Eclipse lighting help

[Grymatta]

I have the Eclipse 3 gallon and 6 gallon tanks and its been about 1.5 to 2 years now. I would like to replace the bulbs in the tanks since both of them are planted and the bulbs dont seem as bright as they used to be.

Do I need to go to Marineland directly to get these bulbs or can I use other brands? If so, where can I purchase them? I cant seem to find a LFS that sells Eclipse compatible bulbs..

Does anyone know what the type of CF bulbs these eclipse tanks use?

Oh..and does anyone know the recommended hours of light you should have for low light plants? I typically leave my lights on for about 7 hours. Wondering if I should increase the hours?


thanks

 

[Lotus]

I believe the lights are T8 bulbs. I bought my replacements at Drs Foster & Smith (online), but I believe PetSmart carries them, too.

Somewhere between 8 and 10 hours a day is best for plants, so maybe an extra hour or two would help. The Eclipse have fairly low lighting, so many plants won't do well in there, unfortunately.

 

[Grymatta]

Thanks Lotus! I'll check those sites.

Yes, its too bad Eclipse have such wimpy lights. I really want to get the nice ones but they require stronger lighting. I've had a bunch of bananas, anubias, annacharis, java fern, and moss balls in there for almost a year now and they flourish ok..

 

[poppa23]

Is there any way to replace the bulb and put in a stronger bulb or rig it to house stronger lighting? I have a system 6 myself.

 

[Grymatta]

I've seen some sort of retrofit kit but its only for the Eclipse HOOD System, not the Eclipse TANK system. Eclipse makes separate hoods that can be retrofitted with stronger lighting but I have yet to see any for the complete tank systems.

My LFS told me that you cant change the lighting in the Eclipse tank systems too..

 

[Seiryoku]

The problem with modding the lighting in the tank systems is the filtration. It takes up almost half the space under the hood.

I found a way to get 36w in a 12g system, but I would have to remove the filtration...

 

[Methylx]

www.AHSupply.com <-- claim to have retrofit kits