Newbie here! with questions.

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digitalqwest

Registered Member
Nov 27, 2004
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Hi all. Been reading on here for a bit and decided to join to post some questions!

Last week a friend gave me a 37g tank with an eclipse setup with filter and such. He hadit up with fish in it the day before he gave it to me he drained it down and left 3 inches of water and rock to keep the bacteria.

So my questions are is this eclipse filter hood thing any good? I am looking at it and the way it functions and it doesnt seem like its doing anything it just lets the water flow over it and into the bio-wheel thing. It doesnt seem to be cleaning the water. The tank has been up and running for a week all tests seem normal. yet I have alot of debree floating around like the filter isnt catching it. Should I invest in a canister filter? raves about those

I got a couple gourami's and some algae eaters in there now for cycle purposes and will be giving them to a friend once I am set with equipment and the tank will strictly be for cichlids.

Thanks in advance!
Mike
 
I get the impression from reviews that this is a common problem with this filter. The water runs over the top rather than through the cartridge... I had a similar problem with a cheap hang on filter I had... So these days I build my own filters... Your idea of the canister might be best. A filter should clean up an established tank in a few hours really... At least the biowheel part is working fine for you and keeping the fish safe.
 
my advice.....

Well, bio-wheel filters arnt the best filters, but they'll work o.k. I would suggest mabye putting in an underground filter with it. But the canister is the overall better choice, but they can be a bit expensive. the run around 90$ to 120$
 
A $120 investment for a filter is probably the best investment i can make, well that is the impression I get. I was wondering if running both the eclipse for bio-wheel purposes and getting a canister.

Say I remove the eclipse filter from the environment and strictly use a canister, would my take need to recycle since the filter is new?

Thanks
MIke
 
Dont use an undergravel filter, they suck big-time. If you're gonna switch over to a canister filter run it with the eclipse for a few weeks to allow the bacteria to grow in the new canister filter. There have been mixed reports on eclipse systems, mostly pretty crappy. Some people put some foam in the filter to catch the big particles, but again, with mixed reports on success.
 
I have a 12G eclipse and the filter cartridges do suck. The water just kind of runs across the top instead of flowing through the cartridge as it should. I just use a hand full of filter floss, which I rinse in used aquarium water every week. On occasion I throw a bag of carbon up there to polish the water
 
I have no problems with my eclipse hood, and know many other satisfied bio-wheel customers- it keeps the water clear and ammonia and nitrites at 0. If you want to make any DIY improvements, add a piece of cloth over the spout above the pump to add additional mechanical filtration, or a layer of filter floss over the carbon insert... Other than that, I can't really see much to improve an already great thing.

If it isn't broken, why spend $120 to fix it?
 
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