LetDiceFly

I have been looking at these Eclipse hoods, the ones that go on a standard 10g tank. Does anyone have any experience with them and bettas? I have a few questions.
1. Are there any problems with too fast of a current, is there any control over the rate of flow?
2. I intend to make/buy dividers to have ready in case my female bettas stop peacefully co-existing like many here say is a possibility. I don't have a clear idea about how these things fit in tank and stay in place, but is there any additional complications with the Eclipse hood?
3. And of course is there any other problems that people have had with these hoods that I simply might not have considered? They seem to be a superior design over the standard generic set-up I have now, but I have not seen one in operation.

ara

I don't have these hoods so I don't know if they are the same as the hoods that come with Eclipse tanks. But they are expensive! You can buy a brand new Eclipse 6 tank for $49.97 (Walmart.com, Petsmart matches the price). I have 2 Eclipse tanks. They are very good. The pumps are pretty quiet, the filters are good, the light is bright and beautiful. The filters flow is not adjustable but I use baffles made from plastic bottles. The only problem some people reported - do not put a heater next to the filter, it creates a lot of noise (something to do with magnetism).

luna

chickadee

I have the Eclipse II that fits the 25 gallon tall that is in my bedroom and it will soon be home to two little betta babies getting out of their quarantine tanks. It now houses 10 Dwarf Loaches, 2 otos, 2 cories, and a Clown Pleco. They will all share the tank and I have had betta in this tank before. It takes the betta a while to get used to the current as it would in any filtered tank but they get along quite well after they get used to it. I personally think that the Bio-wheel filter that is present in the Eclipse hoods is the best filter available both for cycling purposes and for convenience. It is made so as never to disturb the bacterial bed when doing tank and filter maintenance and never having to worr about reseeding filter media as you never disturb the Bio-wheel to do any maintenance.

I love all of mine and barring the use of the Eclipse hood I would still find a way like the use of a Penguin or other Bio-wheel filter in the form of a HOB filter if you decide to go with another form of hood. It would be well worth your time and effort.

Rose

andy65

I have a Eclipse 6 system not the hood,but I like how it is setup and it work great.

I used a filter sponge from a AquaClear 50 filter,cut down to fit,instead of the filters that they say you need to buy. I don't like running carbon in my tanks and I think it makes more room for the bacteria to grow and live in.

LetDiceFly

I realize that the hood is nearly the same price as the entire tank. But I have a well established 2 year old tank that would be a lot of trouble moving substrate plants etc and would start the cycling process over again from scratch. I have also read in old posts that it may be problematic putting dividers in a bow front tank. I'm not particularly planning to use dividers because my girls seem not only to have stopped being aggressive, they even seem to like each other. Two of them often do laps together swimming in parallel, not one chasing the other. But considering the experience of others I want to leave the option open. If I do choose to transfer everything to a different tank, I would probably be getting the 12 gallon version.

chickadee

I do not use the filter cartridges in any of my Eclipse tanks either. I have had in my fishkeeping: 3 5 gallon Hex Eclipse tanks, 1 3 gallon Eclipse, 3 12 gallon Eclipse, and a 25 gallon tall glass tank with the Eclipse II hood on it. *the last one is a glass tank made by Marineland especially for that hood and can only be purchased through them.

The thing I use for filter media is:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...31&pcatid=4231

I get 12 filter media pads for the Eclipse 12 gallon tanks out of each of the blue bonded pads (large ones) and buy them in the sets of 6 as I use them in all the tanks and also the small scraps from using them in the 25 gallon tank make good little "scrubbies" to clean the inside walls of the tank when I get a little thing or two that needs to be scrubbed. I rinse them in used tank water when I do water changes and then reuse them as they can be reused many times until they wear out. If you choose to use carbon with them it can be done with just sandwiching it in between two layers and then taking a small sewing needle and thread and taking big stitches all around the two layers to keep it inside. I only do this when I need to remove medication and do not have a media bag to put the carbon into.

Rose

COBettaCouple

We've been using that filter floss since Rose showed it to us and it really is great stuff. You'll save a fortune in those replacement cartridges or bags and get more durable material.

LetDiceFly

After a considerable amount of research, I have ordered the following. The twin bulb version of the Eclipse I hood. They discontinued the twin bulb version and I was lucky to find one. I also ordered a SeaClear 18 gallon tall tank 20x10x20 inches. I was seriously looking at the Eclipse 12 System until I found the technical specs on it and realized it has seriously sub-par lighting (13 watt compact bulb in a very small housing). If I decide later I need more than 30 watts this hood gives me I can always get a conversion kit for the Eclipse I, but I think the 30 watts is enough for 18 gallons. I plan to do a lot of planting in this aquarium. I don't have much space for aquariums but I think this taller version will give me more room for creativity with plants and decorations.

LetDiceFly

I finally got my eclipse hood and put it on my 18 gallon tank. As I may have mentioned in another post I couldn't get the twin bulb version and ended up getting the single bulb with the compact fluorescent retrofit kit. The retrofit wasn't too hard although it required drilling a few holes and splicing a few wires.

This thing pumps an incredible amount of water and I don't see how any amount of baffles could make a dent in the flow. It puts out a flow like you get if you turn your faucet all the way on. Incredibly the girl bettas seem to like it so I'm not going to worry about it. They swim right at it, then let it give them a ride, and then do it all over again. They don't seem to be inclined to avoid it like you would expect if it bothered them. They do have to surface on the other side of the tank to get air, but the tank I have has a support dividing the top of the tank in two halves that makes the surface on the other side much calmer. My first impressions of the filter leave me pretty impressed, it looks like a very good design. I put my old biological filter media sponges in the filter housing along with the mechanical filter hoping it will speed up the time it will take to cycle the bio-wheel.

COBettaCouple

They can be pretty strong swimmers when they get their strength built up.