Minibow vs Eclipse?

[Elaina]

I have the 5 gal eclipse hex and I absolutley love it. It is by far my favorite tank of all the ones that I've had. The filters are cheap, and my guy Midas loves it.

[sunset]

Originally Posted by Elaina

I have the 5 gal eclipse hex and I absolutley love it. It is by far my favorite tank of all the ones that I've had. The filters are cheap, and my guy Midas loves it.

I thought that it came with a filter?? Now i am comfused. But it sounds like the eclipse would be the better one to go with.

[Elaina]

The filter replacement cartridges are cheap.

[sunset]

Ohhh okay, i get it now. Sorry, I am a bit slow tonight! How often do they need to be replaced?

[1fish2fish]

I have an eclipse 3. The way the hood is designed the door opens up over top of the filter... making it hard to feed through the door. This makes me have to completely remove the top to feed which is somewhat of a hassel.

[Elaina]

I replace mine monthly, and everything seems to work well(not really sure if you're supposed to more often lol). I've had no problems with it at all. I really reccomend it!

[dr2b]

Ohh I forgot that the 3 gallon had that lid. The 5 gallon hex and corner are the two that were unique in the lid format now that I think about it. I replace my monthly, maybe a week or so longer depending on how dirty the tank is and how the flow is.

[lowspeedhighdrag]

I originally had a minibow 2.5 but upgraded to an eclipse 6 for the following reasons. The minibow has dim and hot incandescent lighting. This can be upgraded to fluorescent with a CFL bulb. However you will notice that the light and filter are configured in such a way that 50% of the bulb overlies the filter, creating a tremendous algae problem.

Additionally my brother has an eclipse six in which his water parameters are always perfect. I was constantly battling ammonia and having to do water changes. This is probably due to the increased size and the (even proportinally) much greater filtration in the eclipse. Neither of our bettas has had trouble with the filter current.

The only disadvantage of the eclipse is the useless "feeding door". You will have to lift the whole hood off to feed if you do not want food getting in your filter.

Go with the larger and better designed eclipse six over the minibows. You will be happier in the long run. Also the price difference is largely negated when you consider the price of the CFL upgrade bulb which you will almost certainly want. Then factor in the cost of the amquel or stress coat you will be buying when you have to do every other day water changes!

[Scienceluvr8]

I have a 2.5 gallon minibow, and I have to say the filter is too bulky and causes more trouble than what its worth. I immediately discarded the filter and added a red sea deco nano flilter(which is by the way an awesome filter!). Despite the drawback of the filter, my fish seems to enjoy his tank. I actually like the light it comes with since it heats his tank up perfectly that i don't need a heater :)

[lowspeedhighdrag]

There are two versions of the minibow. There is the pre-2009 model and the 2009 version. The old version has a whisper 3 gallon type internal filter that goes entirely inside the tank and under the hood. The 2009 version has a custom integrated filter that was designed specifically for the tank, takes up less room, and looks much nicer.