what a great moment for me to chime in on the conversation. ^_^

i picked up the 13" smartlite retrofit kit (Custom SeaLife) from dr. foster
smith a couple of years ago. it fits perfectly within the eclipse 2 lighting
fixture. it is listed as 32 watts and includes a half 8800 degree K daylight
and half ultra actinic power compact tube. which equates to 1.6 wpg for a 20
gallon, and also a rather blue hue to the water.

it's given me really great results for a low end non-CO2 system. (heavy
believer in the seachem product line though.) java moss, crypts, anubias,
java fern, aponogetons have always thrived with the original bulb.

however high light plants have never really thrived in the system... most
notably riccia. although i can't really pinpoint this on the light. when i
had riccia, didn't have flourish trace or pottasium. i also used the eclipse
filter system (which had quite a bit of strong surface movement) on the
eclipse (more about this later), which often tossed my floating carpet all
over my tank, and also my anabantids loved the stuff for bubblenests. also
if i forgot to flip my riccia carpet occaisionally, it would disintegrate
then. otherwise it actually didn't look too bad.

i switched out the half actinic 32 watt CF for the 10000 degree K ultra
daylight a couple of weeks ago. it's REALLY bright, and somewhat green to my
eyes. of course it's a brand spanking new bulb, so the intensity should
subdue itself to a more stable level. also since the new cool looking, non
gimmicky (as in comparison fizz tablets and ilk) hagen CO2 system was rather
cheap (*ONLINE* ... why even the good LFSes wants us to pay more than
double, and sometimes even quadruple, not only on this but the refills and
test kits and what nots i'll never know.) i picked one up and put it in the
system about a month earlier.

*sigh* too many variables at once.

since it's not really a high light system, i haven't experienced any obvious
pearling, but i have noticed markedly faster and fuller growth in my java
moss, crypts and aponogetons. although my anubias looks like it just sits
there. ^_^ also picked up some rotala indica, which is now doing okay after
most of the old leaves melted off. either it's still getting used to it's
new home, or it's just not doing well at all. the new leaves are coming in
nicely, but more short and rounded instead of lengthened, at least .
there is a pink hue to them.

the ph bottoms out at 6.5 @ 2KH over the period of a day. which gets me a
rather decent amount of CO2 for the plants according to the tables.

one last thing... i haven't used the eclipse as a filter system for over
three years now, and the plants have always thrived. the biowheel sits dusty
in the closet along with the pump. after awhile the pump just made too much
noise vibrating the hood, and the freaking filter pads got clogged up way
too fast, so i was just forget it. all i use now is a hagen aquaclear
powerhead for water circulation. sure the water isn't as sparkling pure
crystal clear as it could be at times, although it's good enough most of the
time as long as i don't lag on the biweekly 50% water changes.

who knows... since i've got a pretty good job right now... i might just
sack the whole hood and get a real lighting system with some external eheim
filter kinda rig. but the eclipse sure does look mighty slick on it. maybe
i'll just get the external eheim anyways? no?

i'm rather happy with the system as it is. my troop of amano's are still
going strong after all these years. all my fish are happy and healthy
(although my marbled kisser is now a bit of a bully, and that "woolworth"
pleco my dad brought home is way too big now... didn't have the heart to
flush the bugger down the crapper... [him and two corys in an otherwise
asian influenced tank]). my plants are doing great... even without
pearling. ^_^ although... if the additional lights ur adding works out... i
might just do that.