12 gal eclipse system.. (setting it up again)

[bill109]

hello
so i am intrrested in setting up a nano tank again.
it is a 12 gallona eclipse. bowfront. acrylic.
i know it isnt the best tank choice buttt,,, i will make due.
i want to make it a reef. so this is what im thinking...
150 w viper clamp lamp
20 lbs ls.
20lbs lr.
yellow watchman goby. OR mated pair tiger gobys.
then i have 2 open spots for 2 more fish for a grand total for 3 fish in a 12 gal.
i plan to do a reef and use ro water.
hows this sound?
i havent set up a nano completly yet. so lets hear some input as well as what u have done ad experiences..
thanks
pics are appreciated as well..
-bill109

 

[autofreak44]

Originally Posted by bill109
hello
so i am intrrested in setting up a nano tank again.
it is a 12 gallona eclipse. bowfront. acrylic.
i know it isnt the best tank choice buttt,,, i will make due.
i want to make it a reef. so this is what im thinking...
150 w viper clamp lamp
20 lbs ls.
20lbs lr.
yellow watchman goby. OR mated pair tiger gobys.
then i have 2 open spots for 2 more fish for a grand total for 3 fish in a 12 gal.
i plan to do a reef and use ro water.
hows this sound?
i havent set up a nano completly yet. so lets hear some input as well as what u have done ad experiences..
thanks
pics are appreciated as well..
-bill109
my first tank was an eclipse, and all i can say is.... its a piece of CRAP!
do not get the tank! the filter sucks, the lights suck, basicly all the equiptment sucks.
you would be better off with an AGA 10 gallon($10) with a glass lid and an aquaclear 30($25) and the heater ($20) and that is the same setup as the eclipse but everything is 10X better
then you still have room for more filters etc
besides if you used the viper lamp you would have to leave the hood off and the ugly filter would just be sticking out

 

[mike22cha]

Why not set up a twenty aga?
I would get a pair of schooling fish such as firefish or cardinals along with a goby.

 

[bill109]

alredy have the tank..
ur right. i forgot about the ugly filter and the top being off...
wel i want to do a 20 believe me but the 20 i have is a qt tank for my 90 gal..
i am going to take down the qt bcs of renovations..
then i decided i wanted to buy a 6 gal nano bio cube for a reef and a yellow watchman goby.. but i want more roon and my parents like the idea of a tank i have being used.. so i cant buy ne more taks. and the 12 gal has a filter in it and mom already said i cn set the 12 up if i wanted to..

 

[bill109]

bump ne thought.
is there a way to use a diff filter and get rid of the one tht come with it?

 

[bill109]

ne thoughts?
this is what it looked like when i first set it up.
the 1st attempt at a sw tank,,,

 

[bill109]

so how about a little whisper filter and a small powehead in the 12 gal along with the viper clip light?

 

[m0nk]

I'll admit that the tank isn't as desirable as others. The filtration isn't the greatest and the lighting just gets by. I only got one cause it was cheap and my LFS sold me on it without even showing me the Aquapod in the next isle. At any rate, I managed to make a nice little reef out of it over the past 7 months. I'm in the process, though, of upgrading everything into a 55 that I put together a little bit ago. The Eclipse will so be "downgraded" to a FOWLR (MAYBE do some zoa frags from time to time, just to keep them out of the DT while they grow) and will house 3 3-stripe damsels, since my son loves those so much, an emerald crab, and a coral banded shrimp. Anyway, here's what I mine looked like before I started moving coral and rock over to the other tank.

 

[rogueangel]

Did you use the stock lights for your corals or did you upgrade them?

 

[bill109]

ha, no the stock is 13 w flourscent. lol

 

[rogueangel]

Dang I figured as much, so much for my hope that my eclipse could grow more than the Coraline algae it has been for the past yr

 

[moone1a3]

Anyone have any suggestions for lighting for a 12 gal. Eclipse bow tank. It comes with 13 or 15 watt lights and I am looking for around 70-80 watt for coral. Brands? Prices? anything? Thanks.

 

[m0nk]

Well the lighting I have is the 36w 50/50 light that comes with the Eclipse 12 saltwater setup. There are retrofit kits that you can find from other sites online.

 

[moone1a3]

Hey Monk, do you know any websites that sell the top that you have. I looked on the marineland website and they only have info for the regular 16watt light. Thanks.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by moone1a3
Hey Monk, do you know any websites that sell the top that you have. I looked on the marineland website and they only have info for the regular 16watt light. Thanks.
The thing is this, the websites that I know of are competitors and it's against the rules to post the links in these forums. SWF.com has been kind enough to host the forum so I'd like to stick to their rules on this. I'm sure using google you can find something that will work. Sorry.

 

[bill109]

i am having a tough time deciding to choose to set up a 12 gallon or 20 L
the 12 would look nicer bcs its newer as the old 20 l has the huge top and bottom big black edging!
so ill have to find the lighting for the 12 as well maybe..

 

[moone1a3]

I just got a 20'' Sunpod 70 Watt HQI System. So that's 5.8 watts a gallon. What do you all think, will that be enough for SPS hard coral. Also, any suggestions on getting coraline algea as fast as possible. I took live rock from my 15 lbs of live rock from my old 30 gallon tank and have about 1 1/2-2'' of sand.

 

[clay12340]

Keep your calcium and alkalinity at the top of the safe range and your coralline will grow very quickly. Keep your iodine at the top of the safe range and it will tend to be more purple than red or green.

 

[moone1a3]

I am using 15 lbs of Live rock and about 2-3 lbs of live sand from my old 30 gallon tank that i have had for about 6 years, just wondering what you all think about how long the cycle would take. Thanks

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by moone1a3
I am using 15 lbs of Live rock and about 2-3 lbs of live sand from my old 30 gallon tank that i have had for about 6 years, just wondering what you all think about how long the cycle would take. Thanks
It'll take as long as it takes.

Seriously, there is no way to judge how long a cycle will take. My 12 gallon took 3 weeks, my 55 took less than 2, but some have noted theirs taking over a month or more. Just keep testing every couple of days until you see ammonia spike, and go down to 0, nitrite spike, and go down to 0, and nitrate spike, and once it goes down to (or near) 0 then the cycle has completed. You need to watch all 3 levels to know that the cycle has completed.