Leaky 3 gallon eclipse system

[lordroad]

My 3 gallon eclipse is leaking through the top brace used to support the acryllic to prevent bowing. I've emptied the tank 2/3s of the way and removed the brace and went over it thoroughly with a pen light, and there are no cracks. Same with the acryllic. Yet one area leaks when it's filled too high.

Has anyone had this experience with these little tanks?

 

[Lotus]

My 5g hex also leaks if I fill it too far. It's not 100% level, so that may be the problem, but it's probably just the tank. I just try to make sure it's not full enough to leak (which is almost right up to the top of the brace).

 

[lordroad]

Thanks, Lotus.

That explains it; I can't think of any other explanation, especially as the tank isn't on the most level of surfaces (atop the toilet tank on a sheet of polystyrene). It almost seems as if the brace fills up with water and takes 5-10 minutes before a leak begins after a water change when I fill too high.

 

[Lotus]

Yeah, mine does the same, pretty much. Mine is off level from front to back, but only by a few degrees ... there's maybe 1/8 inch difference in water level between front and back. I think the most irritating thing about it is I have some hard water drip stains on the front of the tank that I'll have to try to get off without scratching the acrylic.

 

[lordroad]

That's the dark flipside of acryllic... unable to use mag-float scrubbers and other scratchy things, but they are more secure than glass, supposedly anyway... and man, was I peeved when I saw the alleged leakless acryllic leaking the first time.

This gives me an idea, Lotus. I'll try to start shimming with playing cards and see if that helps matters any.

 

[DarkMuse]

I just wanted to tell you that mag-float does make the scrubbers for acryllic tanks now. I just saw one yesterday at the LFS. Here's a link to it at Drs Foster & Smith.

 

[lordroad]

Sweeeet, thanks darkmuse!

 

[SoleilReine]

I almost posted the other day to say that I've never had a problem with my Eclipse 3, but decided not to. Then last night I went to check on my tank, and realized that there was a stream of water running along the back of it. It had leaked about a cup of water onto my table! Now I have the water level at about 1/4" from the top of the brace, and it seems fine.

I'm convinced that Eclipse is against anyone using their System 3 tanks as planted tanks--not only do they have crappy light placement, but now I have to keep the water level so low that the filter is going to agitate the surface too much and steal what little CO2 I have in the tank. Grr...

 

[timisu87]

You guys seem like you have a lot of problems with the tank. Whats wrong with the light placement?

 

[Masta_Cheef]

The lighting on the Eclipse 3 is too far forward. Only the front half or so of the tank actually gets a decent amount of light. The back half of the tank is left in the dark, per se.

 

[supapoopa]

I have the same problem with my Eclipse system 6. I read that if you fill it past the top brace the water can pass up and inbetween the acrylic tank and the brace. It acts like a syphon, sucking water out until the water like drops below the bottom of the brace.


I think learning that jinxed me because i would always fill past the brace line and it only started leaking the same week i read about that problem. *ALL*

 

[Fish Friend]

lol thats a nice way to have your fish tank.... on the toilet... so you can just sit back ..... and watch the fish LOL

 

[S.Reef]

yeah, I have two Eclipse 3 and both leak when I fill them up too high...Great for low light corals thought...

 

[sparkydave]

What a coincidence, I was browsing and this thread caught my attention. My GF has an Eclipse 3 that was fine for months and then one night it dumped a few tablespoons worth on the counter. Never did find out what it was, but it never did it again. We were left to assume that since she has to slide it out from under the cabinet to feed the fish that it either sloshed or the hood got dislodged when she slid it back. It wasn't because of overfilling though, she didn't add any water prior to it happening.

 

[Chazwick]

Hey lotus i know this is a little bit off subject! But what tanks do you have?? And you say a 5g? What fish live in there? Sorry - i'm curious. Seeing as you're an expert.. i expect that you have some pretty impressive tanks.

 

[revfred]

Ditto here on E-12's ... fill too high and they leak. I did fix them by removing the top braces, laying on a lot of silicone ... reseated the braces until the silicone oozed out ... trimmed it off and now they don't leak. Real pain tho.

 

[SoleilReine]

^ Ooooh, good idea...too bad I found out about this problem after I stocked my tank

But I will definitely do this for any other Eclipse systems I may buy! Thanks for the idea.

 

[Lotus]

Chazwick: There's a bunch of outdated pics and descriptions of my tanks on the Web site in my signature. My 5g currently has 5 swordtail fry and some cherry shrimp. I recently replaced the filter on the 5g hex with an internal filter, as the other one had a bad seal on it and wasn't filtering like it should.

 

[lordroad]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I keep the waterline on my tank a couple centimeters below the brace, and no leaking. Like a lot of you, mine was fine for months--I guess the brace just kinda wears thin and the sucking action starts.