looking for owners of the eclipse tanks ?

[dwarfpuffer]

hello i am intrested in the eclipse tanks 3 gallon to 12 gallon i want feed back from the owners of theses tanks are they dependable ? also i have read that theses tanks turn yellow years later is this true ? also i want to know about the good and the bad of theses tanks thank you

 

[jsoong]

I have the 5 gal, had it for 1 year or so.

Quiet filter, works fine for typical community tank inhabitants, nice in that everything is contained inside the tank, without anything hanging out.

No yellowing of the acrylic noted yet, but one major drawback to any acrylic tank is scratching. We have hard water which leave deposits on the acrylic. These are almost impossible to get rid of with just a sponge. Using even the softest scrubbie (supposedly for acrylics) left fine scratches over time. These are getting noticible after 5-6 months. I would immagine that in a few years, it would be quite clouded with scratches.

For long term use, I think I owuld stay away from acrylic. I remember seeing larger Eclipse tanks (20 gal?) that are glass ... maybe better buy in the long run. Alternative would be a small glass tank with an internal filter ... almost as clean looking & efficient as the Eclipse.

 

[papa_bear_21]

We have an eclipse 3 and so far, it has been a good tank. We have been using it as a fry tank, with baby guppies in it. we have no scratches, though we also dont scrub the walls any. The only downside I know if, is if the water becomes too low, the filter will lose it's prime. Like the intake is not strong enough to draw the water up. No big deal, since the lid keeps the evaporation to a minimum...

 

[David14259]

I had an Eclipse 12...

Good: It looks good, easy to setup, good starter tank.

Bad: Lighting isn't enough to do many live plants with, Acrylic scratches easily. TANK COMPLETELY CRACKED IN HALF. I heard a dripping... found a slow drip coming from the bottom of the tank, figuring my filter was just clogged and overflowing... found it was coming from behind the background, pulled the background off to find a very thin 1" crack at the bottom of the tank. Before my eyes it began to travel up the back of the tank, as water began to spray out at me... I will NEVER have an acrylic tank again.

http://home.comcast.net/~david14259/crack.jpg

Still no idea what caused it, nobody was near the tank at all before the leak started. It hadn't been moved in well over a month. The tank was only 2 months old.

But, besides my disaster, it really was a nice tank, lol.

 

[plecoperson]

They look great, and you can put a compact fluorescent in the fixture (I think they come with that bulb now.) I grew low to lowish-medium plants in mine when it was set up.

I found the scratching to be too much trouble; 'specially if you want to clean the front panel with the curve. It's nearly impossible to get spot algae off.

A good tank for just a few small fish, as a growout tank, etc. It's really nice to be able to just use the lil' filter that comes with it-gives the tank a very pretty, jewel-like look. Keep it away from any sunlight to avoid the spot algae and it would work fine, in my opinion.

 

[SSC3]

I have a Hex 5 which is quiet after initial noise. Maintenance is a pain since you have to remove the light to and plastic shield in order to do maintenance. It's best that you use an air pump with these tanks since air circulation is minimal. These tanks do look pretty though.

I returned a 6 gallon one because of a leaky filtration system into electrical housing. Like other eclipses it has small access openings which make it a pain to do maintenance.

 

[cabezon]

my filter and pump died. while looking for a replacement, I saw that this may be a problem. The specific one is $17 which is no big deal, but I needed something asap, and they are only available online. I ended up getting a tiny submersible with a spray bar. But I will have to get a replacement for the original.

that reminds me...