Lighting; Must I eclipse my Eclipse?

[Anonymous]

Salutations all,

I have an Eclipse 3 sytem on a 29 gallon soon-to-be-reef tank. I have crappy fluorescents. I need better lights. I am not Donald Trump, economically speaking.
So, now that thats out, my current facilitation of imaginative faculties runs along the lines of purchasing a power compact ballast that sits above the tank by a few inches. This is the best I could come up with; I very definitely want to go with power compacts. However, I very definitely want to keep my ultra-nifty Eclipse system as well...
And now, we arrive at my semi-complicated conundrum; is there a compact fluorescent setup--with remote electronic ballast, prefferably, but most defintely at least an electronic ballast--that would, with the articulation of prior modification, sit atop the Eclipse "edge" or rim above the place where the former fluorescent setup was? Has anyone attempted this? If so, what is the recommended ballast/overall setup?
Any info is tremendously appreciated; so far one source has simply led to another refferal, eventually leading me here...
Thanks, and may all your fish and sea-life live long and happily!
-Dan

Ps. Retro-fits are mostly out of the question, for many reasons, like fire danger, high water temp fluctuations (I cant afford a chiller, really...), and overall bad vibe in any case...

 

[psiico]

There are a couple of retro kits that fit into the eclipse hood, but they are only 1 65 watt PC bulb. You end up spending all that money and only get an extra 25 watts. I have the same tank/hood as you do, I've decided to just get rid of it when the time comes. I'll use the old lights on a refugium or to culture rotifiers. It's a shame really, but the hood is so limiting.

 

[ChrisRD]

This might help:

http://www.inlandreef.com/eclipse.html

 

[Anonymous]

Chris RD, I have an Eclipse 3 system...
Will the mod work on my hood? And, that setup looks like a heat-related slap in the face... Besides, that looks like a pain in the lower extremity to do; I already bought a back-pack filter thingy. That seems like it will be a lot easier--just scratching the Eclipse altogether. The next question now is finding a fairly lucrative means of liquidating the Eclipse hood... Anyone interested? If so, email me at [email protected] ; I'll give a great price... *sigh~~*
Thanks anyway guys...

 

[ChrisRD]

Yes, I realize it's not the exact same hood - just thought it might give you some ideas...

 

[psiico]

Well, where are you planning on going with this hobby? It might be worth keeping. You can use the hood on a quarantine tank or refugium. The lights can be removed and used to culture rotifiers. Use your imagination, the hood might not be wasted.