Looking to go the route of the reef with my 29G, Eclipse hood junk?

[Cassette87]

Hey guys!

I'm new around here, and just got my 29 gal sw aquarium cycled again, (had it set up FOWLR before) and Would like to do a reef setup this time round. my main question is, how is the eclipse 3 hood as far as lighting goes? As far as filtration, i've got the standard eclipse 3 set up and a penguin 600 PH. and about 15 lbs of live rock for the time being. I really want to do things right, so if it means waiting with what i've got for another 5 or 6 months, i'll do it! thanks in advance for the advice! I have a couple pictures of the current set up in my welcome thread located here: Hey Everyone!

[lcstorc]

I have no idea on the hood but I would definitely add more LR and a good skimmer to the system. Both are invaluable to your filtration. Hopefully someone is familiar with the hood. Do you know the wattage of the lights? That could help us help you regardless of if we know the hood or not.

[Cougra]

The Eclipse three hood is absolutely horrible for saltwater tanks! I had started with that canopy when I first got into the hobby and quickly wished that I would have saved my money! I would get rid of that as soon as possible as it'll lead to water overflowing the tank, poor lighting (even with any sort of upgrade kit) and the pump for the "filter" part of the canopy will seriously limit your ability to aquascape the way you like.

As for the lighting, there are retro kits available for them to add a power compact bulb however this still isn't ideal. The two main problems with the hood is that all the lighting is placed at the front of the tank so the top of the rocks at the back don't get proper lighting. They are shaded out by the filter unit. The second problem is that it is vitally important that you keep the plastic cover over top of the light bulbs. If you remove this cover the bulbs will get splased by either the biowheel or the water landing back in the tank from the spouts at the to of the tank.

Some other things I didn't like about the Eclipse (all of their models actually) is that they require filter cartridges. These replacement filters can become very expensive very quickly and there isn't anything you can really do to avoid buying them. I've tried to make my own cartridges but they met with limited success and some attemps even caused the filter to overflow! Also these cartridges only come with filter floss and carbon, they clog easily and can't really be reused at all. Even if you just use the filter area as water flow you need to be very careful because you'll get salt creep into the hinges of the hood which can cause a slow drain of water from the tank.

I also didn't like that since the water being returned at the top of the tank if the waterline fell a little because of evaporation then it became really loud. The biowheels also had a tendancy to stop rotating making them fairly inefficient and when they do turn they splash water all over the back of the lighting compartment causing the salt and calcium to cloud the light protector. You need to use caution when opening the lighting cover so you don't get water in with the lights.

Another thing I didn't like about the canopy is that it in order to clean the back glass of the tank you need to take the canopy off. This is very inconvient as you WILL get water everywhere. You need to unhook everything, including the lights, heater, and filter.

[Cassette87]

I understand all of your concerns with the hood, but it seems as thought the lighting is the only major concern that is not more or less opinion. Am I correct in saying this? The bulbs are 18w each according to marineland's website, and are marked as "natural daylight." If my best choice is to purchase a new hood/lighting system, what would you folks reccomend? I really like the eclipse system because of it's sleek design it eliminates clutter on or around the setup. I don't have any real problems with the setup as of yet, other than I haven't noticed much if any new growth on the LR. I believe this problem is related to the quality of the lighting. If anyone has any suggestions for a solution that are within a few hundred dollar budget, i would love to hear some suggestions. I would love to purchase my first zoo's or a couple of mushrooms, but i fear that they will not last in my setup with the current lighting. Does anyone here have any other input or experience with this setup? I will be adding more LR this weekend, so that won't be a worry. right now the current inhabitants are: 3 blue chromis' 4 blue leg hermits, and 2 scarlet reef hermits. Any advice or a point in the right direction would be wonderful! Thanks Guys!

[BrothaWolf]

Adding more live rock now can cause your tank to cycle all over again.

[Cougra]

Originally Posted by Cassette87

I understand all of your concerns with the hood, but it seems as thought the lighting is the only major concern that is not more or less opinion. Am I correct in saying this?The bulbs are 18w each according to marineland's website, and are marked as "natural daylight." If my best choice is to purchase a new hood/lighting system, what would you folks reccomend? I really like the eclipse system because of it's sleek design it eliminates clutter on or around the setup. I don't have any real problems with the setup as of yet, other than I haven't noticed much if any new growth on the LR. I believe this problem is related to the quality of the lighting. If anyone has any suggestions for a solution that are within a few hundred dollar budget, i would love to hear some suggestions. I would love to purchase my first zoo's or a couple of mushrooms, but i fear that they will not last in my setup with the current lighting. Does anyone here have any other input or experience with this setup? I will be adding more LR this weekend, so that won't be a worry. right now the current inhabitants are: 3 blue chromis' 4 blue leg hermits, and 2 scarlet reef hermits. Any advice or a point in the right direction would be wonderful! Thanks Guys!

I speak from experience of trying to make the canopy work for three long years! I strongly encourage you to start looking around for something else. I ended up building my own canopy just to get rid of that peice of junk, so I can't really recommend any canopies from manufacturers. I now use two 55W PC bulbs with home made reflectors on my tank and am a lot happier with the results.

Don't underestimate how much trouble you'll have with salt spray in that set up, especially how much builds up on the plastic lighting cover! Your system is still new so the plastic it hasn't gone opaque yet due to calcium deposits from the salt so you are still getting the maximum ammount of light from it. Even with regular maintenance and vinegar soaks I couldn't get rid of the salt deposits. You can easily replace the bulbs with 20W (standard wattage) bulbs. That's what I did making one actinic and keeping one of the daylights there at first.

Once I changed one of the bulbs to an actinic one I was able to grow coraline in the tank as well as many different types of macro algae, however the lighting isn't ideal for most corals. Having said that, i was able to keep mushroom corals and even a colt coral in the tank with only the two NO bulbs that came with the canopy for over a year. Coralline grew very slowly at first but picked up it's pace as the years went on. I was only able to grow barbie-doll pink coraline, unfortunately the purple and green coraline I introduced never took off.

I even forgot to mention that due to the completely enclosed design of the canopy you wont be able to add a skimmer to the tank with that canopy on unless you either cut out the back right hand side plastic or somehow figure out a way to plumb an inline skimmer into the tank. You can't cut anywhere else because the powerhead is on the left and can NOT be moved, and the built in filter is takes up the whole centre.

I saw the photos in you're introduction thread and had to smile because it reminded me of my tank when I first set it up. I agree with you that the canopy looks really nice and at first I really liked it but once I got a skimmer and more live rock I quickly realised the limitations of it. You haven't had many problems with aquascaping yet because you haven't added many rocks.

The way you have it set up now will work for your current inhabitants but you'll need to make a lot of improvements and changes if you want a nice reef setup. As much as I dislike the canopy system for any saltwater tank, I think it would be nice for a simple freshwater community tank.

[Cassette87]

Originally Posted by Cougra

I speak from experience of trying to make the canopy work for three long years! I strongly encourage you to start looking around for something else. I ended up building my own canopy just to get rid of that peice of junk, so I can't really recommend any canopies from manufacturers. I now use two 55W PC bulbs with home made reflectors on my tank and am a lot happier with the results.

Don't underestimate how much trouble you'll have with salt spray in that set up, especially how much builds up on the plastic lighting cover! Your system is still new so the plastic it hasn't gone opaque yet due to calcium deposits from the salt so you are still getting the maximum ammount of light from it. Even with regular maintenance and vinegar soaks I couldn't get rid of the salt deposits. You can easily replace the bulbs with 20W (standard wattage) bulbs. That's what I did making one actinic and keeping one of the daylights there at first.

Once I changed one of the bulbs to an actinic one I was able to grow coraline in the tank as well as many different types of macro algae, however the lighting isn't ideal for most corals. Having said that, i was able to keep mushroom corals and even a colt coral in the tank with only the two NO bulbs that came with the canopy for over a year. Coralline grew very slowly at first but picked up it's pace as the years went on. I was only able to grow barbie-doll pink coraline, unfortunately the purple and green coraline I introduced never took off.

I even forgot to mention that due to the completely enclosed design of the canopy you wont be able to add a skimmer to the tank with that canopy on unless you either cut out the back right hand side plastic or somehow figure out a way to plumb an inline skimmer into the tank. You can't cut anywhere else because the powerhead is on the left and can NOT be moved, and the built in filter is takes up the whole centre.

I saw the photos in you're introduction thread and had to smile because it reminded me of my tank when I first set it up. I agree with you that the canopy looks really nice and at first I really liked it but once I got a skimmer and more live rock I quickly realised the limitations of it. You haven't had many problems with aquascaping yet because you haven't added many rocks.

The way you have it set up now will work for your current inhabitants but you'll need to make a lot of improvements and changes if you want a nice reef setup. As much as I dislike the canopy system for any saltwater tank, I think it would be nice for a simple freshwater community tank.

Hmm, well I suppose I'll have to start searching for alternatives then. What type of bulbs would be ideal for a 29G? Would I be able to keep a couple of mushrooms and zo's with my current set up? I would like to avoid having an "ugly" looking canopy, and eliminating the eclipse system would mean finding an alternative filtration system. If you have any reccomendations as far as this goes that would be invaluable to me. I really thought I had myself ready to go for a little while, but it would seem that I'm going to be shaking my wallet upside down at the LFS I really appreciate all of your help and you taking the time to give such a long and usefull response. I hope that I can turn my tank into a successful reef!

[Cassette87]

do you feel that my current setup is enough to house a couple of zoo's or mushrooms?

[Cougra]

Sorry, I couldn't get back to you last night, I was a little busy. I do think you can have Zoanthids if they are as close to the lights as possible. Make sure they are in the front half of the tank so they an get better lighting. I would also recommend that you only get the ones with the brown rims for now as I found these to be much hardier in a tank with very little light.

However you can get a wide variety of mushroom corals as they are more of a filter feeder. I hada few that got really big in my tank with only NO lighting. Don't get ricordia though as they are more light demanding then regular red, green, purple and blue shrooms.

I do recommend that you replace one of the bulbs with an actinic one though so you get a bit better spectrum. You can always use the other daylight bulb again when they need to be changed.


I wish I could help you with the canopy ideas but I went the DIY route instead of spending a lot on pre-assembled units to save in cost and because I knew what I wanted to be able to do with the hood and what I needed at the back of the tank. I know that a lot of people recommend www.hellolights.com for their lighting needs so you may wish to check out what they have available. One note of caution is to physically measure the length of your tank before ordering any lights just to make sure the hoodyou get will fit properly. I know I tried to get a standard 24" PC fixture for one of my tanks (I can't remember if it was the SW tank or a 15 Gal tank I have) and came very close to droping the fixture in because it was about 1" too short!!

[Cassette87]

Wonderful! I will be heading to my LFS today to check out what they have. I will also try to locate an actinic bulb for the hood. You mentioned that I could change to two 20w bulbs with no problem, right? and I presume the bulb must say normal output on it? I Hope to also get a couple of mushrooms today as well! Today will be an exciting day for my tank! I'll take pictures based on what I purchase later today! Thanks for all of your advice thus far!

[Cougra]

Yes you can use the 20W bulbs but they wont say Normal Output on them. The 20W rating is what lets you know if they are Normal Output or not. If they are HO or VHO (High Output or Very High Output) they will have much higher wattage ratings marked on the box or bulb.

Good luck at the LFS. I know how exciting getting those first animals can be!
I'm glad that my experience with that canopy can help someone out.

[Cassette87]

Hey guys! just got back from the LFS, with 3 beautiful mushrooms... at least they were till they shrivled up on the way home anyway, here are a couple of pictures! I moved some things around, Let me know what you think!

[Cassette87]

I forgot to mention that with the addition of the mushrooms last night, I also added some new bulbs to the hood. I picked up a "Coral Sun" bulb and an "Ocean Sun" bulb Should these be sufficient for my setup right now?

[Cassette87]

New pictures! looks like the mushrooms are healthy!

[boozeman]

those look good