Good First Freshwater Aquarium?

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matheos21

Registered Member
Mar 15, 2009
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Hey All!

Hoping to get some help/guidance with the first planning stages of my potential aquarium. As of yet I have not bought anything and am just researching etc to make sure I make as few mistakes as possible. :) My goal is to have a stable, easily maintained aquarium, with a good number of fish and hopefully a few live plants. I have been looking at the below Marineland Bio-Wheel LED Tank kits. They seem to be a good deal since they are currently on sale at Petsmart (10-$63 and 29-$112)

Not sure whether I would go with the 10 gallon or spring for the 29 gallon. It seem like the filter, tank, hood, and should no longer be recalled heater are of good quality. My main concern is if the led lights would be enough to grow/maintain healthy low light plants? It seems like a quality double tube light strip setup would be pretty expensive. Add a separate tank, glass top, filter and heater and the costs up front are much higher compared to the Marineland package.

Any help/info you could give would be awesome! Thanks!

Link to 10gal : http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11164161&lmdn=Category
Link to 29gal: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11164160&lmdn=Category
 
I don't see where it says which light is in the hood. If it is the doublebright marineland, then yes in THAT siaze tank...the 10 or the 29....you would be able to grow low light plants. My plants do well with these lights. I have 2 20 gallon set-ups with the marinelnd doublbright leds. I would suggest the 29 if you can swing it. The bigger the tank the easier it is to keep your parameters in line. Though I have to say I just bought a 30 gallon with tank, cover, stand, light, filter and heater for 50 bucks off craigslist. You can grow low light plants with just a regular flourescent light tube. Then you could spring for a nice planted substrate with the money you save (like eco-complete).
 
Thanks for the reply!

Just was checking on the Marineland website. They don't list the lumen output of the led tank kits, but the singlebright led lights that they sell have 68 60mW leds whereas in the kit you are only getting 42 of the same leds. So it will be even less bright than the single bright strips. Hmm. I've been scanning CG in my area, but it seems like everyone thinks their aquarium stuff is worth it's weight in gold right now. lol
 
I don't think those leds are gonna cut it for even low light. I wouldn't do less than the double brights.
Believe me...people in my area overinflate the prices as well. Go back for like a week and contact the people. Ask if they still have it. Then offer a low ball. I would say it is 50/50. But the tank I got for 50 bucks was sweet and came with a fluval cannister filter. I f they haven't sold it yet...chances are they just want it gone. Never hurts to ask. I have bought all but one of my tanks off craigslist.
 
Found a 20gal long on craigs for $10 (no lid or acces). So add $10 + $89 for double bright marineland leds on amazon, $30 for aquaclear powerfilter, $30 for eheim 100w heater, $20 for new glass tank lid and you're looking at right around $180 for all that. Think it is worth the increase in price over the premade kit? I guess it is if I am set on leds and want to have live plants huh? :D
 
If u aren't set on leds, you could get a nice 1 bulb t5 HO fixture for the 29G for under $50.
 
I use regular ole flourescent tube lights. They are cheap, you can grow low light plants. You can always upgrade later.
 
I'd strongly recommend buying a bare tank, getting your own filter and heater, and going to eBay or similar for a cheap T5 HO light. A 2x24" T5 HO fixture is all of $40 on eBay (Odyssea brand -- I buy from TopDogSellers, own several, and have had no issues with them). $50 for a 29G bare tank (or less), $40 for the light, $50 or less for a quality ("oversized") hang-on-the-back or eBay special canister filter (Jebo, Perfect, etc), $20 for an Ebo-Jager heater (love these), and you're doing much better than the "tank in a box" setups regarding light and filter quality. Price is pretty similar at around $30 more, and that's assuming you don't get anything used.

I know bowfronts look neat, but I've always been annoyed by the distortion from them and find them harder to place than "traditional" tanks.


matheos21 said:
Just was checking on the Marineland website. They don't list the lumen output of the led tank kits, but the singlebright led lights that they sell have 68 60mW leds whereas in the kit you are only getting 42 of the same leds. So it will be even less bright than the single bright strips. Hmm. I've been scanning CG in my area, but it seems like everyone thinks their aquarium stuff is worth it's weight in gold right now. lol
Click to expand...

Yep, not near enough light from the kits then. Fine for fish only (fish don't care about light that much, we do so we can see them ;)) but not plants. Low light / floating stuff might do okay if it's near a window, but I wouldn't bother with it.

I've also noticed the trend on my local Craigslist. I actually caught a guy asking more for a used 55G with a broken top brace (unusable without paying $20+ for a new brace or building your own, it would break if fully filled with water) with an undersized heater and hang on the back filter for more than the same stuff would've cost new at PetSmart or the local chain place.

As others have said, a bigger tank is actually easier to keep stable. Get the biggest tank you can afford / have space for, set it up, fill it, then read up on and do a fishless cycle with store-bought ammonia. Once fully cycled stock slowly (add only a few fish at a time) and you shouldn't have 90% of the problems most people just getting in to the hobby have! Much less stressful than the typical start.
 
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Would you stick with the same bulb in the ebay T5 HO or go with a different replacement right away?
 
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