Eclipse Systems: let's see 'em!

Alright you haggard band of hobbyists who have painstakingly tried to make this brand of tank work for you, only to be smited over and over again...

Let's see those tanks!

Uh-oh. Eclipse tanks bad?!?! Nuts. I just ordered one, the 6g. What are the problems with this tank? I had big dreams for the inhabitants of my 2.5g... *sniff* *sniff*

Does 'used to have one' count? Here's my old Eclipse 12:

damn thats really nice

Steven: No, they're not bad...it's just that the stock hood usually needs a lot of modification to be useful for a nano. Hearing that is why I avoided it, though if you really like the shape or want an odd size like a 3 gallon it may make sense to pay extra for a hood you may not use.

Jdsabin: Whoa. Clean looking tank! Why'd you take it down?

Originally posted by Rene

Jdsabin:  Whoa.  Clean looking tank!  Why'd you take it down?

Thanks. I took it down because I wanted a larger tank, hence my 20 long that I have today.

Does this include the hood systems? I have an Eclipse 1 on my 15gal with 15w NO 50/50 and 4x 13w PC 50/50, stock filtering system too.

P.S. I bought the hood before I knew better...and I wasn't about to trash it after having it on for 2 days, one of many mistakes I've made!!

To make room for his 20L! How about some specs up there with that pic jdsabin1?

The Eclipse are (for most) much more trouble than they're worth. The hood is crazy shaped, even for putting in lighting retros--a funny curve along the edges that makes it difficult for anything other than 13W PC's. The in-stock filter is pretty much crap, and is taken out by nearly everybody (the biowheel creates nitrates and the entire unit blocks off light to the entire back half of the tank). The acrylic isn't even actual acrylic and gets scratched to crap the first time you try aquascaping. They can be a bear to deal with, but there are those few who take on the task...or just don't know any better.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers,

For he to-day that [shares his Eclipse] with me

Shall be my brother...

And gentlemen in [Nano-Reef.com], now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us.

I know this doesn't even hold a match to jdsabin1's old eclipse 12g but here's my 3g... 2 months old.

(notice my scratches?)

BTW - Moving to a 10G AGA

Here is mine. It is a 6 gallon eclipse and has been running since may of 03. It is in my college dorm room. It now only have 39 watts of PCs...I soon hope to add a 70 watt MH.

Eclipse 2TL on a standard 10 gallon tank. This eclipse has been refitted to 2x 28-watt PC (1 actinic 1 10,000K)

Good looking tanks guys. I just got LR in mine yesterday and tried some extreme aquascaping to accomodate for flow--we'll see how it goes. Next step is the sump/refuge plan, but I'll try to get some pics of the current setup when I get a chance.

My Eclipse 12 after 4 months:

More pics on my homepage.

Hi, are you guys putting sumps and fuges on your Eclipse systems or just doing weekly water changes. It would be nice to just add my salt water directly to the fuge, put my macros in there (a lot of food gets trapped in between the algae on the bottom of the tank =/), grow some pods, top off there...

Secondly, do you need a sump or fuge for pods? Does anyone know if it's safe to put them in your tank directly, or do you really need a fuge? I want to make my sand as "live" as possible. Do people have pods in their tank without a fuge?

I'll post my pic when I get home... they're not on my work computer =)

hey, post your specs guys if you can... man, seeing all your pics make me feel like i really need to ditch the biowheel... looks so much prettier without it and so much more space! not to mention going "all naturalle" on the filtration =) i wonder if it's going to crash my system though if i remove it... i do have LR and LS... will post my specs later...

The biowheel has been working fine for me, and it got my tank started really quickly. But I have been having a hard time keeping my nitrates down. But that may be to me overfeeding as I can see a bunch of crap on the sandbed where my macro algaes grow =( I just started keeping a log file of all my water params, so when I finally ditch the ugly ol'thing, I'll let you guys know if I notice any difference.

Definately take out the biowheel. My experience was that running with the biowheel I had slightly elevated nitrates all the time. After three months I ditched the biowheel (no problem doing this btw) and my nitrates zeroed out.

You don't want to be overfeeding your tank Elation. You're going to have a major algae bloom if you do that. Could you give us your tank specs? How long has your tank been up and running?

I took the biowheel out the first day I started the tank. I am not convinced that it really would be a nitrate factory, but there are hundreds of threads on that topic.

I don't run a fuge or sump and have a scooter blenny living off mysis and brine shrimp. If you want a large pod population, I am pretty sure you have to have a fuge, otherwise the pod eating populace will eat them too quickly.

I just do a 1 gallon WC every week and add Kalkwasser every other day or so. I also add Strontium and bioplankton weekly.

The only real problem I have with water quality is my phosphates which get semi-high when I don't run a phosphate filter pad. It is probably from overfeeding, but I have some picky eaters so it seems necessary.

Hey I liked my system 12. Oops! Did I use the past tense? Hey, somebody switched it for a 28 bowfront. Why I aughta...... System 12 is a cool tank. Tough to upgrade the hood. The pics above show they do work. Would I buy another? Only if I wanted a really easy, bullet proof FW tank with live plants. Just what it was designed for and does the job well. My kids each have one. Keep in mind there is no perfect "system". We tinker. Its in our blood. We want to experiment and change around and modify.

If you are planning on only keeping soft corals and the like, I think the Eclipse 12 is an awesome system. The hood retrofit to a 1x32 or even a 2x32 is simple and the stock filtration is not bad for water movement and whatever filter media you feel like running if any at all. Also, it is very sleek and without any major mods, the hood keeps evaporation to a minimum.

I think it is a great tank for a beginner to get their feet wet. Or as Jdsabin1 has shown, you can retrofit it to 96+ watts and grow whatever you want in it with great success.

About 3 months old

another shot

close up

last shot

My tank has been up for 4 months total, but I've only upgraded to a reef since last month.

* Equipment *

Eclipse 12

Coralife 96 Watt PC

Stock mechanical filtration (I tossed out the biowheel tonight... should I still keep the blue pad in there until I get a mechanical HOB filter?)

Power Sweep 212 @125 GPH

9.5 lbs. Live Fiji Rock

2 lbs. Live Rock

12 lbs. Live Sand

Short Feather Caulerpa

Tang Heaven Green algae

Tang Heaven Red algae

* Inhabitants *

Nassarius Snails

Micro Hermits

Strombus Grazers

Nerite Grazers

2 False Percs

1 baby Blue Tang/patient

Star Polyps

Mushrooms (Red, Purple, Purple/Green, Purple/Blue, Purple/Green Stripped)

Anthelia

Lime Green Leather

Pink Tipped Acropora

Tubastraea