Just set up my 12 gallon eclipse Nano!

Well sort of, nothing in there but water so far, perfectly mixed and holding steady at 80 degrees.

On Wednesday I plan on adding live sand and rock. Once that is in place, do I need any other critters to cycle the tank, or is there enough bio-load in there from the live rock and sand?

Thanks, I have cycled many a fish only tank, this is my first reef tank and my first time using natural filtration. I am a noob.

Nope. Don't add a thing. Let the tank cycle for a few weeks and be sure to get some test kits to track the cycle so you'll know when you're finished and can add the clean up crew.

I just finished cycling my 12 gallon Eclipse. It only took me a week too. I have 17 lb of LR and 20 lb of arag-alive sand. I really recomend the arag-alive stuff Im pretty sure it sped my cycle up alot and it was like 15 bucks. Its full of bacteria.

Awesome information, thanks for your responses!

Hmmm well nothing is in the tank yet and I've run into my first mystery. I purposely unplugged my heater last night (nothing is in the tank) and even put some ice in the tank to lower the temperature to around 78.

This morning, the tank is back up to 80. The light was off, the heater was unplugged, it was dark, and the ambient temperature in the room was about 72.

All I think it can be is the pumps, I'm running 2 Rio 200's and the standard eclipse 12 pump through the tray. Is this too much flow? I'm thinking the pumps may be running hot and the water circulating so much around the pumps that its acting as an effective heater for the entire tank.

Once I got the PC 32 retro light kit in, I expected to have to tweak a bit to get the heat right, but this was in a cool room with the lights off and the heater unplugged....

The pumps are driven by impellers, they will certainly generate some heat. 2 degrees from your powerheads and filter in a small volume of water is not unlikely.

For grins, remove the rios (seeing as you have sand or rock) and see what impact that has on your temps.

Good advice, as I left the house this morning, I unplugged them.

As the only powered devices in the tank, the pumps have to be it. If as expected, the temp falls a bit, I'll plug one back in check the difference etc. I'm just a bit concerned as I have not even added lighting yet, the room is easily 8 degrees cooler than the tank, the heater is unplugged, and my tank is hovering around its maximum temp....

I have the 12gal Eclipse also.

Try leaving the hood panel open. My tank with 2x32W was getting a bit warm also. By leaving the panel open it made a huge difference. My tank stays around 80, sometimes 82 durning the day, and I have yet to have any problems with that temp.

I have a Maxi-jet 440, a Via-Aqua 302, plus the Rio 200 which is attached to the Aquafuge. I feel that the circulation in the tank is the biggest concern, making sure you have no dead areas where algae can take hold. So a few extra degrees is not that big of a deal.