Modify your Eclipse to outperform all others.
With the Eclipse, a simple modification can save you big money, allow you to change floss or chemical as frequently as you want, and let you customize the chemical filtration for your needs. The improved filtration will easily surpass any hang-on filter for your size tank. Further, The bio wheel is universally admired for uncomplex systems, and can't be matched by the tiny amount of ceramic media in hang-ons.
I have an eclipse 1 hood on an 18G. tank. I've had it up for years. The nice thing about the Eclipse hoods, is that you can reuse the filter cartridges that Marineland sells for them and improve their performance tremendously.
The filter cartridges in Eclipse hoods are installed horizontally instead of vertically as in most hang-on type filters. You can't do the following with ANY hang-on unit that I know of.
Note: unplug or turn off the pump when changing out the custom filter, or you'll spew carbon into your tank.
Keep a couple of used cartridges, then stop buying them. Peel the thin, wimpy blue filter floss off of the sturdy plastic basket. Keep the basket. Discard the stingy carbon supply, and scrape as much as the glue off the basket as you can. Buy a yard or so of thick blue filter floss from your LFS. Most good stores sell them for wet/dry filters. Even PetSmart has it in plastic wrapped bundles. Place the basket upside down on the floss, and cut around it to make a new filter. For the cost of one Marineland cartridge, a package of floss will make at least 20 new filters. Fill the basket with new chemical media mixture (carbon, phosphate remover, ammonia remover, etc.). Place it in the hood and cover it with the floss. You can pack the filter with many times the media that Marineland does. This can be especially handy when removing medication from your tank. You can let it run for a day, then replace the carbon without throwing away the floss.
Note: The new floss will stay down fine and the carbon will stay in place, but because it is thicker than the Marineland floss, it will probably stick above the water in the filter section of the hood. This is actually a benefit. The pump will spew debris over the first inch or so of the filter at first. When that area of the filter becomes clogged, the waterflow will run over it and extend to a fresh area of the filter. When it gets halfway across, turn the floss around and start from the other end. This keeps the entire filter from getting clogged if you stir up the tank. Don't let it go more than a couple of weeks, or it will start releasing organics back into the tank. I have a heavily planted tank, so my filter gets a lot more gunk than it did when I had plastic plants. I'm not sure I would have gone to live plants without this modification.
The only thing I don't like about Eclipse hoods, is the very limited access for eqiupment -just a small gap at one end for a heater. There's no place for an air manifold, or any external equipment. Because of this limitation, I don't recommend them for reef use.
Good luck
FirstDsent@isp.com
