Eclipse System 6

[Sugar Magnolia]

Just wondering if any of you nano-ers are running an Eclipse System 6. I just switched mine over to SW about a month ago. I was wondering about the upkeep - like how often water changes should be done, that sort of thing. Mine's finished cycling but I'm going to take out all the crushed shells that the LFS talked me into and replace it with ls, so I guess I'll be starting the cycling process all over again.

Any feedback you could give me would be great since I'm pretty clueless on this whole SW thing!:p

[Sugar Magnolia]

Hellooo...anyone that's reading this can add their 2 cents!!

[Buzzfish]

sorry man, just saw your thread.

Yeah I'm running an eclipse 6 and have been for about 4 months. Right now i only have a false percula clown, an emerald crab, 6 astrea and 6 narsius snails. The one thing i'm going to do is upgrade my lighting, there seems to be much more algae and good stuff growing towards the top of the tank, but not much on the bottom or on the lower parts of the rocks. The bulb they come with i don't think is all that great. but as far as water cahnges go, I do a gallon every week and everything stays at the right levels, but then again i don't have much load yet.

Wish i could be of more help, but it's a experiment for me too. :)

let meknow how yours turns out too.

[Mickey]

For what it's worth, I wouldn't bother to replace the shells with live sand. A tank that small won't really support a deep sand bed that functions well anyway so it probably isn't worth the extra effort.

I have coarse crushed coral in a 10 gallon and a deep sand bed in a 65 gallon. The nano tank looks great, I just need to upgrade my lighting.

Mickey

[Sugar Magnolia]

Thank you guys. Let me know what bulb you are going to upgrade to. Mine is the bulb that came with my Eclipse and it's over tow years old so "I know it's about shot.

[AzSnake]

Originally posted by cajastan
Thank you guys. Let me know what bulb you are going to upgrade to. Mine is the bulb that came with my Eclipse and it's over tow years old so "I know it's about shot.

Go with something like 2 13w power compacts like you can get at AHsupply. I got my whole setup for under 50 buck and that included shipping.
AHsupply (http://www.ahsupply.com/twox.htm)
Or go to Hellowlights
Hellolights (http://hellolights.com/)

I added the 2 13w PC's to my Eclipse 6 setup and they work great. I even think you could get 2 36watt bulbs in the hood (but im not sure about that)

[Polyak]

Eclipse 6 lighting retro: http://www.turetsky.org/nanoreef/


I did basically the same shown in the link to mine last January. Been running great ever since. I used a few more vent things though. I was worried about heat, and was hoping the extra vents would minimize condensation. I used 5 on the top, and 1 on each side. Heat is a non issue, but the condensation was not effected, unfortunately.

Also, I use no filtration, unlike the one in the link. I use only live sand and live rock, have had no problems.

As far as replacing the the CC with LS. I would if you didn't mind too much. Then add a live sand activator kit from IPSF. You'll then have a very diverse cleanup crew ready to tackle anything you throw at it. I actually have 3.5" of sand in my Eclipse 6. I think most people do 2", I got a little carried away I guess. I wouldn't use that much again in a nano.

The lighting retro is real easy to do. having the (2) lights instead of the (1) original is a huge improvement for these little tanks.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I've got live sand coming by fed ex tomorrow, so I'll have the tank back in the cycling process again. That'll give me time to figure out the lights. I was hoping to just go with a single bulb to fit into the socket on the hood but it seems like you guys recommend the dual bulb method. I did check out that one site that walked you through the Eclipse 6 set up and it looks pretty complicated. I'll check out those other two sites to see what there is out there.
For now I'm planning a fish and clean-up crew tank. No corals or anemones. I'd probably kill them! Do you really think I'll need the dual light set up for that or can I just bump up the wattage on my bulb?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Back again. I was just looking at clean up inhabitants. How may can I put in a system 6? I think I read somewhere that I could put about four or five critters in there. I was looking at: Bumble bee snail, peppermint shrimp, Nassarius snail, Emerald Crab and Red scarlet hermit. Too many? And what will they eat if my algae is low. right now I've got only a little bit of hair algae. I had a jewel damsel that ate it all. Of cours I need to re-cycle before I add the critters. how about a feather duster? Any ideas?