Eclipse Tanks
- Thread starter cranium
- Start date
purplepuffer
Member
I have an ecplise, and the only thing I had to do extra was put in the two new lights to keep the corals alive, and i added nothing new to the tank. I worked fairly well, but I really don't know how to take care of corals. I am also going to be making a mirco reef with an ecplise. I am not sure what I will have to do differently though in a smaller tank.
~~Megan
~~Megan
blacktip
New Member
The nice thing about the eclipse tanks is that they are construted of acrylic. Protein skimmers are important in a reef tank. As long as your eclipse is the two bulb model you can add 1000k bulbs and have the lighting you need for easier corals. To add a protein skimmer drill a hole in the back of the tank and put a 1/2" bulkhead drain in. Drain into a sump on the floor where you can add your skimmer as well as a return pump. And you can build a pretty nice little reef tank.
cranium
Member
where exactly do i drill this hole??? And my Eclipse is made of glass and i dont see anywhere on the back off the hood where i could drill a whole if that is where you ment???
Originally posted by blacktip:
The nice thing about the eclipse tanks is that they are construted of acrylic. Protein skimmers are important in a reef tank. As long as your eclipse is the two bulb model you can add 1000k bulbs and have the lighting you need for easier corals. To add a protein skimmer drill a hole in the back of the tank and put a 1/2" bulkhead drain in. Drain into a sump on the floor where you can add your skimmer as well as a return pump. And you can build a pretty nice little reef tank.
[This message has been edited by Cranium (edited 07-26-2000).]
Originally posted by blacktip:
The nice thing about the eclipse tanks is that they are construted of acrylic. Protein skimmers are important in a reef tank. As long as your eclipse is the two bulb model you can add 1000k bulbs and have the lighting you need for easier corals. To add a protein skimmer drill a hole in the back of the tank and put a 1/2" bulkhead drain in. Drain into a sump on the floor where you can add your skimmer as well as a return pump. And you can build a pretty nice little reef tank.
[This message has been edited by Cranium (edited 07-26-2000).]
purplepuffer
Member
Only one of my ecplises is acrylic, the other is still tempered glass. I am not an expert at this kind of stuff, but I was told that you can't drill into tempered glass.
clownfish
Member
You must replace the stock bulb(s) with a higher intensity bulb, maybe a powerglo, coralife trichromatic 6500k, coralife 10k, etc. The bulb you choose MUST have a very strong blue peak at around 420 nm or so. I would personally use Coralife 50/50s. There are a number of drawbacks to eclipses though. They cover the ENTIRE top of the tank so you can't hang anything on the back without cutting a space in the hood. They cannot be used with VHO or PC unless you retrofit, which can be a pain. The biowheel can potentially cause nitrate problems if you don't have enough LR, caulerpa, and skimming.
That having been said, the best LFS in the area has a 6 gallon eclipse reef. They replaced the crappy eclipse bulb with a powerglo. There are shrooms and other soft corals in there, and they seem to be doing ok. Two damsels, one big and one small, inhabit the tank. I wouldn't do this because the lighting is barely marginally adequate for corals. I will use 4x96 PC over a 55.
That having been said, the best LFS in the area has a 6 gallon eclipse reef. They replaced the crappy eclipse bulb with a powerglo. There are shrooms and other soft corals in there, and they seem to be doing ok. Two damsels, one big and one small, inhabit the tank. I wouldn't do this because the lighting is barely marginally adequate for corals. I will use 4x96 PC over a 55.
snoopdoggydogfacepuffer
New Member
i have an eclips 1 tl on a ten gallon. i have a couple shrooms and polyps, as well as a sarcophyton (leather). under the current lighting (3w per gallon) the corals are doing well, but soon i will replace the NO flourescents with pc's. My friend has lps corals in his 10 gallon with a seaclone, and they're doin great.