Hey everyone, I'm pretty new to planted aquariums, but I've always wanted
one in my home. I started a tank back in September, it is a 20 gallon high
tank with an Eclipse 2 hood. The substrate is Flourite, and next week I'll
have CO2 provided by a Hagen Natural Plant System. Looks like just a
commerical version of DIY C02, but I liked the clean looks of this unit.
Anyway, my question is, is this setup sufficient to do a decent beginner's
plant tank? I'm particularly concerned about the lighting, whether the
Eclipse hood is adaquate. I have some Java moss and some Wisteria growing
pretty well in this tank, but then I have some kind of sword (they all look
the same to me at this point) that isn't doing too well. It hasn't died, it
just isn't growing, at all and it is not as healthy looking as I'd like for
it to be. I'm hoping that the CO2 will help it some. I also keep about 16
neon tetras in the tank and one pleco. Anyway, any advice will be greatly
appreciated. Thanks.

Daniel

"Daniel C. Smith" wrote:

Hey everyone, I'm pretty new to planted aquariums, but I've always wanted
one in my home. I started a tank back in September, it is a 20 gallon high
tank with an Eclipse 2 hood. The substrate is Flourite, and next week I'll
have CO2 provided by a Hagen Natural Plant System. Looks like just a
commerical version of DIY C02, but I liked the clean looks of this unit.
Anyway, my question is, is this setup sufficient to do a decent beginner's
plant tank?

Sounds just like my setup - same tank and hood, same substrate. The
only difference is that my CO2 system is a DIY. I'd love to have the
little clear plastic gizmo from the Hagen system, but not enough to
buy the complete kit.

I'm particularly concerned about the lighting, whether the
Eclipse hood is adaquate. I have some Java moss and some Wisteria growing
pretty well in this tank, but then I have some kind of sword (they all look
the same to me at this point) that isn't doing too well.

Depends on the plant from what I've been reading. My Anacharis, Rotala
Indica, and Red Ludwigia are all doing pretty well - growth is pretty
decent and obvious, though I'm certainly not having to trim anything
back like some accounts that I read.

I've also got an Amazon Sword, and like yours, it seems to be pretty
much in a holding pattern. Not dead, but not visibly growing, either.

Anyway, any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I'm sure there is some low cost, low impact way to upgrade the
lighting in an Eclipse hood, though I've not yet found any details
about it. For myself, in the future I'm planning to stick with plants
that have more modest lighting requirements.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

I'm sure there is some low cost, low impact way to upgrade the
lighting in an Eclipse hood,

There is. Several companies now make light upgrade kits meant just for Eclipse
hoods.

Not sure how low-cost they are, though.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

I'm sure there is some low cost, low impact way to upgrade the
lighting in an Eclipse hood, though I've not yet found any details
about it. For myself, in the future I'm planning to stick with plants
that have more modest lighting requirements.

Thanks for the help. I saw this kit at
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...6&pCatId=3811,
it might be what you are looking for, I was wondering about it myself. I
think I'm going to try the CO2 kit first to see how much it helps, and if I
still need more light I'll try this. By the way, how much of a difference
did you notice when you added the CO2?

Daniel

I've found two problems with the SystemX products. The first is the amount
of light and the second is its distribution.

The lamps provided are too low wattage for vigorous growth although low
light plants used thoughtfully can create a nice aquarium. I've been able to
put AHS reflectors and lamps in the System3 and they just barely fit.
Similar lamps and reflectors should fit fine in the larger SystemX hoods.

The other problem is distribution of the light. The filter assembly lowers
the amount of light that makes it to the rear and plants tend to tilt
abnormally toward the front as a result. The AHS reflectors help somewhat
since they do a pretty good job of distributing the light. You can always
select your background plants for lower light requirements but it will be
somewhat limiting.

good luck

jtm

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Remove NOSPAM for email replies

"Daniel C. Smith" wrote in message m...
I'm sure there is some low cost, low impact way to upgrade the
lighting in an Eclipse hood, though I've not yet found any details
about it. For myself, in the future I'm planning to stick with plants
that have more modest lighting requirements.

Thanks for the help. I saw this kit at
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...6&pCatId=3811,
it might be what you are looking for, I was wondering about it myself. I
think I'm going to try the CO2 kit first to see how much it helps, and if I
still need more light I'll try this. By the way, how much of a difference
did you notice when you added the CO2?

Daniel

I've recently put just such a retrofit kit in my Eclipse System3 hood
over a 29 Gal tank. Using the CustomSeaLife SmartLite bulb, the
amount of apparent light has increased, although to my eye the
Flourite looks a bit washed out due to the actinic side of the bulb.
Some plants, like the Hygrophillia, Radican Sword, Java Fern and Micro
chain sword have taken off since the lighting change. Others are
doing decent, but no spectacular growth. I'm not doing any CO2
supplimentation at this point, but am using Flourish Excel with
supplies an organic carbon source. I also had a burst of green hair
algie until my Otos found it I will add that the total spectrum of
the SmartLite makes my Neons, Cardinals and Blue Rams fweaking glow!
Which looks very nice against the green of the plants and the black
background of the tank

Conclusion: While this is a pricey upgrade for the hood, I've no
regrets on this. I was aware of the limitaiton of the Eclipse System
of hoods when I set this tank up, and the trade off for light upgrade
is balenced by having the filter system readily accessible. My only
complaint is that the pond snails I keep seem to delight in getting up
into the BioWheel and grinding their shells on the wheel in the middle
of the night.

They sell the Hagen bubble counter/diffuser seperately now.


"Eric Schreiber" wrote in message
...
"Daniel C. Smith" wrote:

Hey everyone, I'm pretty new to planted aquariums, but I've always wanted
one in my home. I started a tank back in September, it is a 20 gallon
high
tank with an Eclipse 2 hood. The substrate is Flourite, and next week
I'll
have CO2 provided by a Hagen Natural Plant System. Looks like just a
commerical version of DIY C02, but I liked the clean looks of this unit.
Anyway, my question is, is this setup sufficient to do a decent
beginner's
plant tank?

Sounds just like my setup - same tank and hood, same substrate. The
only difference is that my CO2 system is a DIY. I'd love to have the
little clear plastic gizmo from the Hagen system, but not enough to
buy the complete kit.

I'm particularly concerned about the lighting, whether the
Eclipse hood is adaquate. I have some Java moss and some Wisteria growing
pretty well in this tank, but then I have some kind of sword (they all
look
the same to me at this point) that isn't doing too well.

Depends on the plant from what I've been reading. My Anacharis, Rotala
Indica, and Red Ludwigia are all doing pretty well - growth is pretty
decent and obvious, though I'm certainly not having to trim anything
back like some accounts that I read.

I've also got an Amazon Sword, and like yours, it seems to be pretty
much in a holding pattern. Not dead, but not visibly growing, either.

Anyway, any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I'm sure there is some low cost, low impact way to upgrade the
lighting in an Eclipse hood, though I've not yet found any details
about it. For myself, in the future I'm planning to stick with plants
that have more modest lighting requirements.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

"SteveG" wrote:

They sell the Hagen bubble counter/diffuser seperately now.

Yup, I discovered that yesterday. Already have one on order

--
www.ericschreiber.com

In , "Daniel C. Smith"
empowered us with this mighty blow against the Patriarchy:

Hey everyone, I'm pretty new to planted aquariums, but I've always
wanted one in my home. I started a tank back in September, it is a 20
gallon high tank with an Eclipse 2 hood. The substrate is Flourite,
and next week I'll have CO2 provided by a Hagen Natural Plant System.
Looks like just a commerical version of DIY C02, but I liked the clean
looks of this unit. Anyway, my question is, is this setup sufficient
to do a decent beginner's plant tank? I'm particularly concerned
about the lighting, whether the Eclipse hood is adaquate. I have some
Java moss and some Wisteria growing pretty well in this tank, but then
I have some kind of sword (they all look the same to me at this point)
that isn't doing too well. It hasn't died, it just isn't growing, at
all and it is not as healthy looking as I'd like for it to be. I'm
hoping that the CO2 will help it some. I also keep about 16 neon
tetras in the tank and one pleco. Anyway, any advice will be greatly
appreciated. Thanks.

The Eclipse 2 has a total of 30 watts of light, so you'll most likely only
be able to grow low-light plants (these hoods can be retrofitted to supply
more light, by the way).

http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-list.html

You'll want to keep your water level as high as possible, so as to minimize
surface turbulence which drives off CO2. I have an Eclipse 1 and unless I
keep the water level as high as possible, the water coming from the output
trough "falls" onto the water surface and creates quite a bit of
turbulence. I don't know if the Eclipse 2 is similar.

The Hagen Natural Plant System supposedly supplies enough CO2 for a 20
gallon tank for up to a month. That's hard for me to believe given the
small size of the reaction chamber, but I can't say either way. I do use
one of their diffusers in my heavily-planted 29 gallon tank, with a 2 quart
soda bottle for reaction chamber, and it does a good job.