump/filter in the hood just to circulate water, but once a month or so put in charcoal into some old Eclipse-style filters that I've ripped apart for a couple of days.
I've had my 37g with Eclipse for about a year and a half, and it has worked well, but it has presented limitations that I need to work around, biggest being lighting options. I'm not sure if I can do anything about 65w in this hood without melting the plastic (and there is no room that I can tell). I was just talking to my wife this morning about getting rid of the hood and making a new hood, or getting rid of the tank and moving up to a 75 or 90g.
Good luck..and btw I read a lot of reviews on Eclipse hoods before jumping into a sw setup..we previously had fw in the Eclipse. I was initially going to dump the Eclipse, but for a FOWLR tank it has worked with the minor mod mentioned above to fit the ps. It will work, you just need to know what your limitations will be.
There are tons of CONS, the biggest is limited lighting capacity. I put in a 65w retro kit (which I believe you can purchase from Champion Lighting or other sources), the issue with that is that the normal plastic enclosure around the lighting heats up big time with the 65W and actually will change shape due to the heat.
The other CON is adding additional equipment. You need to mod the top to suite your needs (mod = use a hacksaw). I purchased a Red Sea 60 protein skimmer that I was able to insert into the rear right square access point, but had to cut off part of the hood (on the inside, so nobody can see it) to fit it in. The nice thing is that with the cut it almost fits perfectly into this square. The skimmer requires cleaning, but seems to produce a good amount of brown gunk every day.
I basically use the built-in pump/filter in the hood just to circulate water, but once a month or so put in charcoal into some old Eclipse-style filters that I've ripped apart for a couple of days.
I've had my 37g with Eclipse for about a year and a half, and it has worked well, but it has presented limitations that I need to work around, biggest being lighting options. I'm not sure if I can do anything about 65w in this hood without melting the plastic (and there is no room that I can tell). I was just talking to my wife this morning about getting rid of the hood and making a new hood, or getting rid of the tank and moving up to a 75 or 90g.
Good luck..and btw I read a lot of reviews on Eclipse hoods before jumping into a sw setup..we previously had fw in the Eclipse. I was initially going to dump the Eclipse, but for a FOWLR tank it has worked with the minor mod mentioned above to fit the ps. It will work, you just need to know what your limitations will be.
BDAWG
Aquarium Advice Freak
I've also heard of them breaking quite frequently (when I worked at Petco 
). People would always come in asking if we sold Eclipse hoods because theirs petered out on them. I'd have to direct them to the Marineland website because I've never heard about a lfs selling them.
). People would always come in asking if we sold Eclipse hoods because theirs petered out on them. I'd have to direct them to the Marineland website because I've never heard about a lfs selling them.BDAWG
Aquarium Advice Freak
lando said:
Are you serious??!! 8O I thought they were designed to take stuff like that out of the water. You're telling me that's not beneficial bacteria on the bio-wheel?
Serge
Aquarium Advice Addict
lando said:
I'll second that motion! My QT is an eclipse 12 and I just cannot get the nitrates lower than 10 ppm. Even with a 50% water change.
I am thinking about making some mods to add a small skimmer, like the seaclone 150, on it to help out.I just put up with it.
8)
malkore
Aquarium Advice Addict
The bio wheel helps convert ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate. Only anaerobic bacteria can break down nitrate...and the bio wheel is an aerobic mechanism.
BDAWG
Aquarium Advice Freak
malkore said:
So in other words, when you're cycle is complete and all you have left is NO3, you should remove the bio-wheel?
luckycat
Aquarium Advice Freak
BDAWG said:
Yes. I actually took out the bio-wheel when I moved to a sw tank, so never had one... I went through my first cycle with lr, and ever since then have not had any dramatic spikes in nitrate, nitrite or ammonia.
X the Outsider
Aquarium Advice Freak
I plan getting LR rubble to place where my bio-wheel is, but I haven't come across any place that had small enough pieces. I have an eclipse hood, and it's very restricting. It was hard to get my PH in the tank, and I really don't have room for a skimmer.
