[rededteck]

Any of you out there have an ecplise aquarium. It is like a bio wheel with the power compact lighting and aquarium package all in one. I have a large reef and was thinking of a smaller system for a nano reef. Was looking for input of any kind

[SomeHairyOldGuy]

A friend of mine had one on top of a 37 FO. Not sure how it would do on a reef.
sHOG

[tendar]

These are nice little aquariums. Ive had 30 gall tall a while back and it was a good FO tank but they dont supply enough light for a reef. There are new power compact add ons for these tanks to where ou could keep low light corals with and extra power head in them.

[SPasse]

Rededteck,

Also a bio-wheel filter on a reef is suspect.

Regards,

Scott

[icemark]

My nano on my desk at work is actually an Eclipse system 3 (3 1/2 gal), but I wouldn't recommend the Eclipse systems for anything larger than about 10 gallons unless they are not saltwater.

I agree with Spasse, the bio-wheels (as all wet dry filters do) usually make more trouble than they are worth.

[JennM]

I respectfully disagree. With the power compact upgrade, tanks up to 37 gallons make nice little reefs.

Granted, I wouldn't try sps or clams under them, but for soft corals and many LPS, properly placed, an Eclipse with PC upgrade is just dandy.

If you're that worried about the bio-wheel (I've got no problems in my 5 gallon, running for 1 year with minimal bioload, and I ran a 25 for several months with no detectable nitrates) you can simply remove the biowheel. On the larger tank I added a skimmer. You can cut the back of the hood to fit something like a Red Sea Prizm or the skimmer of your choice. The addition of a skimmer bumps up the flow rate to accomodate the needs of a larger tank, such as 25-37 gallons.

Jenn

[SPasse]

JennM,

1 With the PC up grade, I agree that there is enough light for a variety of critters.

2 But I would recommend removing the bio-wheel.

Here is a rather long-winded post that I have used to discuss this issue. It applies to bio-wheels as well as other “Wet-Dry types of filtration.

It is possible to use wet/dry type filtration, in a reef system, but it is unnecessary to do so and there is a very high correlation between their use and protracted nuisance algae problems for many people.

Hi All,

Using Bio-Balls (or any other wet/dry trickle media) is no longer considered best practice because of this method of filtration’s tendency to be a “nitrate” factory.

The problem with this approach is that:

1 Ammonia is converted to nitrite then to nitrate so quickly by the bacteria on the trickle filter that other processes don’t get a chance to “lock up” or remove this and other nutrients and keep it from becoming a nuisance algae fuel.

2 The bio-media, after some time in service, tends to become coated and clogged detritus.

3 Allowing detrivors (sand bed fauna) to process detritus instead of breaking it down by bacterial process means less end product, i.e. nitrate. Of course, nitrogen cycle bacterial process will still occur, but other processes should be encouraged as much as possible. Also producing nitrate in part of the system and pumping it about the tank and expecting your DSB (or other nitrate reducing/incorporating system) to process it before nuisance algae get a “crack at it is the issue.

Current practice is to use a combination of a DSB (Live deep fine sand bed), live rock, and an algae filter/refugium and/or a protein skimmer. This approach processes and/or removes detritus and nutrients with higher fauna and/or removes it from the system without is “rotting” suspended in a moving stream of water.

DSB’s are very much more efficient as a detritus processor than live rock and it is quite possible to have a reef tank where the DSB is the primary filtration method. This is because properly set up, a DSB hosts a complete fauna ecosystem that use faunal, bacterial, and chemical process to “process” detritus. It also features a higher surface area and permeability than live rock.

I have probably used, at one time, all of the various filtration techniques, including Amiracle trickle filters. But currently I use the method outlined above.

Dr. Ron, Rob Toonen and other noted biologists and authors advocate this “biological” approach to nutrient export. On a personal note, this method has proven for me to be the most satisfactory method of reef tank husbandry, that I have used in my 20+ years of salt water/reef keeping.

My WEB page talks about the various elements of this approach in greater detail.

Regards,

Scott Passe