Eclipse Filters - general feed back? IMO-Scum cause water to go over filter

[CoolHand]

So I have an Eclipse hood on a 30Gallon tank. I find the 'h' rite size filters from Eclipse are very quick to get a thin layer of scum on top causing the water level in the filter area to go right over top and into the biowheel compartment. If I change the filter by morning it will have already started to skip over. After a week I have to take a scrub brush to clean off the top of the filter.

Is this a bad design or something? I find it annoying. What is the point of pumping all this water if 90% of it skips over the filter?

Anyone have any opinions or thoughts on the matter?

Thanks

CH...

 

[Terrance]

Make your own filter pad. You can make a really long pad. Cheaper and more effective. That's what I did. I'll look for some old pics.

 

[CoolHand]

I thought about doing something like that. If you find any pics that would be great! What about those sponge like rock things? Has anyone ever tried those. I take it you can rinse those off and not have to replace them as often.

Ch...

 

[Twoapennything]

I have a Marineland Eclipse 3 (I believe it's the 3) and good grief, I have the same problem as you, but not only does it leak down into the biowheel section of the filtration system, it leaks down the back of the tank, which could pose a fire or electrical hazard should it hit the cords improperly. This has been bane of my existence with my Eclipse system and I'm constantly having to roll towels to put at the base of the back of the aquarium. I've bought some aquarium sealant and would like to see if re-sealing the top portion of the tank will help alleviate this problem. Mine is a 37 gallon set up, so close to your 30 gallon tank. I think it's a design flaw. They should have made the trough holding the filtration pad much deeper to allow for that overflow. Not much help here, just commiseration.

 

[CoolHand]

I feel your pain. I noticed a few times the water is on the bitter edge of running over the back of the tank which forces me to get the slime off the filter or replace it. I agree they should have made the filter inset deeper or added the ability to slow the pump down.

I guess I'll either have to live with the constant cleaning/replacing filters or come up with some other filtration system that won't clog so quickly.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Cheers,

CH...

 

[Twoapennything]

I guess I'll either have to live with the constant cleaning/replacing filters or come up with some other filtration system that won't clog so quickly. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Sure, no problem. I wanted to add one last thing that frustrates me. I don't know if this is true on a 30 gallon Marineland Eclipse, but on my 37 gallon tank, there is a rather thick piece of plastic running from rear to front of the tank, right in the middle, just under where the hood sits. I suspects it's some kind of support, but it makes it impossible to fit a non-Marineland lid and a OTB filtration system that's big enough to filter 40+ gallons of water. Epic fail, IMO. It's a pretty-looking tank, but its mechanics are far from perfect. I suspect I'm preaching to the choir

 

[Terrance]

Do one flat piece of filter pad. You shouldn't have any problems if you do it that way. Cut a piece long enough to extend it up toward the end closer to the bio wheel. No dripping at all. I'm on my iPad, but I'll return to my laptop soon.

 

[Terrance]

Here you go. See how the filter pad extend vertically next the biowheel. I used to have the same problem as both of you, but not anymore. I did get rid of the Eclipse system and got myself an Aquaclear HOB filter. Much more quiet and I can fit stuff inside the AC. I couldn't do that with the Eclipse.

 

[Twoapennything]

Here you go. See how the filter pad extend vertically next the biowheel. I used to have the same problem as both of you, but not anymore.

Oh, interesting. Did you just cut the filter pad out of the filter frame, or did you buy filter material on your own? I will definitely give that a try, because the tank would backflow even when I just opened the lid to feed the fish. Such a pain!

 

[Terrance]

I bought a big filter material. It cost around $4 for a 2x6 foot long. Then I could customize it to my liking.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

I have an eclipse corner 5 and I love the filter setup. What I do is buy the large cut to fit pads like this: Marineland® Rite-Size Filter Pads - Filter Media - Fish - PetSmart I then cut one piece out to fit down into the smaller lower section and a second piece to fit in the wider upper section. I also cut the filters so that they are only about 2/3rds the length of the original filters. That allows for a small open area for the water to fall into as it comes out of the pump. Then it flows through the pair of stacked filters before flowing over the dam to the bio filter. I've also recently started using the finer filter pads (HBH Polyfiber Filter Pad - Filter Media - Fish - PetSmart) to create a small dam in front of the spill over dam (but I found I had to limit this fine filter to only one pad or the water couldn't flow through fast enough to keep from getting backed up).

 

[Twoapennything]

I bought a big filter material. It cost around $4 for a 2x6 foot long. Then I could customize it to my liking.

Where did you purchase it? Did you order it, or would some place like Petsmart carry a product like this?

 

[Terrance]

I have an eclipse corner 5 and I love the filter setup. What I do is buy the large cut to fit pads like this: Marineland® Rite-Size Filter Pads - Filter Media - Fish - PetSmart I then cut one piece out to fit down into the smaller lower section and a second piece to fit in the wider upper section. I also cut the filters so that they are only about 2/3rds the length of the original filters. That allows for a small open area for the water to fall into as it comes out of the pump. Then it flows through the pair of stacked filters before flowing over the dam to the bio filter. I've also recently started using the finer filter pads (HBH Polyfiber Filter Pad - Filter Media - Fish - PetSmart) to create a small dam in front of the spill over dam (but I found I had to limit this fine filter to only one pad or the water couldn't flow through fast enough to keep from getting backed up).

Buy that stuff if you want to buy stuff at Petsmart. I can't remember where I bought mine. Many private LFS also sell large filter pads. Ebay is also a great place to look. filter pads | eBay

edit: i was just referring to your post.

 

[CoolHand]

Thanks! The tips and the picture is great! I'll try and rig up something next filter change.

Regards,

CH...

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Here's a few pictures of the setup I've got on my Eclipse Corner 5 in the office.

The blue is the Marineland Rite-Size filter pad cut to size. You can see in the 2nd image that it takes two pieces of filter material to fill the tray. The lower section of the tray is smaller than the upper (the lower section being where the "cage" of carbon sits when you use the Z pads the Corner 5 and similar small filters use).

The white is the higher density polyfiber filter pad (also cut to fit).

There the water potentially only flows over the Z pads, this setup requires the water to flow thru the filter media before it reaches the bio-wheel. That means you have to make sure the filter doesn't get so backed up that you risk the water over-flowing the sides of the filter. With ONLY the blue filter and changing out one of the two (top or bottom) filters at least every other week, I've never come close to having an overflow.

The white filter is a recent addition to try to filter out finer particles. I've found that this filter is dense enough that if I tried to double the thickness, the water does backup behind the filter. I haven't been using the additional white filter to say how well it does long term.

The silver color you see on the sides of the filter is where I applied sliver color tape to the insides of the hood to better reflect light back into the tank from the single lamp in the hood.

 

[Terrance]

With the smaller versions of the eclipse, its ok to stuff them with a bunch of filter pad. Caution needs to be taken with the bigger versions. I tried putting in a second layer, but the water started to overflow. Positioning is also key.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

With the smaller versions of the eclipse, its ok to stuff them with a bunch of filter pad. Caution needs to be taken with the bigger versions. I tried putting in a second layer, but the water started to overflow. Positioning is also key.

Overflow should only become an issue if you have too much filter material such that it takes longer for the water to pass through the filter than the rate at which the pump is pumping up water. After all, once the pump delivers the water, its all gravity fed from that point. There's no water pressure to force the water through the filter material.

But this is specifically why I pointed out the single layer of polyfiber near the water wheel.

Terrance,
What filter pad were you using? I could see the overflow issue being a problem if the filter material being used is too dense.

 

[Terrance]

I don't know. It was about 1inch thick. No overflow problems at all.

I stuffed my 6g eclipse to the top without any overflow.