96 w on Eclipse 12 questions

I have done extensive searching and found lots of information, but none that specifically answered my question.....

I am ditching the eclipse 12 hood because I want 96 watts of pc on the tank. I just bought a Coralife Aqualight hood w/ 96 watts of 50/50 w/ the legs. I am going to use a AquaClear 150 as my filter and a micro-jet 320 as my powerhead. The only other equipment I have is a 50 watt heater. Since my tank will now be open, I am worried about evaporation. How bad will it be? With it only being a 12 gal, that fluctuation could change my salinity pretty quickly. I am careful about my chemicals and water changes, but will this be enough? I found that lots of other people have done this, so I ask, how did it work out?

Any other advice for me? I have a percula, a banded coral shrimp, several snails and hermits w/ 10 pounds of live rock on a fine coral substrate base. I am going for corals. The tank has been up for three months now and chemicals are great.

On a non-related item--what corals should I begin with? I love all the tanks I see on this site and I am hoping to get to that point some day. I do know that a lot of corals spread quickly and I don't want something that will take over my tank (maybe just spread a little and grow).

Thank you,

Mark

i have and eclipse- ditched the hood and filter. i have a hob fuge, and sometimes i run a filter in the front since its bowed thats the only place my filter can be. as far as evap depending on your light schedule is mine is 4-5hrs right now due to hair algae prob., it will probably be around 1/4 gal a day. the salinity doesn't really go out of bounds as long as you top off am and pm. i have a cleaner shrimp and he seems to do fine. some order a top off switch from phish1. haven't done that yet, probably on my list for future things. as far as corals anything your heart desires. i got my light because of my red brain. my gsp haven't spread and i have had them for 4-5mo. they are pretty neat, but i heard they grow like weeds.

Hey, can I get an update on your system? I have an almost identical system right now (or at least on order). I have an eclipse 12 (currently stock) with a true perc clown, a peppermint shrimp, a pedersens cleaner shrimp, a blue neon goby, and a few snails. I have a mass of caulerpa also, as well as some chaeto, trying to reduce some nitrate.

I also have a small powerhead in the tank (I can't remember the brand) that runs ~120GPH. I just ordered a Aquaclear 200 HOB filter, and want to order the Coralife fixture you have. How has this system worked for you? Do you have any pics you can post?

Thanks!

check out my system under member's nano reefs...i upgraded my lighting to the 96w powerquad retrofit(cuz i wanted to keep the original hood) and have an ac200 and a bakpak2r skimmer. this tank is nearly bulletproof!! the title for my thread is something like, "eclipse12 woot woot"

I read your thread "woot woot". In fact, I have a couple of posts in it. I tried to find your album and looked under the Y's, but couldn't find your username. Do you have a picture of the inside top of your hood? I'd like to see how the light retro is mounted and wired into the hood.

I'll try to post a pic of my system as it currently sits. Maybe you can offer some advice since you said that yours is bulletproof. Mine has a bit of a nitrate problem at the moment that I'm dealing with, and possibly some red slime algae, I'm not sure yet.

here's a link to my eclipse12 thread. even though it's not 96 watts, it was 64 and i was able to keep the clean look of the eclipse hood. i think you'll see that i was able to keep pretty much anything. check it out.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=37352

the first two pages of that thread are all of my former eclipse12. the rest are of my 20h.

Okay, so that was Sept of 03 when you started that post. Have you added/lost any corals since then? I'm just wondering about the 64 watts instead of 96, and whether it's enough light for some of the higher light corals and such. How's the clam?

My tank is doing great and my crocea clam is doing wonderfully under 96 w. The 96 watt hood is a great fit for an eclipse.

Any heat problems with the 96w?

very little. the CoralLife 96 watt hood on the legs is several inches off the water. My tank might climb and degree or two during the day, but that's it. I do have central air and heat, so that helps....if I didn't have central air, it would get too hot during the summers. I get a little evaporation, but I top off twice a day (you could just do one) and it's taken care of. A really nice set-up.

Excellent. My tank stays at around 79-80 all the time right now. I had to remove a powerhead because it kept my tank 82-83. I tried setting the powerhead on the timer with my lights so that it was only on for part of the day, but I ended up getting a sandstorm everytime the powerhead came on that clogged my filter pad up every couple of days.

Oh yeah, topoff isn't a problem for me because I use frozen foods, and topoff everytime I feed using RO/DI water to thaw it in.

here is a pic of the inside of my hood with the 96w light in it. you can see one of the mounting screws just barely(its in the reflector just an inch or two below the waterproof endcap)...the other screw is parallel to it about 9 inches down the reflector.

oops, i lied!!! i just checked the light again since saying that the screw below the endcap is the mounting screw. if that screw was in fact the mounting screw it would be hard to have a stable fixture...the actual mounting screws are where the bulb holders are. it kinda sucked cuz i had to punch my own holes into the reflector to fit it in to the hoods mounts. probably took 30mins to upgrade(but i also upgraded the filter and put a skimmer on the tank as well)...very easy to do.

You really need to get an acrylic shield between your lights and the water's surface. That baked on salt creep is not exactly a good thing.

lol...it's been about a month since i cleaned the bulb...usually it looks quite a bit nicer. i have just been a lazy ass since i moved

What's your heat situation? I run around 79 with the stock filter and an add on powerhead. I had a more powerful PH in there before, but took it out because my temp was staying in the 80-84 range. I didn't want to take the chance with inverts at that high a temp. I say that, but that was also before I started running without the little flip up lid on the top. I took it off to help drop the temp.

I just purchased an AquaClear 200 filter that should arrive today. I also got a UPS (I'm paranoid) that should also come today. Once I get the stock filter out of there, I'll put the AQ200 in and finish building my skimmer. I cut all the acrylic and got the plumbing pieces cut as well. I'm stoked!

heat is only a problem during the "summer" months...out here in cali. its still getting up to the mid 80's so i run the house a/c and have a fan blowing over the hood. with the house temp around 77* and the fan on i stay from 77-79*...and that's with a rio800 w/venturi(for skimmer), a rio 180 and a rio90(for circulation).

lol, i forgot about the little flip top thing...its been so long since it was on my tank! i wonder what i did with it...

you're building your own skimmer?? that's awesome! be sure to post pictures of how you put it together!

btw...what is a ups? i've been racking my brain thinking up all the acronyms i know but i can't figure it out!

You should do a search for 'smallest skimmer', and read the thread. That's the one I'm building. The final specs are on the 13th page of the thread. Everyone who's built one seems to have good results with it.

UPS is the computer acronym. It's a battery backup, an Uninterruptable Power Supply. I got a 1000watt APC brand to run my pumps in case of a power outage. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'm guessing probably a couple of hours.

I like your hood, but I'm not sure I want to keep the eclipse hood enough to pay almost the same amount for the retro kit that the 20" hood with the same lights in it costs. I've seen them for a difference of $3 between them.

Below is the picture of a tank with the light on it...

I couldn't find the full tank shot of yours to show as a comparison of the two hoods. Anyway, I like the way both look, but for $3 savings, I think I might bite that bullet and pay the extra money to eliminate the heat issue altogether. I just have to make the decision...

besides the issue of asthetics the other reason i wanted to keep the stock hood is because i didn't want an open tank. i have a goby that is very much a sightseer and i know without a covered top he would probably be dead by now! i agree that both look fantastic!! goodluck deciding!!

Thanks. I'll post a pic of it when it's done.

Hey, are you using a surface skimmer for your AQ200? I'm debating on building one out of 1" PVC, and putting the intake down into it.

no, i have so much flow into the tank right now that i don't have surface skum problems really.

I put my AQ200 on my tank tonight. I had the flow set on full when I put it in, but the macro in my tank started blowing like mad, so I turned it down to about half, which is still higher than the stock filter. I will slowly turn it up to give my inhabitants time to get used to it. In the meantime, I'm going to thin out my macro and possibly move it to the filter to use it as a small 'fuge. I have some chemipure in there right now, along with the sponge that came with the filter. We'll see if it fits!

I couldn't believe just how much more light there is in the tank without that POS stock filter blocking it all. I should take a pic of the tank as it sits right now. I have the stock light with a 50:50 bulb in it, and another light of of another 12gal eclipse sitting across the open top. The bulb in the second one is the stock 5500k. It is a decent mix, although I might buy another 50:50 since they're pretty cheap.

good news! i always have my flow set to the very lowest on my ac200. you probably will want to take out the sponge from the filter to let your tanks bio filter get set up(in the lr and ls)...plus the sponge will be a huge reason for any water quality drops you may have. i run a bag of purigen next to a baseball sized chunk of chaeto in my ac200.

yeah, when i first took the stock filter out of the tank i was blown away at how much brighter my tank seemed as well! sounds like youre on your way to a good reef!!