Good 5-10g starter kit

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fakeyfakerson

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Dec 31, 2011
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Hey, aquarium newbie here looking for advice on a good starter kit for my first aquarium. I'm looking at 5 and 10 gallon tanks, leaning towards 10 gallons. From what I've read, both would be stocked with fish like guppies and neon/cardinal tetra, I would just be able to fit more of them in a 10 gallon vs. a 5 gallon. Any thoughts?

I've looked a bit online and at petco/petsmart. My local petsmart had a decent selection of tanks and supplies. I'm trying to decide on a good starter kit, as it seems a lot cheaper than buying a tank, lights, filter, heater, etc separately.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11164161#prodTab1

is on sale in store for $65 and seems to be a good deal. Anyone have any opinions on the equipment?

Also looking at

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10868051

which is a bit cheaper but doesn't have a heater.

Thanks!
 
Bigger is always better. Definitely go with a 10g over a 5g...

I'd say Penguin filters are better than Top Fins, based on just my experience with Top Fins...unless they really upped their product over the last couple of years. The Top Fin also comes with incandescents which are well outdated.

I would choose the Marineland kit between the two.
 
I'd avoid top fin, every experience I've had with any of their products was bad. The marineland one sounds decent, although I doubt the lighting will be strong enough for most plants other then very low light stuff, if you do want live plants.

I thought I saw an aqueon 10g kit on sale for 49.99 this week but don't recall if it was petco or petsmart that had it. Came with t8 light, filter, heater, tank.
 
I think most WalMarts have 10 gallon AquaTech (Marineland) glass starter kits for $29.95. I bought the 5 gallon kit because of space, which was only $2.00 less. It came with an incandescent bulb but a mini-spiral CFL bulb fits just fine.
 
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Just thinking, would I be able to keep any different fish in a 10 gallon that wouldn't fit in a 5 gallon? From what I've read it seems a 10 gallon would mostly only fit tetras or guppies, which is about the same as a 5 gallon, no?
 
TL1000RSquid said:
I'd avoid top fin, every experience I've had with any of their products was bad. The marineland one sounds decent, although I doubt the lighting will be strong enough for most plants other then very low light stuff, if you do want live plants.

I thought I saw an aqueon 10g kit on sale for 49.99 this week but don't recall if it was petco or petsmart that had it. Came with t8 light, filter, heater, tank.
Click to expand...

I think I saw this in store at petco. They have a normal 10g version and a deluxe version I think, don't remember the difference. How is aqueon compared to marineland?

I think this was it

http://www.aqueonproducts.com/products/deluxe-aquarium-kit.htm

and here is the basic

http://www.aqueonproducts.com/products/basic-aquarium-kit.htm

not really sure the difference, the hood looks slightly different. the deluxe kit comes with a heater but it says only on the 20 gallon and up models.
 
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fakeyfakerson said:
Just thinking, would I be able to keep any different fish in a 10 gallon that wouldn't fit in a 5 gallon? From what I've read it seems a 10 gallon would mostly only fit tetras or guppies, which is about the same as a 5 gallon, no?
Click to expand...

I may be different but I wouldn't keep either in a 5 gallon.
 
The basic's description says it include fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, the fluorescent is a typo. The deluxe has the better lighting and a little nicer hood the light fixture and hood are actually 2 pieces. The kits I saw had a sticker on the box saying heater included free. Quality wise I guess Aqueon and Marineland are about on par I have filters and heaters from both.

You can keep more in a 10 then a 5, personally I dont think a 5 is good for much other then a betta and shrimps. 10 you could do like a dwarf gourami and a couple small fish.
 
TL1000RSquid said:
The basic's description says it include fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, the fluorescent is a typo. The deluxe has the better lighting and a little nicer hood the light fixture and hood are actually 2 pieces. The kits I saw had a sticker on the box saying heater included free. Quality wise I guess Aqueon and Marineland are about on par I have filters and heaters from both.

You can keep more in a 10 then a 5, personally I dont think a 5 is good for much other then a betta and shrimps. 10 you could do like a dwarf gourami and a couple small fish.
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Hmm, so the quality of the filter from the deluxe aqueon vs. the marineland biowheel are about equal? Which would you choose, personally? I think I like the aesthetics of the marineland LED lights, but if I ever wanted to move to a planted tank I would have to buy a new fixture.

As far as fish go, I was thinking of some guppies and cardinal/neon tetra for a 10 gallon.
 
I know you said you wanted a 5-10 gallon tank, but I bought the tetra 15 gallon kit because I liked the size of the tank...I don't have exact measurements right now but it seems longer and shorter. Fish appreciate longer tanks. :) It is on sale at Petco for $40, and came with a heater, filter, and light. I'm using my equipment from my 10 gallon though, so I don't know about the quality of the stuff it came with.
 
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