gzip248 Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 Well have been lurking and reading in this board like crazy over the last couple of months. I have the Eclipse 2 system on my 20H tank. I was unhappy with my factory lighting in this system and found in this board the easiest and best lights to hook up in the system was the CSL 32W PC Retro-Kit. Got it yesterday and it is now all hooked up. Very happy with purchase, really like the new look on my system. What my question to you guru's , What corals would you suggest I start out with? Link to comment
Drysocket Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 I've got the same lights in my 12g Eclipse system. I'm very happy with mine,too. If you're just starting out, I'd go with mushrooms, zooanthids, and/or polyps. They grow and spread quickly and they look cool in large colonies. They also seem to do well with uncertian water conditions. Sometimes you can pick up a loose mushroom or two at your local store for $5 or $10. That's what I started with....just to make sure that you're water is up to par. Just make sure that you've cycled your tank fully, blah,blah,blah.... you already know about all that, right? Link to comment
Crakeur Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 when I first started out back in March I had a 32w pc 50/50 on my 7 gallon bow and I had major success with montipora digi, a couple of acro frags, a yellow cup coral (still have the cup, it's filled with algae and yet the polyps are still popping out in some places) and all types of shrooms, lps corals and polyps. With that lighting, if you place the coral high enough the light should be sufficient for most corals, as long as your water quality is good. then again, I had my tank sitting in front of a window so it got direct sunlight from sunrise to 11:00 AM to go with the powercompact. Link to comment
Chief Brody Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 FWIW, i ran my 20h with Eclipse 2 hood and a 32w CSL retrofit for almost 1 year. I didn't have much luck keeping any corals looking healthy. I was keeping them low in the tank and now that i am a bit smarter about all this, i realize that they should have been closer to the light source. They didn't die or anything, but the were pale and small. I also only had about 27lbs of rock, I now have about 40. Recently i added another 32w CSL Supernova attached the back cover. the light sits between the filter bed and the front cover lighting assembly. My corals now sit high and low in the tank and are much happier. GZIP248: i almost managed to sneak in an internal skimmer by cutting the brace on the left hand side of the filter. It didn't effect the filter support and allowed me to get the skimmer inside and under the hood keeping the nice clean Eclipse lines. I think in a few months I will add another 32w CSL in the lighting assembly for a total of 96w PC HTH Link to comment
gzip248 Posted January 17, 2003 Author Share Posted January 17, 2003 Brody do you have anything plastic shield covering the second set of lights? Link to comment
Chief Brody Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 No, I purchased the 32w CSL Supernova (www.petsolutions.com $69.99), which has moisture resistant end caps. I had to bend the reflector abit to fit it in gap between filter bed and the original lighting cover. The reflector slips in between the light and the filter bed and acts as a splash barrier. I honestly wasn't getting that much splash to begin with, but the little extra protection doesn't hurt. i have that light on grounded timer and surge protector, and it sits about 3" above the water. I showed it to an electrician who happened to be at my house recently and he said it shuld be safe enough. I hope to borrow the digi-cam from work soon and snap a few pics to show you. Link to comment
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