# Cablemike's 37 Gallon Eclipse Reef



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Started a new project.. I sold the 2 gallon nano and got this tank on a frag trade. Its in like new condition but its very tall.. its 30"long,12.5"wide and a wopping 23"tall.. it has 2x20watt t8's but i will be adding 2 or 4 24watt T5 High Output bulbs with reflectors on top of the existing lighting. I built a stand for it yesterday, picked up a heater today but am not sure if i will fill it yes as i have no sand, rock, and cant decide if im gonna get it drilled as i have a 10 gallon for sump waiting.

Im not gonna rush this as I have my display tank and I have traded/sold so may frags that i need to let it rest a while to regrow my colonies. This tank will be populated by frags from my tank and all trades/sales will come from it instead of the Display Tank.

Im also throwing around the idea of Live Framing.. I read about it about a year ago and it looks real wild. I have the guys at work scoping out scrap pipe for me to make the frame. With live framing you construct a frame out of ABS pipe and drill holes in the pipe where you want to add corals. You then drill the rock the coral is on or a rock which you want to attach the coral too and you glue a small pipe in it that will fit in the hold you drilled in the frame. You then make a notch in the small pipe so when you insert it into the frame it hooks into place..

This way you can creat a layered reef without the rock pile.. you use less rock, have better flow, and can have some truly wild over hangs and it all removable piece by piece. Anyways, here's pics of the tank and stand. I think This will be my favorite tank. It just looks so nice. And the biggest attraction is that i havent found a single site where somebody has one of these tanks as a reef.. everyone says its too hard to make it reef ready.. I love challenges.

Standard Lighting, still pretty bright.









A good look at the stand i built.









10 gallon for sump









located in furnace room, no other place left for a tank


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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

This is a thread that I MUST watch!!!!


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Looking forward to seeing it!


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

was thinking of selling it but cant part with it.. picked up two new white actinic bulbs for it today and will get the T5 HO Retro Kit tomorow after work. It's been filled with water but its just to look pretty as i have no rock to cycle it.. may put off the T5's for now and get some Live rock instead.


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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

Don't part with it... I need coral farmers


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

I built a reflector for the T6 bulbs in the unit and what a difference.. the gravel is just glowing compared to the earlier shot. Also added a background which is probably reflecting the light back in too.


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

did you add the 2 new bulbs to the existing lights or replace? I have the same hood andhave been thinking about upgrading the output, but am not sure how, would you mind elaborating?

looking good tho!

M


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Well today we (the family) had a talk.. the eclipse was gonna cost me some bucks to upgrade for reef ready.. I went to big als and spoke with the manager. They used to sell a retrofit upgrade to power compacts for the eclipse but it was pulled from the market as a few tanks caught fire because the lids could not handle the heat and melted. And the T5's are even hotter then pc's so that was out of the question. you would have to get rid of the hood and just use the tank which is pointless of having an eclipse.. so we all agreed that its was big enough to move all the fish from the 28gal bow, 2 gallon pico, and 10 gallon all into this tank. So now its a fresh water tank and i get the other 3 tanks. the 28gallon will be my second tank and its already upgraded to PC's because it was a planted tank.. just need a new bulb as its a colourmax bulb 6700k .. and the 10 will be a frag tank.. and the two will be another pico i will make up as a reef and sell. I will post pics of the 28 tomorow.. i got some live rock tonight to start a cycle.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

redclove said:


> did you add the 2 new bulbs to the existing lights or replace? I have the same hood andhave been thinking about upgrading the output, but am not sure how, would you mind elaborating?
> 
> looking good tho!
> 
> M


pc's and t5's will melt it. found out today.. if you remove the lid you can put a t5 unit there but then is no longer a sealed unit and defeats the purpose of the eclipse.. im switched this tank to fresh and took the fresh tank for salt..


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Well here's pics of the tanks..

28gallon bowfront - new reef tank.

















37gallong Eclipse switched to fresh - merged our 3 freshwater tanks into this one.


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

cablemike said:


> pc's and t5's will melt it. found out today.. if you remove the lid you can put a t5 unit there but then is no longer a sealed unit and defeats the purpose of the eclipse.. im switched this tank to fresh and took the fresh tank for salt..


yeah thats what I was afraid of..

so I'm wondering what about this reflector you built. Did it really help with light output? was it a metal insert or foil? and were you able to keep the eclipse light housing enclosure with this mod?

cheers


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

redclove said:


> yeah thats what I was afraid of..
> 
> so I'm wondering what about this reflector you built. Did it really help with light output? was it a metal insert or foil? and were you able to keep the eclipse light housing enclosure with this mod?
> 
> cheers


yeah i made it with sheet metal from work.. it worked really well.. i basically rolled it around a broom stick and cut it so its tubular.. but before this i actually just used foil duct tape and it was actually brighter but after going through all the work to make the sheet metal reflectors and also the cuts i got i used it instead. I would just use the foil tape.. it works great..


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

sweet. I brought this up once in a thread here, and someone, I think Pablo, said that it would make the light bounce in an un-uniform way and that white was the best to be natural. but this never settled well. I wanted to use the foil but soon after moved on and never thought about it.

This is what I wanted to hear though, I'm going to try it this week. I will take some before-and after shots so I can properly see the difference. Maybe I'll post them too..

thanks


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

redclove said:


> sweet. I brought this up once in a thread here, and someone, I think Pablo, said that it would make the light bounce in an un-uniform way and that white was the best to be natural. but this never settled well. I wanted to use the foil but soon after moved on and never thought about it.
> 
> This is what I wanted to hear though, I'm going to try it this week. I will take some before-and after shots so I can properly see the difference. Maybe I'll post them too..
> 
> thanks


who said you want uniform reflection anyways.. ever seen an hqi metal halide reflector.. its all bumpy to hell.. shoots light in every direction.. if you wanter just reflection people would use mirrors.. but that reflects the light back and not away. whits is so old school.. why is my display tank lit up by one 175watt metal halide? because i have a 100.00 reflector that shoots light everywhere.. would that works with a white reflector, not nearly as good.. its beed proven reflectors can increase light by 50%.


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

hmm I wonder if an angled mirror would be best..


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

I think there's a slight difference between MH and T5, where T5 output is already uniform around the tube, so you want the reflectors be uniformly reflecting, while MH being pretty much a point source you want to deflect the light output to many different direction to even out the light output.

Regardless a good reflector in either case is a good idea, and increasing efficiency is always more green, less energy and cost.

What kind of metal plate material did you use? Is it easy to obtain from hardware stores?


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

Gonna try the aluminum tape today. Hope it helps!


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

they sell a plastic reflective tape now also which is for dryer flex hose vents. its supposed to handle heat and is more reflective and cheaper. i would try that first.


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## Grafix Ink. (Mar 12, 2009)

redclove said:


> Gonna try the aluminum tape today. Hope it helps!


i did the same thing with my 90gl... when i saw they wanted 50$+ for a reflector i almost laughed.... i grabbed aluminum tape and taped the entire canopy of my tank... i actually just used it around the edges as i used sheets of aluminum foil and simply used the tape for the edges.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Pablo was wrong when it came to the reflectors - any polished reflective surface will improve the light transmittance from a T5 bulb over a plain white surface - a highly polished parabolic reflector can more than triple the output of a T5HO lamp.

If you can though, I'd get the metal reflector - I'd be concerned about the heat the T5s can put out at a short distance + moisture from the tank + adhesives in the foil tape.

Oh yeah, to prevent the melting of the plastic, you can use CPU fans to vent heat/intake cool air, and mount the T5 ballasts externally (ie in your stand) so they don't melt the plastic.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

i used the sheet metal scraps from work that the furnace guy left behind. its actually very shiny.. was thinking of using car wax with a few coats to give it a mirror shine. the lights are in a sealed enclosure so no residew will get in the water.


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

tried the aluminum tape, absolutely no effect whatsoever.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

did you make it curved or flat? i will make diy pictures tonight to show you how i made it curved with the foil tape.


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

no, I just applied it directly on the white plastic behind the bulbs in the enclosure.. I opened up the vent slits to allow air flow..


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