Question

[kalisad]

Hi everyone. I have a question about lighting. I currently have a 55 gallon eeclipse saltwater aquarium and I also have a 10 gallon hospital tank. I was interested in adding another tank (reef only) to my home office. I looked at a 25 gallon eclipse. Okay, the lighting is the issue. I was told that I can upgrade the lighting which I know I can because I have power compact lighting in my 55 gallon aquarium but it's not enough. The maximum watt is 32 on the retro fits that I currently have. The guy at the LFS said I could do something with the hood and hang a filter on the back. I DO NOT WANT TO HANG A FILTER ON THE BACK!! Sorry for yelling but I am currently dealing with the nightmare on the 10 gallon hospital tank. The salt evaporates from the top and gets on the walls and drops on the floor. It's just a terrible mess. I would really like to start up a small reef though. How do you guys have these beautiful reef tanks when it's so difficult to get the lighting. I am sure you guys are not hanging these filters on the back of the tanks. ........are you? Please let me know. Thanks.

 

[michaeltx]

most people here use what is called Reef Ready which has holes drilled in the bottom and feeds a seperate tank in the stand. I use hang on filters for added circulation with the back painted black so you dont see them. as far as the eclipse hoods I dont think you are going to be able to add enough light in that hood to keep alot of stuff but I am not to familiar with the 55 gallon ecplise hoods.
something you could think about doing is ditching the ecplise hood and building or getting a full canopy for the top and that opens a lot of space to add lights or what ever else you want to do .
HTH
Mike

 

[a&m aggie 04']

most people dont use hang on the back filters, instead use an overflow (built in, or hang on) going down to a sump. Where you can put skimmers, filters, heaters, pumps, ect. If you have a DSB (Deep Sand Bed) and adequet rock (1-2 lbs per gallon) that should be the only filtration you need. And most dont use the eclipse hood for reef tanks, you can get VHO, PCs or MH's for your lighting. The lighting is not hard to find, many sites sell good lighting- do some searches and you'll be able to find them.
Mark