Is It Worth It?

[karawr]

Hey all,

At petsmart they have a fluval premium aquarium kit 29g long for $200. It comes with everything I need, but mainly my selling point was the canopy and light. They sell just a 29g but it's $140 and I feel I might as well spend the little extra and get everything.

I've never bought new tanks before, all mine are used. But the problem is I live in a small town and finding a used 29g tank is hard not to mention 99% of them are in really bad shape (scratches, poorly taken care of equipment, etc).

Is it too expensive, not worth the money? What do you think of buying aquarium kits?

 

[micko]

I find with "kits" the filters aren't very good on lesser known tanks. Even the filter that was built in my juwel tank I ripped out as do many others because they're just no good.
What all do you get with it?

€200 is roughly £125 so its not a bad price really. I'd go for the £200 one. Just buy a decent external filter and use the one supplied as a spare.

 

[Lufbramatt]

Worked all this out recently, and decided that it was more cost effective to get a decent locally made tank (in my case a Seabray dolphin) then get all teh ancilliaries separately. Although the cost worked out about the same, it meant I was getting good quality components that would not need replacing soon. I bargained with the owner of my LFS and he threw in the light ballast and tubes for free with the price of the tank, and bought two second hand eheim external filters which are only a few months old. Heater (hydor external) bought cheap from ebay new and unused. Total cost £690 for a 4.5ft 80 gallon tank with all the main equipment, but much better quality than you'd get from Juwel etc. Did take me a while to shop around for all the bits but worth it imo.

 

[karawr]

Well it comes with a fluval C3 hob filter. Don't know much about it, it looks pretty hightech though. I think I would sell it because I've got an aquaclear that I'd much prefer and would do the job fine.

And then a M100 Fluval Heater which I don't think is a bad product. I use it now in my other tank.

Beside that, canopy, light, and of course all the little bits like food, net, conditioners, blahblah.

I think I'll go with it. The price is decent. For me, to buy separately it would cost more.

 

[cynic]

Worked all this out recently, and decided that it was more cost effective to get a decent locally made tank (in my case a Seabray dolphin) then get all teh ancilliaries separately. Although the cost worked out about the same, it meant I was getting good quality components that would not need replacing soon. I bargained with the owner of my LFS and he threw in the light ballast and tubes for free with the price of the tank, and bought two second hand eheim external filters which are only a few months old. Heater (hydor external) bought cheap from ebay new and unused. Total cost £690 for a 4.5ft 80 gallon tank with all the main equipment, but much better quality than you'd get from Juwel etc. Did take me a while to shop around for all the bits but worth it imo.

Same for me, 66g tank made specific, 200quid, 2month old tec 1200 from the forum for 50. Made the hood from plywood 30quid. 2 floresant fittings from the diy shop, 20quid. Heater was another 20. Scaping 10 for the stone and 6 for the sand.

all in with a decent chunk of change from £350.

 

[karawr]

Well I decided to get it considering it went on sale today for $150 and there is a $30 online rebate. Good deal, imo!