Which aquarium?

[annka5]

am looking to upgrade my small aquarium with something around 200litres.

I could take the smallish heater and filter and another of each to get the capacity I need, or alternatively buy a complete kit.

have heard mixed reports of various items - Jewel, Fluval Duo, etc. anyone any insights?

 

[smithrc]

we have 2 of the fluval duo's - great tanks and metric too good equipment

we have a jewel aswell and dont like the internal filter and arnt too keen on the lid either

The Hagen Tropiquarium is another tha we have - nice sized tank (the 88) but a poo filter. its alos too intergrated for my likings...

the fluval duo 1200 Deep fould get my vote

 

[zig]

I think most of the aquariums sold as a complete setup have drawbacks with them, but this is why they are cheaper than buying each item individually, they are usually just about adaquate for most peoples purposes, and a lot of them are hard to upgrade and i think this is where you will find all of the mixed reports that you refer too.

But like i say most of them are fine and will do the job at a good price.

If you want a basic setup buy a kit, but if you want plants to grow sucessfully or you want to have better filtration you should think about buying seperates, but i guess it really depends on your vision for the tank in the first place and what you wish to use it for.

Good luck in the purchase anyway

 

[smithrc]

the fluvals are pretty flexable - we upgraded our lights and filtration without any fuss - the jewel and the trop dont allow this to be done as easily...

 

[@ombomb]

Smith, how did you upgrade the lights on your Fluval?

Standard setting = about 1.25 watt per gal and I hoping to get mine as high as possible.

Any help is appreciated.

I ahve a 1000 btw.

 

[@ombomb]

Hmmm I googled: upgrade lighting "fluval duo" and got a link to another thread where described the process brilliantly!

I'm on the way to the shop to buy the bits and then an afternoon of DIY!

 

[@ombomb]

Saying that I still need to know what adhesive to use.

I PM'd you smith.

Thanks in advance.

 

[smithrc]

replied back

If you can silicone something to the hood to fasten the cable ties to, i'm sure it'll stay put very well

also I'd get a double balast and try and get 2 more tube under there

 

[@ombomb]

That's what I've gone for, a 30W double, giving me 120W in total.

I have some clips, but am really not keen to drill through my hood, so I'll probably cable tie them to the other fittings too. I tested out a couple of those adhesive backed cable tie guides and know exactly what you mean, I'd give it about 30 mins before the light was floating in the tank.

Thanks very much for the help!

 

[annka5]

Fluval sounds like a good option then - I do want something that I can ammend bits of as and when, but not to buy a tank then strip out and replace everything immediately!

 

[@ombomb]

Well my lights are in and a working well thanks to the help from Smith!

Personally though, I'd buy the components, rather than a kit. Since buying mine, I've changed the filter to an external and upgraded the lighting. Money I could have saved by just buying the right bits first time round!

 

[annka5]

H'mmm... I reckon it will be cheaper in the long run to buy the right kit to start off with... rather than spending money on soemthing I'm just going to rip out later anyway.... ooh, decisions!! Thanks for the advice.

 

[andywg]

I would look into second hand as you can always pick up a massive bargain on both tanks and equipment. Ebay and Aquarists Classified are your friends!

 

[annka5]

Aqua One aquariums - v likely to buy one form that range, the size am looking at is 100cm x 40cm x 70 cm, with canister filter. Any comments on them?