5-gallon Eclipse Nano

cbshark

cbshark

Member
Hey there. This is the first time I have posted in this forum and have a question. Has anyone ever set up a 5 gallon nano in an eclipse? I just set one up about two weeks ago in our baby's room and last night I installed a 32 watt custom sealife retro fit 50/50 light. Water temp seems to rise to around 80-81 degrees which doesn't totally concern me, but the light is so bright is crazy? Is there such a thing as too much light? I now have About 3-4 pounds of live rock, 1 coral banded shrimp, 3 tiny domino damsels, 3 tiny bumblebee snails and three small hermit crabs. I plan on eventually adding coral, mushrooms, caulerpa and such. How does this sound? Any suggestions? I currently run the factory filter system and also a mini powerhead for circulation. Any input or criticism would be greatly appreciated. I am new to this and do not want to make any fatal mistakes.
 
krunk

krunk

Member
sounds good, but you shouldnt have that many fish.you probaly should go with one clownfish,or whatever SMALL Fish you would like, you could probaly throw in a goby or two. but no, no such thing as too much light. the 32 watter will be just fine.
 
cbshark

cbshark

Member
Thanks alot. My damsles are all maybe 1 inch each. I have thought about moving 1 of them but i'll wait and see how things turn out. The only place I have to move them is my 125 with 15" and 22" banded cats and 18" eel and large damsels which I now won't make for a long lifespan for the little guy.
 
ryebread

ryebread

Active Member
Hi CBSHARK!
Where in Cincy are you located?
I have a 2.5 gallon Eclipse set up on my desk at work with some button polyps....a few star polyps and a cleaner shrimp.
I would get all three of those damsels out of there as soon as possible. The problem that you will be running into is that your water quality will always be low because of the bio-load you have in there. Domino damsels get very large and that tank can't even handle one of them........especially with the Eclipse Filtration. I would try something along the lines of Neon Gobies or a Clown Goby in there.
 
cbshark

cbshark

Member
Hey rye-bread, I live real close to tri-county mal in Springdalel. Yeah, i will probably move the damsels or at least 1 or 2. I really got them to help cycle the tank more than anything. As far as corals, i'm not sure. Maybe some pulsing xenias(sp?), a colt, leather or polyps and some mushrooms.
I'll attached a photo of the tank in its current state. Maybe someone could suggest some corals that are pretty hardy, attractive and not very expensive.
Thanks for the interest!
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
nice looking setup so far. I agree your bioload is huge for such a small tank!! I like zoos, polyps and shrooms. I think mushrooms are good to start with. Xenia will add movement to your tank so that is sweet as well!
 
cbshark

cbshark

Member
Here are some updated pictures. I have added a condy anemone, some pulsing xenia, star polyps and green polyps. I'll post a couple more up close photos as well.
 
reeferdude

reeferdude

Member
I'm a newbie nano reefer so I don't know all that much about reefs. How did you get that light to work and are you using the filter in the eclipse? Can you please post pictures and maybe links to where you bought the lighting?
 
cbshark

cbshark

Member
Hey reeferdude, I bought the light online. It is a custom sealife retrofit 32 watt. You can find them through a google search or at ----. I got mine at ***********.com for about 50 bucks. I had to drill a couple of new holes in the refletor to mount it to the existing threaded bosses that the old light was screwed in to. It fits VERY tightly. But it is great. I get alot of heat from it, my tank rose to 82 degrees so i bought a 25 watt heater to keep it at that temp overnight. Everything seems fine at that temp. As far as i've researched, many coral reefs are at that temp anyways. I'll try to get some photos posted in the next few days. Yes, I am using the filter as well. I also have a small powerhead for added circulation.
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
CBSHARK, we're looking into getting a small eclipse tank. do you mind if I ask a few questions? How much ls is needed for that tank? how much lr? We wouldn't be doing a reef (at least not now).
Is factory filter system good (with lr and ls)?
Thanks!
oh and if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for the tank? and where did you get it?
 
cbshark

cbshark

Member
I have about 3/4" of sand in my tank. I don't know how much is too little or too much though. I just took some from my 125 gallon for a base to place my rocks in. As far as the tank, I got this one from a guy I work with. His daughter had fish in it and got bored after about a month. Can't thank him enough. Originally I was going to gat an octopus. I had one years ago and have always wanted another. Once I saw this section of the board though, I was hooked on nanos. I think these tanks are around fifty bucks. Actually, this one is a walmart model 5 gallon. It is probably cheaper than an eclipse and has all of the same features. You should check one out. If you are just trying fish for now, start out small. I had three damsels in mine to start out and they all got a horrible case of ich and perished. I'm not going to add any more fish for awhile. Maybe a small perc clown eventually and a small goby. Sorry for rambling but feel free to ask me anything else you may need.
 
stupid_naso

stupid_naso

Member
CBSHARK,
Was the retrofit that you got the CSL 14 SMART LITE RETROFIT?
This tank that you got, did it come with a filter and power head? Or did you add that yourself?
Comments on your tank,
Great looking tank, but, yes sorry but there is a 'but', xenia and condy anemone might not be the best choice for your tank IMO. OK, here are the reasons.
Condy gets big, really big. And if I'm not mistaken they're pretty aggressive. They can harm your corals. I just don't want your other corals to get hurt. Added to that, they eat fish. Here's a scenario, you get a small clown, it likes to live in the anemone. One day... Poof! It's gone. Yep, they're known to eat fish. Not only that, but they need variety of food to keep them alive. So direct feeding is recommended. With a small tank, your water parameters will be unstable. OK that's that for the condy. I tried one in my ten a year ago, ruined my tank. So yeah, don't want that.
Xenia, known as one of the fastest going coral. Very pretty and add movement, yes, they do that. But I'm affraid that they will outgrow your tank in a couple of months. If you have the space for it in other tank or interested in selling them later, then you're fine. Just to let you know I guess. My GSP started really small and after a couple of months occupied one of the best piece of lr in my tank. I ended up selling it to my friend. Just a little warning :).
Thanks and good luck,
stupid_naso
 
cbshark

cbshark

Member
Hey naso, yes it is a csl 14 smartlite. It is awesome! The tank did come with the filter but I added the powerhead. As far as the condy, I probably will be getting rid of it eventually, but for now it's doing great with no extra food. I put a couple of flakes in here and there that my coral banded shrimp eats and it gets a few now and then. It took me a couple of weeks to finally build up a barrier that the condy would stay in. At first he'd move straight to the back of the tank every night. Going on about 3 weeks and he hasn't moved yet. I've got him situated away from everything else so it should be cool for awhile. And for my xenias, they have grown a bit since i've got them, not too much, but a lfs in my area buys back frags of unwanted xenia. Hopefully it won't get too out of hand though. I will probably put some in my 125 to see how they do also if it comes to that. Thanks for the interest and the input.
 
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