Eclipse system 3 lighting retrofit.

[Skippy]

I have a couple eclipse system 3 tanks with the hoods and filters sitting around colelcting dust.

I was hoping to bring one up here to my office to have a nice tank on my desk. I was wondering if there are any known lighting retrofit and or upgrade kits so I can keep a slightly wider range of plants in the tank instead of just "low light" plants like java moss and such.

Has anybody had good success with running a 3 gallon eclipse system as a planted tank? I was thinking a few peacock gudgeons as they are small and peaceful yet colorful fish in it with maybe an otto for algae control and or a few MTS's.

[superjohnny]

I've been thinking about doing the same thing. I was in the LFS yesterday perusing their wares and they had an Eclipse 6 packed full of (what seemed to be) healthy plants and a few small tetras.

Very cool looking little tank. Try it and let me know if I should do it to :p

[Skippy]

The tank comes with an f6 T% bulb of the "daylight" variety.

In theory that's 6 watts of CF level flourescent over a 3 gallon tank I should be fine. I was just wondering if anybody had found a hopped up lighting solution for it.

[carpguy]

I'm not really familiar with the hood construction on the Eclipses. AH Supply (http://www.ahsupply.com/twox.htm) has a 13w kit that is 8" x 3" x 1.5". If you can fit that into where the NO light is now then you'd be a spot over 4 wpg, for about $30 kit+bulb+shipping. If you can't find a place for the (2" x 3" x 1.5") ballast you can mount it on the back.

I know some of the folks at AquaBotanic recommend going with high light on small tanks (http://www.aquabotanic.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=483). The wpg rules apparently breakdown at the bigger and smaller ends of the spectrum.

[Elmo]

Are these tanks acrylic by any chance?

[Matak]

In such a small tank my guess is that the typical Watts/G ratio isn't as much a factor as the distance from the bulb to the substrate. What is that distance in an Eclipse 5 or Eclipse 3?
BTW, Carpguy's idea about mounting it to the back would be preferable for getting rid of ballast heat in the warmer months.

[Skippy]

Depending on the amount of substrate it's going to be about 6-8 inches between light and bottom of the tank.

I dont think i'd have the space for that AH retrofit kit inside the hood. but the ballast idea would work on the outside. I'm going to try it with the normal light but a new bulb and some simple plants and see what happens. My 100 gallon (c02 injected and 2wpg) has been producing so much in trimmings I am thowing out a ziplock a week in bits.

As for the ballast heat, I like it because my office stays at pretty much a year round 65-68 degrees. WHich means it keeps the water just warm enough during the days.

If I can find somewhere local with onyx sand in stock I will be doing it up this weekend. I want to try that for the substrate. If/when i do I will post pics.

[Matak]

Great! Don't forget to send pics when everything is completed. I would love to see a nano-flora tank.