My first salt tank 15 gal eclipse system HELP!

[jimmmmay]

hello everyone, here is my situation. i just got started 6 months ago with a 75 gallon fresh water tank, which without bragging i have mastered in 6 months time frame. very successful tank with 30 or so cichlids of many sizes that are doing awesome. now my new project has become this 15 gallon eclipse show tank that i am attempting to have live rock, coral and a nice fish or two. my goal is to tackle this difficult task at this size and then go for the home run, a 120 gal reef. my local well known store has very successful 12 gallon eclipse systems running with corral and all, and only using the provided hood that comes with the system. i started out 2 days ago with 20 pounds of live sand, and am waiting on some missing parts for my eclipse so i am only running a whisper filter at this time. i am also being sent, free of charge from the great people at marinland, a different light assembly then what came with my system, which allows for 2 blubs, so i am planning on running an acintic bulb along with the standard florescent bulb that comes with the hood. in the next 2 days i will be adding live rock to the picture.i will of course start testing my water and hope to add some clowns to get the cycle going. any and all comments about my task at hand would be well appreciated !!! i hope to soon pass my wonderful fresh water tank onto someone who will take care of this great setup and join the awesome people in the reef community. this has been a dream of mine for years to have a large succesful reef tank, so i am at your mercy !!! am i on the right track? what next? what to look for? powerhead in a 15 gal? when can i add a cleanup crew? so on and so forth !! also if anyone out there is interested in a awesome guitar and amp i am selling or am willing to trade for salt water setup, let me know. thanks in advance.

 

[alianated]

Jimmy,
First off, congrats on doing so well with Freshwater, and Im glad it went so well, but a few thoughts to keep in mind...
First of all, cichlids are the easiest fish to keep alive. Im not knocking what you have done, just explaining that you are taking a BIG step. I also did freshwater before going salt, but I did freshwater for about 8 years, including a 125 Cichlid tank.
Remember how you could toss a bag of goldfish in your tank for your cichlids and leave the tank alone for quite a while after that? well... say goodbye to that. Ever test your water while you had cichlids?? I didnt.. if you didnt either.. say goodbye to that too, hehehe and also, ever get a fish with ick? All you had to do was put that anti-ick medicine in the tank right? Not anymore.. hehehe
and the list goes on.
So first thing to remember is this.. you will need to put a LOT more time into the tank than you did with cichlids. The tank will be a ROUTINE for the next couple months in your life.
Second, smaller tanks are actually harder. Not impossible or anything like that, but harder. One of many reasons is that a dead or dying animal in that tank will pollute a small tank faster than a big one. Chemical balances are harder to keep, etc etc. So if you pull this off and you like it, you should have an easier time maintaining your bigger tank.
Third, and this is the MOST important..
You got a freshwater tank and are ready to move on in 6 months to salt. Keep in mind that your salt water tank might not even be READY for life for 6 months. Or it might be ready in 10 days like mine was. It just cycles when it cycles, hehe and so the BIGGEST thing to keep in mind is....
be patient
Get a chemistry set for your saltwater tank. Live rock and sand can go in there pretty much immediately. Dont use your filter.. you dont need it and wont need it for quite some time if ever. Your live rock are your filter now. If you use your filter during the cycle it can slow down the cycle process. Use that chemistry set often, I actually cycled so fast that if I had tested my water every week instead of daily, we wouldnt have caught that it had gone thru a full cycle. hehe
You may get lucky and have a full fledge reef in 3 months. Or you may find yourself sitting there testing the water in January waiting for that cycle to finish. hehe
alianated

 

[@knight]

i started with the 15 gal eclipse. there are a few problems with its design that makes it not such a good saltwater tank:
1) it will be next to impossible to keep corals or anenomes as there is no way to get enough lighting. the tank is a 15T which meands there is more water for the light to pass through.
2) the biowheel and tricklefilter are not a good idea as this will increase nitrates.
3) no room for equipment such as protien skimmers or PHs
4) poor water circulation; althoughadding powerheads will help
5) the filter cartriges contain carbon, which is not good for SW tanks as it removes trace elements necessary for a healthy tank.
this type of tank can make an ok FO tank, maybe some damsels or a clown or two, but ultimately, if you keep SW fish, you will get a bigger tank.
good luck to you.

 

[jesuit_flyer]

"my local well known store has very successful 12 gallon eclipse systems running with corral and all, and only using the provided hood that comes with the system"
You'll find that they probably put inventory in that deathtrap in the morning and pull them out at night after they close up.

 

[jimmmmay]

thank you so much for the responses already, please keep them coming. believe me i know that my freash water is a breeze compared to the salt, but i am up for the challange. also i am aware that a smaller tank will be more difficult, thats why i want to start that way.i figure if i can endure this challange it will make my big tank a breeze. now a few questions..... so as of right now i should just stop using my filter all together? or once i put the live rock in this weekend? also does lighting matter much during cycle time or while i am starting up with the live rock? and also this weekend when i put the live rock in should i also add fish now or do i wait while the live rock helps cycle the tank before turning the filter back on? looks like my lighting will consist of 2 18 inch flo's, one i plan on making an acintic, considering the system i have does that sound like the best thing to do? i know that the fish store has an endless supply of coral and fish, but they told me they have several customers using the standard equipment in the eclipse and have thriving reef tanks going at the 12 and 15 gallon size, maybe im over confident but i feel i can pull it off. another big concern though is the Michigan weather!!! today in the 80's and then all of a sudden tonight down in the 60's. my fresh water tank i just let that water go, but i have concerns with the salt tank and the constant hot cold temperatures here. any ideas? and this is probably a silly question but here goes.... i do not put the cleaning crew in until i cycle and have a couple fish going correct? thanks again guys!!!!

 

[bluewater]

I was kind of in your situation Jim.
Had a freshwater raising electric blues and
Bala Sharks. And another tank raising semi-aquatic
turtle.
Mine is only 10 gallons. I saw the 15g
Eclipse. Our LFS has one on their counter.
If you want to keep corals and anemones in
there with the fish, you'll need better and
more lights. They replaced their lighting
system with a Dual compact 40 Watt, and kept
the fixture to put a 50/50 15 watt.
Difference between my tank is that it is only
8 inches high. So I didn't need as strong a
light in the beginning. I do notice that my
anemones don't light my light so much so they
stay a little off to the side where it's not
so bright since it's super close.
I have a Millenium 1000, but I took out all
the sponge medium and filtration cartridge
in it during cycling. I used it for water
flow and oxygenation.
My cycling period completed about 35 days.
Might have gone faster if I bought the live
sand and cycling bacteria.
The LFS which has the 15gallon tank has a
Rio-400 for water flow, a Protein Skimmer,
and the filter which comes with the tank.
They have quite a few anemones and crabs and
snails in there with only 1 marroon clown,
and it's been up for about 16 months.

 

[@knight]

you can maybe get shrooms or apastia to grow in an eclipse, but without SERIOUS lighting modifications, you will not be able to SUCESFULLY keep ant type of coral (hard or soft) in a 15T with a 15W 50/50 bulb!
by the time you modify and fix up the tank, you might as well get a "real" setup that will work a little better. right now i have only LR in my eclipse, without a filter.
yes, you shouls pull the carbon from the filter bay and instead lay down a small piece of filter media or nothing will work as well.

 

[burnnspy]

I do not recommend tanks less that 29gal(especially Eclipse) for novice keepers, they are very unstable.
Your LFS has more experience and resources then you at keeping a micro-reef.
BurnNSpy

 

[jimmmmay]

wow guys it looks like im up against the wall here!!! well i love a good challenge so im going for it! as long as i can keep some fish going and some live rock and maybe some cleaners and maybe sneak in a coral or two i will be happy, i believe i can do it!! so wish me luck, and soon i will asking for help when i get my 120 going. please keep the comments coming.