Eclipse 6 Canopy

Got a 32w retrofit kit from hellolights.com. The 14in "nano retrofit." The damndable curves in the hood prevent me from mounting the reflector w/o cutting the reflector some. Also, the lines running from the ballast to the light are not long enough to be safley mounted OUTSIDE the hood. Sooooo I was thinking about having a canopy built. Has anyone else done this with an eclipse? I'm hoping that the new canopy could follow the lines of the orginal hood. I know I probably COULD install the lights w/o doing anything but I don't want to have a Frankenstein tank. If I get the canopy built then I could install the lights/ballast in a plexiglass box, therefore I could more efficently vent the light box and help prevent electrical failure. Basically I think new canopy is better, was wondering what ya'll throught.

Well since it seems like nobody had a response. So I'll just update on what I've done. I took out the stock lighting. There were 2 screw "sticks" where the stock screws went in. They protruded about an inch, so I soldered those off. After they were off the reflector fit perfectly. I cut plastic tube to fit the light. There are 2 peices I cut. One goes over the entire light, and the second covers the connection and overlaps under the 1st tube. I fixed the ballast problem simply by feeding it through the hood opening to sit on top of the hood. I was worried about the plastic melting so I did some test runs before I put it over the tank. It still gets pretty hot, but I keep the top open so that helps some. I was going to have the new canopy built this week, but I got a speeding ticket on the interstate. Now I just have to wait for it to cycle. zzz

looks great, i JUST got done installing my lighting an eclipse 6. sadly i dont have a digicam handy, so i'll describe my setup until i can get pics.

i installed 2x13w PC, they fit nicely, i used the two stock screw holes to mount them. i do not have a reflector yet, i plan on adding another 1 or 2 13w, probably in 03 blue(currently the two i have are 6500k). the ballast sits outside the tank with a handy switch for each individual light. all the connections are sealed with silicone and the wires are covered with conduet (sp?). i wired a slim computer fan and mounted it right on top where the biowheel usually is. it's neat cause i can adjust the speed by adjusting the voltage on the transformer. i went to the hardware store and had a piece of acrylic cut to fit over the water and below the bulbs.

i will do some temp checks tommarrow and ensure that it's steady. it currently has 6-7lbs of LR, 1.5" of LS, two turbos, one dwarf zebra hermit, and a small perc clown. it has two different kinds of unidentified hitchhiker polyps that were growing with the stock 8w lamp. as soon as i can snag one of the 8 emeralds from the 120gal, i'm going to throw him in the mix.

i like the stock canopy on this thing, i'm going to try to work with it as much as possible. i'll probably change over to an aquaclear mini, hopefully stick a small powerhead in the tank. this should free up some room under the hood, and i'm pretty sure the aquaclear is a better filter. all in all, this project is turning out better than i expected.

how about some shots of your tank with these lights installed and on? what other changes have you done to the 6?

i bought a 6g eclipse used and am going to upgrade. thanks for the info d00ds....

I put the 32W CSL retrofit on, and the Ballast is wired alot further away from the lamp assembly so i can just lay it on the floor, but yeah i had to bend the edges of the reflector to accomodate the curved hood too.

About cooling: I cut a whole in the reflector smack dab in the center of the lamp and mounted a computer fan on the hood blowing out, this way the heat gets pulled right off the bulbs, I've never had overheating problems again.

Hope that helps,

I mounted a fan on top of where the biowheel used to be, and it keeps the temp steady at 80 all day long, but my water level drops like crazy. I think i'm going to have to find another option.

yeah I had to put a top-off system on as well because of the evaporation.

:woot: looks good! I have the same setup, but my bulb is flipped 180 and the ballast is mounted on the back of the hood. The wires are just long enough. I can't seem to get my hands on a digital camera or I'd post some pics too.

guys, i set my eclipse 6 up about two years ago. I have 2 X 28W running over it with some remote ballasts. Steve, i tryed using those light tube covers, they did not hold up well for me. To replace them, I got a piece of acrilic and cut it to fit the curve and the filter, it sits on teh inside lip and still has room for the hood to sit on it too. I would look into this option as it helps with evaporation as well. Hope it work out

C. Jerome

PS search under my name for my posts about it

YES!! This thread is perfect! I just setup my nano in the same tank last night and I just now started looking for lighting upgrades! What a stroke of luck!

oh, is there any way to splice in extra wire to extend the ballast away from the tank to an alternative location?? I've got wire strippers, decent soldering skills and extra wire in various gauges.

Glad you found the thread. As I said above I did this about three years ago now. I would recomend the 2x32 or 28watt bulbs, it will fit. And yes you can extend the balast away from the tank, in most cases, just ask the retailer you purchase it from. Also it may not be necessary to solder or any thing, if you cut the wire long enough the first time, one end goes to ballast th other to the bulb. Check out hellolights, they had a good deal on these nano balasts it might be in their sale section. I will look around for a photo of my set up

Jerome

what about this?? It's the same price as the one steven mentioned. How long are these 28 watt bulbs?

http://www.hellolights.com/2xbalkit1.html

I dont know the lenght off hand of the bulbs, but if you look at some of the sights that sell them, they will have the lengths listed.

The ballast you linked too looks nice and is all set up to be remotely located. There are two small draw backs to this one though. One, you can not control the bulbs independently(both on or both off) and it will only run the 28watt bulbs. Cost $74.95 ready to go out of box.

The nano ballast they sell for $24 has some pluses and minuses as well. Good- will fire 28,32,36, or 55watt CF bulbs, if you get two you can control the lights independently. Bad, you would need to either buy end caps so it can be remotly located, or make your own with the molex connectors and more wire. Cost $48(for 2) plus cost of making wiring harnes maybe $15, or cost of two water resistant end caps $39.90(19.95x2) is either $63 or $87.90.

So you need to look at your plans and see what works best for you. Two of the bulbs will fit in there, its just a little snug.

Jerome

nice job!

Here is a link to my old tank which was an eclipse 6:

http://www.geocities.com/chesmannn/

I only had 26watts of total lighting in my tank and it did pretty well for a while.

I ended up selling the tank because I really didn't have enough time to take care of it. I'm back in the game now with my JBJ nanocube though.

Heres my hood....... 1 32 watt and 2 13 watt

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...?threadid=25341

its at the bottom of the thread

hey gavin, where'd you get your lighting setup from? I was tossing around the idea of getting the dual 28 watt PC kit from hello lights as mentioned above and attaching a small switch in the power cord going to one of the lights so that I can turn off the daylight bulb and leave the actinite running. It's still up in the air and I'm open to any suggestions.

I'm just hoping that both of those lights will fit under the hood.

Also, where are you guys getting the clear tubing to help insulate the bulbs from water? Would home depot or lowes have them??

I got my 2 13 watts at http://www.ahsupply.com and I bought my 32 watt csl light of the internet some where, most places have them.

i believe you can buy that tubing at home depot and osh.

Here is what i did to my Eclipse6. I am going to eventually do a whole new setup with a 15 gallon glass tank so I can really get the light that I want. This turned out pretty easy and not too hard on the eyes. I have three 20 watt coralife 50/50's mounted through the back. There are no heat issues because of the coralife legs that I mounted. See pics...

The rig job...

The lights...