alien4fish Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 i am looking to purchase the eclipse 29 gal salt set up at petco,i am aware that the ligting is for fish use so i want the change the flouresnt to a50/50 actinic tube wil that be ok??/ and should i add a canister filter and some high flow power heads as well?? Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 1. You should change the dual "normal" fluorescents to 1 or 2 powercompacts. Changing to 1 powercompact is easy (look at places like marinedepot.com for retrofit kits.) Changing to 2 powercompacts is easy if you are good at do-it-yourself projects. I posted the step-by-step on an old thread: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=10065 You should be able to use larger bulbs than I used in my 10-gallon Eclipse hood... check to see if 55-watt PCs will fit. You can also order a cheap but very nice "workhorse" ballast from: www.aqualuxlighting.com (or other suppliers.) 2. No canister filter. 3. 1 or 2 powerheads of 150-250 GPH will be needed. Link to comment
alien4fish Posted October 29, 2003 Author Share Posted October 29, 2003 ok heres what i ended up with 1- fluval 303 2- power sweeper 212 3 cheap(stock)reef sun 50/50 4 30 lbs of LR 10 lbs of LS with all kinds of life on it, now, the big ques. is what should i do for lighting? i logged on to hello lights. com and was loookin at some of their retro kits .........now, do i want the panasonic (straight pin ) or the german pin set up ?on a 24" tank anty help would be great! AND WHY SHOULD I NOT USE A CANISTER FILTER?? my water looks GREAT!! what would be the problem with that type of filtration?? Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 You do not want any of the filters that provide biological filtration, ie ammonia>>nitrite>>nitrate breakdown. Liverock, Sandbeds, and Macro Algae are your new best friends. They remove waste all together, but are most effective at nitrite and ammonia digestion, while nitrates turn your water yellow and hurt your critters...hence no cannister filters, box filters unless just for polishing, no wet-dry or fluidized bed, no under-gravel, no big sponge filters. The fluval will end up hurting your tank more than helping it. Many nanos have 1-2lbs liverock per gallon, good lighting, and just powerheads for circulation..thats all that is needed. On lighting, go for a 2x65watt retrofit. That is about the biggest light you can fit in there, and will allow you to raise anything from low-light to medium-light species. BTW, on the eclipse, remove the bio-wheel and filter media. Wish I had seen this thread before, I woulda warned you, eclipse hoods dont really serve a purpose in reef tanks. The lights gotta be changed, the filter has to be gutted...so it ends up pretty much a $100 circulation device. My shopping list for a 29 gallon would be: 1x250 watt 14,000K halide pendant glass top heater (EBO) 50 lbs live rock 30 lbs live sand 2x powerheads @200-300 gph (maxi jet 900s) ...if possible...if desired...a CPR HOB refugium with macro in it. Link to comment
alien4fish Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 ok, btw i did NOT go with the eclipse sys. i got a regular 29 gal tank at the advice of this board, ok now with being said ......i still have the fluval working24x7 i like the water flow and the wand that came with the unit, i have excelent water circulation as well as water clarity the only thing i have in the fluval is two sponges in the top dish, some floss and and carbon for water clarityin the second dish and some beads that came with it in the bottom dish:P so....................... what changes should i make? should i take everything out of the canister and just run it for water circ.?? what about water clarity ?? do i have to worry about fog i n water? Link to comment
alien4fish Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 i mean i can always take all the guts out of the fluval and just run it for water circulation too.................... Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 You could go either way. By 'wand' do you mean the spraybar? If so, you could remove this because the spraybar diffuses the output so it is less turbulent...but you want that. As for the inside: I would remove the sponges, they are going to make nitrates...but as for the rest, you can leave the floss and use the carbon from time to time. As long as the floss isnt too thick (to sustain a bacteria colony) it would clean your water up if ever desired. Same with the carbon>> when used from time to time it would polish the water...just dont leave it in long enough to start a bacteria bed. The other school of thought is that all the floating stuff is good for everything, as much of that stuff is food for the filter feeding organisms you will no doubt have...the floating food does no good clogging a filter. The two main things for a healthy reef are this: light and circulation. What do you have for each? Your fluval is not enough. And what are you thinking of for lighting. Link to comment
alien4fish Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 I HAVE THE FLUVAL, i have a power sweeper, 212 i just p/u milleneium 1000 hob should i add that too?and i think ive got an old aqua clear i would have to take it to an lfs to find what size it is, and NO skimmer yet i am told i will not need one for about 4- 6 weeks until i start to populate the tank with specimans, now on to lighting, i was reasurching on hellolights.com ,and i think im gonna go with 24' 2x55 10,000k and the actinic 03, i would go with MH but its NOT an option for me, i was also looking at 24" 4x55 w 2 10,000k and 2 actinic 03's but thats of course more cash and is that tooooo much lighting? Link to comment
alien4fish Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 ok so i will take out the trays tonite and take off the diffuser wand wand too?? so i want more turbulance in the water??? OOOHHHHI CAN DEFF. DO MORE TURBULANCE :P OH YEAH!! and right now i just have a cheapy 18watts 50/50 reef sun on my tank but like i said i will be up grading my lightin next week, and i was think the best way to go is the retro pc units if i can get away with th 24' 1x55 10,000k 1x55 actinic03 so a toatal of two bulbs,OH AND BEFORE I FORGET ..........................STRAIGHT PIN OR OR FOUR PIN UNITS WICH IS BETTER?? OR IS THERE A DIFF.? Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 The straight pin is used by some mfg's (mostly european design), the square pin by others (japanese by design). 55watters are kinda on there way out (having been replaced primarily by 65watters). Just a FYI, as they may be what's available from ahsupply, but no necessarily the best way to go. Many places charge more for the 55watters now as well...not to mention 2x65 will give you more light. I would check out ebay or hellolights.com (if ebay doesnt appeal to you), because you should be able to get an aqualight 2x65watt fixture for about $100. These are made by coralife, and come with nice bulbs. Just go to ebay and type "aqualight". If you do have a little more cash laying around, I cant stress the benefits that even the simplest halide setup would render. You could get a hamilton reefsun setup, or one of the ebay setups for about $200...and this would allow you to not only keep corals, but make them flourish. There are many corals that will do fine under only 2x65watts...shrooms, leather, polyps, etc...but sooner or later everyone wants to do xenia, acro, clams, stony polyps, bubble, anemonaes...stuff that wants needs more light. Just my $.2. Link to comment
alien4fish Posted October 31, 2003 Author Share Posted October 31, 2003 WOW! WAY CHEAPER ON EBAY, NOW LET ME DO SOME MORE REASURCH, I NOTICED THAT THAT THE PC LITES LOOK TO BE ABOUT 36 WATT S EACH IS THAT KOOL?? Link to comment
alien4fish Posted October 31, 2003 Author Share Posted October 31, 2003 AND IN ADITTION TO THAT, you gotta be careful cause some of these auctions are for 50/50 bulbs not the actinic 03 and 10,000k bulbs.......................so is there gonna be a big diff. in the two?? i think the biggest disadvantage is gonna be you cant turn 1 off over another for your cycles..................so with that being said im still leaning twards the retro fit sys. cause i have more control with mounting, switchin lite sources etc. i can always p/u small fans from any p.c. store Link to comment
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