Marineland Eclipse

[AngelaOlsenFan]

Im thinking of getting the Marineland Eclipse system for my tank. http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18527/si1382190/cl0/marinelandeclipse2

Does anyone here have one? If so, are you happy with it? Any comments would be appreciated.

Also, on the description it says that the 24" hood is good for a 25 gallon tank, but my tank is 29 3/4 long.

 

[src]

The concensus here is that the eclipse hoods have lousy filtering - they only use a small portion of the filter media.

 

[AngelaOlsenFan]

The concensus here is that the eclipse hoods have lousy filtering - they only use a small portion of the filter media.

really? that's good to know. thanks.

 

[DarylF2]

My Eclipse is a System 6 (6 gallons), so I'm not sure how similar it is to the larger Eclipse setups.

In my ES6, the filter media lies flat, and the water falls onto it from the left, then exits below the filter on the right into a chamber with a bio-wheel at the outlet back into the tank.

I've found that as the left portion of the filter gets clogged with debris, the water just flows progressively to the right to make its way through the filter. As a result, its more effective than I at first thought (given the horizontal design). It seems to do a fine job, too. I'm pleased with it. My Neon Tetras and Otos have been in this tank for about 1-2 months now, and seem to be doing really well.

My biggest concern is that the tank is acrylic and I'm getting some green spot algae growing on it. This is tricky to get off of acrylic without scratching it...

 

[AngelaOlsenFan]

I posted this thread a long time ago, but I thought I should post an update/product review incase anyone else was considering this product.

I did buy the eclipse 3 hood (there wasn't much selection for lighting here). You're so right when you say it filters lousy! After a couple weeks I noticed my tank was getting so dirty. I've had to run my Fluval internal 2 a few times to clear things up! The lighting part is really good though; I finally able to grow plants easily.

I also got an Eclipse 6 (I found a used one for cheap.) I find with the 6 gallon the Eclipse filters great, so it's a good system for small tanks, but not big tanks, like the 25 gallon.

(Unfortunately the filter in my eclipse 6 broke the other day I guess that's the price you pay for buying stuff used- you never know if the person cleaned it properly etc.)

So ANYWAY, I'd recommend the eclipse for little tanks 1-6 gallons, but anything bigger stick with regular filters.