How can I get more lighting into this Eclipse1 hood?

[HavinPhun]

I already posted this in the DIY and someone pointed me here. I have this POS Eclipse1 hood that I use to have on a 18h. I bought a 10L tank for it now, and I figure it is so shallow that if I could even double the wattage from 15 to 30 I could keep something in there. If this is a simple "I need to purchase this" then please just give me a link. Thanks 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Honestly... You should throw the eclipse in the trash and buy a sufficient lighting system for the tank if you want to keep corals. I had an Eclipse 3 and managed to tack an extra NO fluorescent light in there, but it was basically worthless. You'll probably find little feedback on modding Eclipse hoods, because folks just pitch them and buy better systems. JMHO. Or you could build a FOWLR system. Or you could keep non-photosynthetic stuff like tubastrea and feather dusters and such.

 

[brandon4291]

what type of plug/bulb setup does it have, NO?

Although you may have already tried, you might consider

www.hellolights.com

look in their Power Compact retrofit section and find an affordable way to insert a couple 24's or 3 13's into the hood. I don't have one to know the sizes, just an upgrade option from the current setup.

Welcome to our forum, and we would enjoy your build pics if you mod the hood.

Brandon

 

[HavinPhun]

I've looked through hellolights and I can't say that much of the retro fit thing makes sense to me. Most of it seems expensive anyways. I may just cut and paste with this http://www.hellolights.com/201xcoraqpch.html

 

[Anonymous]

You can cram a 65 W PC bulb into that hood, but it's almost more trouble than it's worth. I would just buy a nice little 65W PC canopy/hood that will fit the dimensions of the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

I've looked through hellolights and I can't say that much of the retro fit thing makes sense to me. Most of it seems expensive anyways. I may just cut and paste with this http://www.hellolights.com/201xcoraqpch.html

Even better. That's what I was thinking. Personally i would go with the 96 w version of that (http://www.hellolights.com/201xcoaqpcho.html) (great price by the way) but a 28 W should be fine for softies like mushrooms and the like. What kinds of corals did you plan on keeping?

 

[HavinPhun]

Maybe just do a shroom tank or something. This was just a little idea I had, not going to be my main tank. Is there a DIY website that would show me how to cram that 65w in there? I am curious of how I would do that. I would like to get the 96w too, but I think it is too wide to fit on the tank and still have the eclipse filter system.

 

[Anonymous]

This is for an Eclipse 6 gallon hood. Should easily fit in your hood.

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=328619#328619

The light is a Lights of America 65 W PC hood available from Home Depot. Try searching at homedepot.com, I can find it if you have trouble.

 

[HavinPhun]

They don't have it online. In store only maybe? I will check next time I am in there.

 

[Anonymous]

I can't find it anymore either.

At that price you may as well just buy a couple 27W retrofit kits at hellolights. Get the dimensions (including the endcap) of the bulbs to make sure they will fit in your hood.

 

[supapoopa]

Not sure if you are still interested but here is a link showing how to retrofit a twin light eclipse 1 hood with 2X32 watt pc bulbs.

http://www.inlandreef.com/eclipse.html


Its probably more trouble then its worth but just wanted you to know that its not competely hopeless if you decide to stick with the Eclipse 1 hood.


Since you just have the single light version, you could do a single 36 watt PC with reflector ( http://www.ahsupply.com/ ) like I did on my Eclipse 1 hood.

I still have some problems getting good light coverage to the back but its workable. Just getting a PC light strip would probably be easier to setup and adjust to get the light coverage you want.

Good luck.