Eclipse Aquariums?

[veeraj87]

Hey all.. i found a 30 gallon Eclipse Aquarium for $45 with the stand, was wondering will the filtration on that do a good job, and also is it good for saltwater like will it be a descent tank? input from Eclipse 3 users would be awesome... or anyone that knows thanks

 

[curve]

I used an eclipse 29 gallon about 3 years ago and the filtration seemed to be good enough for a fish only establishment but I had to add a small powerhead to the mix for the proper circulation. You will have to stay on top of your water changes weekly and don't overstock it.

 

[lexluethar]

I know the tank, i didn't use it for saltwater, only for freshwater. My vote would be not to use it, or to purchase it for the aquarium and stand and to pitch the cover (with the filter inside). This is just been my experience but I do not like the eclipse setups. For a few reasons:
1. mine seemed to clog easily
2. difficult to upgrade filter, in fact you can't, if you find that the filter is inadequate your SOL
3. difficult to upgrade lighting, again doesn't matter if your doing FOWLR, but you can't upgrade your lighting either because you are stuck with that hood.
4. if you decide to change the lighting or filter out, you have to change both b/c they are both fixed to the hood
For SW i've just come to the realization that being flexible is key. There are 101 ways to do things, and with an eclipse you are stuck with one, stock lighting and stock filtration (which isn't that great). If you are going for cost, 45 dollars is tough to beat, and even then you can pitch the hood (which is what i ended up doing to my old eclipse and got a HOB filter) and do whatever you want with it.
Tanks are tanks, fresh or salt, but purchasing an eclipse almost binds you to purchasing eclipse materials from this point out unless you ditch the hood.
IMHO

 

[jeck]

I have an Eclipse 2 hood on my 25 high and had little problems running a FOWLR tank. The tank was pretty crowded back in '99 I didn't have as much knowledge on whats too many fish for the tank size but it handled it very well with little problems.
I had:
2 True Percs
3 Blue Damsels
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
basic cleaner crew
Ran solely using the Eclipse standard filter in the hood and 2 small power heads with this much for almost 2 years with changing the water monthly and the carbon filter every month and rinsing it weekly.
Now that I want to have corals and an anemone I have modded my hood to hold my new Sundial T5 lights and my new Deltec MCE 600 skimmer. This was actually very easy to do using a dremel, drill, and a hand saw.
Here are some pics:
New Lights

Cut 25% of the hood flap off

Room enough for the lights now

Adding holes for Skimmer

Finished product

For the price I say buy it, if you decide you don't like it well you have a nice QT tank

 

[veeraj87]

nice tank man... keep me up to date yea i am thinking of getting it plus someones buying my hex possibly for $60 and its only a 10 gallon .... so im gonna make a move not 100% yet but ill let u know