My Office Eclipse 6
This webpage is devoted to my office aquarium. It is an Eclipse System 6 mini-aquarium. I had aquariums before, but have been out of the hobby for some time now. As a result, I did not know, or had forgotten about, the Nano Cube aquariums.
The Nano Cube 6 is the same size as the Eclipse 6 (6 US gallons) - but the two are NOT the same thing. The Eclipse has a conventional filter and 10 watt fluorescent light built into the hood. The Nano Cube 6 has an overflow filter, with nothing hanging inside the tank. The Nano Cube also has a much brighter light - the standard version comes with a 13 watt power compact, the deluxe version has two 13 watt power compacts. That is a TON of light over a 6 gallon tank.
For substrate, I used SeaChem Flourite Red. I have never used this stuff before, but it is supposed to be great for plants. I will have to use low light plants, as the single 10 watt light tube gives me just 1.6 watts per gallon. I should have got that Nano Cube deal! Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. I might try to retrofit the light hood to power compacts later. I think a single daylight balanced 13 watt power compact would allow me to keep plants requiring a fairly high light level. But that is for later.
Anyway, you probably want to see what the tank looks like. So here it is.
To the left is a wide shot of my desktop. As you can see, there is space for me to get work done. I can get work done like they used to in the dark ages (using pen and paper) or I can work on the computer. Whatever floats my boat. On the right is what the tank looked like right after planting. The special plant gravel I used is VERY silty, and at the office there was no easy way to rinse the stuff. So I had to just use it was it was. When I first filled the tank, it was still cloudy after 24 hours with the filter on. I had the water mostly clear, then I planted the tank. This photo was taken 24 hours AFTER I planted the tank, and 48+ hours after filling it.
But the tank did clear. I had to use this water clarifier stuff. The stuff causes particles to clump together, so a filter can remove it better. To the right is the filter box for the Eclipse 6. The filter is a neat idea, nothing hangs off the back of the tank. But in reality the filter is not that great. The floss on the cartridge does not filter all that well. And the cartridge could use more active carbon in it. Water could bypass the filter media all together if the floss gets too dirty. But the bio-wheel works great. And I do not have to use the cartridge. I could use a mesh bag with diatom filter media in it if I want. The clarifier worked, the silt clumped up and the filter removed it. I then changed the cartridge. I expect the water to be crystal clear soon.