Choosing an aquarium advice

I believe this is the light that comes with the kit Link , which would mean less than 1 watt per galon. I hope that would be enough for 3-4 easy to care plants.
 
MQ1 said:
I believe this is the light that comes with the kit Link , which would mean less than 1 watt per galon. I hope that would be enough for 3-4 easy to care plants.
Click to expand...

Well, if you want to keep plants, then why not price out what it would cost to buy all the components separately? If you enjoy keeping plants, you may want to expand on your choices (low light plants are limited and will grow quite slowly) and eventually will need to buy a new hood...and that is one of the most expensive items to replace. Factor that cost into the cost of a kit, and then compare prices.

One other suggestion, is to talk to the LFS about whether you can upgrade any of the items in a kit. For example, the 10 gallon kit I bought had a Top Fin filter which I didn't like. The manager at Petsmart readily agreed to upgrade my used filter. She gave the the off the shelf price towards any filter that I wanted to buy (I chose an Aquaclear.) You could ask about doing the same with the light hood. :)
 
If you know that you want to keep plants you are better off buying everything for plants in the beginning.

The Walmart aquarium has worked very well for me for a basic community fish set-up. It is not a "piece of crap" but has stood up very well, I've had this one close to 2 years and only replaced the heater and that was precautionary. The filter is weak, absolutely, and if you have cichlids, goldfish, or other heavy waste producers then the filter is worthless. If you want to grow high light plants, the lighting is worthless, just like any standard lighting is. But if you just want an inexpensive start to the hobby and want danios, cories, tetras, then the Walmart set-up is a great deal.


Jackie
 
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