Need help with Eclipse 6 filter

WeedCali

WeedCali

Certified Dubhead
Dec 14, 2009
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Adam
So my science teacher has about 7 goldfish in a cylindrical tank with a tetra HOB filter. i didnt like that they were in a tank with barely and floor space so i told her i would help out and set up an aquarium for her.

She ended up getting a Marineland Eclipse 6 tank from her mom with the hood/filter/light deal goin on so i cleaned it out and got it ready for setup. She already had a bag of playsand so i cleaned some and used it. along with the Eclipse, she gave her some assorted chemicals, rocks and replacement filter cartridges. So i get it filled with the sand and some river rocks and started filling it and i ended up using half of the water from the cylinder tank. by the time i got to putting the filter together and trying it out, i had noticed that it had a hard time priming. it had suction when i put my finger up to it but only very slight. Since ive never dealt with this tank before, can anyone tell me how much suction i should be expecting?

I just ended up putting the Tetra HOB on it with replaced carbon.

I would appreciate any useful info, thanks :goldfish::goldfish::goldfish:
 
SO has an Eclipse 12 and looking at pictures I am assuming the 6 is the same deal only smaller--water intake on the left, pours into a channel across the top back of the tank, runs over a biowheel then back into tank?

It is VERY tricky to restart after it's been shut off for more than a moment or two. You have to get the water level up to about an inch below full, then pour water out of a cup or something into the recess next to the intake tube with the motor running. It may take cup after cup to get it to "catch" and start flowing across, thus the suggestion to start with the water level a bit low. Otherwise you have to take out a cupful as fast as you're pouring another one in, to prevent overflow.

As long as the impeller is spinning though it should catch eventually. Our first one quit after about 6 weeks and there were Intemperate Words exchanged with Marineland customer service. They sent us a replacement unit (missing a few parts like the biowheel, which I suppose is only fair since all CS departments assume complainers seeking parts replacements are crooks :) ) and it worked fine. Then we had a power outage over the summer and it wouldn't restart after that. I finally wound up taking both units apart and swapping out impellers until one of them got tired of the game and decided to run. Has been perfectly fine since then.

After this experience I wouldn't have an Eclipse type setup myself but I understand you're dealing with what you were given to work with. If this isn't in the classroom yet I'd keep it home for now what with the holiday break coming up. Who knows if the janitor shuts all the power off when the buildings are going to be empty for a few days to save on the electric bill?

It was nice of you to go to this trouble for your teacher, and the goldfish.
 
thanks for the info!

i didnt mess with it for very long so im gonna see what i can do tomorrow.

I dont think the janitor shuts off power during break, were gonna cycle the tank during break and it is in the class. at the moment i have on two of this fish in the Eclipse to see how it wil help cycling.
 
Ok so i got it going today. i ended up pulling it apart to see the impeller. I removed and rubbed off the impeller and ran it for like 2 seconds out of water to make sure it spun and it did, so i put it back together. all i did was stick it on the tank and turned it on and it immediately sucked up water and began filtering.

So I dont know if maybe it wasnt cleaned out properly before being stored or what but it works great now :)
 
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