finally broke down and gave in and bought Chilli and Cloud new digs. It is a 3 gallon eclipse that I put a divider in, white gravel and ribbon plants. They both love it

Cool Kris!!! Can you get a close up pic?

Thanks Nickie. That was kinda close up . I will have to try again when I get home. I love the eclipse compact flourescent bulbs. it brightens up the tank and they are supposed to be good for the plants

Cool tank Kris. Now pics with Chilli and Cloud in residence please

Kris,
Have you ever used the Eclipse tanks before? I was just looking at them on Pet**Smart and some ppl wrote that as the filter is in the tank hood, if it goes out, you have to throw the whole tank out as they don't sell replacement filters or hoods. I am thinking of getting this same one for a betta. Would you recommend a heater with this tank, or will the lights be enough?

Nice Tank

Looks great

All the nice tank pics on here lately have me in the mood to upgrade/redecorate

yup I read reviews on the pet*smart site before I bought it. I think a lot of people are not aware the you have to occaisonally clean the parts of the filter so it dose not get all loaded up with gunk and clogs. It is a biowheel type filter. I like the tank. It is cool with the white gravel in it. I like the idea the filter is in the hood. It gives the fish more swimming room that would otherwise taken up by the filter hanging in the tank. I had been a fan of the minibows but the filter takes up to much space in their little tanks. And also I had three different minibows spring a big leak in the tank part leaving me stuck with filter and lid but no tank. I love the look of the eclipse

Thanks, Kris! Is the filter easy to take apart and clean?

It looks like it is. I have not taken it apart yet . I just got it on Friday. It the instructions mention buying a special brush for cleaning the intake area. I am gonna get one soon

Thanks again!!!

i have the eclipse 7..i had for 2 year now..well the light and the filter can come out..if the filters breaks i can still have the light and i would just have to buy another filter.

also nice bettas..they must love there new home

I read a review, or two, on Pet*Smart's website about the Eclipse 3 and it said that the filter is attached to the tank cover and that it can't be removed. That is why I asked Kris about hers.

Hey Kris,
One more request if you don't mind: When you clean this tank, please let me know if it was hard to clean or not. I know that it only has that hinged panel that opens on top and I was wondering how you would get a syphon in there and be able to move it around to clean gravel, etc. I wonder if it would hurt the filter if you turned it off and took the whole tank lid off to clean it? Big Als has these for a pretty good price. I also found the Eclipse6 at WallyWorld online for about 50.00.

yes I plan on taking off the entire hood afer I unplug the filter. I do not see why it would be a problem to turn off the filter. I always turn off the filter when I clean any of my tanks and rinse off the filter of any accumilated gunk and rinse out the intake tube etc. As for the price. If there is a local Pet*Smart near you I would get it there. Because if you look at it online the 3 gallon eclipse is only $36 instead of $50. It is $50 in the store but if you bring the printed web page with the Pet*Smart banner showing and the $36 price the manager of the local Pet*smart will match the online price. I'd rather print it out and bring it with me to my local Pet*Smart and get it for $36. That is what I did that way I had extra money for plants and gravel.
here is the link to the page on Pet-smart. Just click the print button on the side of the page and take it with you when you go

btw the filter is not "attached " to the tank cover. It is seperate and you sit in the grooves under the lid. It can be removed by itself

Thanks, Kris, for helping me make my decision on what tank I should get!!! I am going to Pet*Smart this wkend and I will print the page out to take with me. I am going to go ahead and get my plants and decor, too. I am planning on doing a fishless cycle. CAN 3g tanks cycle??? Or would I be better off doing 100% wcs every couple of days? I really don't mind that.

yes it will cycle with partial water changes. However a lot of people who have 3 gallons and under do 100 percent water changes in which case it will not cycle.I am planning on doing partial changes ( maybe 50 percent) each time. They have some cool snail free pets at Pet*smart too. That is where I got the ribbon plants you see in the pic

I take it that you want excellent params in the water, just like with gf? I mean, a betta needs low ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, right? As long as I keep a check on these everyday and do wcs to keep them down, then my betta should be okay? Oh gosh, I really need to read up on bettas before I get one!!! I plan on doing that!

here is a good site for bettas. www.uniquebetta.com ( site is called betta breedes) check out the basics section

Thanks once again, Kris!!!

When I type uniquebetta.com in my browser, it always says that the page not available???

oops I left the "s' off. it should be www. uniquebettas.com

OKies, thanks!!!

well believe it or not I was doing a water change Saturday and noticed about 8-10 hairline cracks in the tank near the right corner on the bottom. well I am good about saving receipts and such.I got it at Pet*smart. I even saved the box in case down the road I would have to move and repack it or something. Well I orginally got it for $36.99 the online price. You can find the same item online and print the online add with the pet*smart banner and price and the store will match the online price. Well I went to the store and they had the 5 gallon eclipse hex on sale for $36.99 if you have a pet perks card ( which is free to sign up for). So Cloud is now happily swimming around in his own 5 gallon tank. So anyone wanting one of these go check it out.

sorry to repor that Cloud developed dropsy and it was too advanced to save him. He passed away last night overnight. I did not notice it right off because he was snow white and it was harder to see his scales sticking out. I do not know if I am getting another betta . I had just adopted Chilli out to someone so Cloud could have the tank to himself before this happened. I still have my two cory cats in there and they are healthy and happy. I might break down and put a couple girls bettas in or maybe something else.