Want to turn eclipse 12 into FO tank, need help, noob at SW

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
bigger would be better in this case

as far as media any could be used. nylon mesh, carbon, biomedia, nitrate sponge, phosphate sponge, etc

the wet stuff is the live sand but if you're getting LR the LS is somewhat superfluous

maybe like 1 powerhead for a 10 gallon and then the filter would be great

if the skimmer wouldn't dwarf the tank or look out of place, go for it
 
Got it
Thanks for all your help so far.
I think I might just go with the 12, as anything larger, I am going to have a real hard time convincing them its 5 gallons or under.... (freshman year I had a ten and no one knew the difference)...allthough it would be nice to have something larger than a 12, as it would allow me a greater margin of error before things turn catastrophic, oh well.
Haha I am still considering the 6, but they don't offer it in the deluxe which upgrades the lighting, so is that light it comes with good for any corals at all, or will it have to be upgraded if I ever decided to go that route?
Holy cow this is a lot of questions, and thank you for bearing with me, as your answers so far have been invaluable to me.
 
oh yeah the light on the 6 is fine for growing certain (soft and LPS) corals.. but your fish options are limited to practically just nano and clown gobies..
 
Well, update time. After talking to a few friends, and watching another set up his SW, I scrapped the 12 gallon as it looked to large...
So I bought a 5.5 gallon w/glass tops, and then threw in sea substrate (crushed shells and such), salt untill I got the 1.023 I wanted, water conditioner, two tiny whisper filters (as I have a box of them just sitting), and got 2 pounds of live rock (didnt see any other nice pieces, will add on later). Then I didn't like the damsel idea for cycling (since thier somewhat aggressive and most likely would have to be returned after) so I just dripped over 3 black mollies. So far so good, if I can get a camera, might start a thread, to show others its really easier then it looks, and easier then I made it out to initially be.
 
wait wait wait...

you thought a 12 gallon was too big?
 
no, not to big in the sense of for myself, but in the sense of dorm rules are only up to 5 gallons, and I don't want to risk it. The funny thing is though, side by side the jbj's look much smaller than eclipses, even at the same gallonage. Also, might get into some corals too after some more research, as I just picked up a coralife deluxe for real cheap, and while it does look awkward on the tank (I bought it for when I set up the 29 at home), it fits good enough.
 
dude yor RA (much less anybody above him) isn't going to know anything about how big such and such tank is

i got a 20 gallon and told them it was a 5 gallon because i had two 2.5 gallon jugs that LOOKed like they fit it well
 
haha well you will be happy to know i got a jbj deluxe now, bc i got a good deal. As far as lighting (which is just the stock for the deluxe), what options does that open up?
 
the deluxe is an HQI light?

that'd be just about anything..

unless it's not HQI.. which is what i thought the deluxe meant...
 
i have seen some nice setups in the deluxe ones with hqi's you can do whatever you want in them
 
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