EDIT:I purchased this tank a little over 3 months ago, and I now have to edit my review.
Unfortunately, one LED in the light started to flicker just 2 and a half months in, and went out completely at 3 months. I contacted the company and they say they will send me a new one when they get them in again, but they couldn't tell me when that might be. I'm not sure if they were serious or if I was given a brush-off. Now several bulbs are completely out or are flickering. At this rate, within the year, the light will no longer function please see the video review I uploaded (trying to anyway) to see what the lights are doing.
RE-EDIT:
Fluval did indeed send replacement a light, and a year and a half later and it is still going strong. Fluval acknowledged that they received a shipment of bad lights, and are doing their best to remedy the situation. And I can attest that there is enough light to grow live plants in this tank. I have 2 species of Java Fern and both are growing crazily.
I will update this review again to let the public know how the company finally handled it...
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I had originally bought a "GloFish" 3.5 gallon tank for my Betta. Couldn't get one that didn't have a scratched tank, so I did some more research and found this little gem and I couldn't be more tickled with it.
It is sort of small has a footprint about the size of an IPad and claims to hold 2 gallons. The glass on the back compartment is frosted, so you can not see the equipment, a very nice feature, IMO. The glass (real glass NOT acrylic!) is of a slightly thinner thickness than a larger tank might have, but I could detect no flex or bow, so it is probably thick enough for the job and I even found a forum thread where a child had pulled a setup one down off of a night stand and the tank did not break and did not leak when it was setup again talk about tough! And I sort of like the brushed aluminum molding that hides the glass seams seams are tacky and these look very stylish and protect the edges well. They finished off the bottom with a THICK, polished acrylic band like the black band on most aquariums, but this one is thicker, polished and looks sweet not cheap looking like most.
Setup is a no-brainer. It is a little difficult to get the pump into the compartment as the electrical cord does need to be bent sharply where it enters the pump body to get it to fit in, and then a little pressure will push it down to the bottom. I've taken mine in and out a couple of times now and never got it stuck as one reviewer had happen. Plenty of room in the back for a mini-heater and Co2/o2.
The pump is rated for 40GPH, but has a built-in "throttle" that cuts it back by probably half of that. I found it to still be just a little too much flow for my Betta, so used a mini valve in-line (from an old marineland canister) to dampen the flow even more, but you could use this too: Two Little Fishies Ball Valve w/ Hose Barbs for 1/2? (12.7 mm) I.D. Tubing (1 Per Pack) Now it is perfect for the Betta. And the system runs silently a bonus if you want this in your bedroom. The filtration is way overkill like what you might find in a large reef setup. But I don't think there is such a thing as too much filtration, so this isn't a complaint, just acknowledgment.
Ok the LED's. When I bought this tank, my main requirement was that it have good LED lighting that I could use on a timer. The "GloFish" tank has a weird switch that allowed you to cycle through the different light "schemes", but it would not work with a timer at all. The LED light that comes with the SPEC is fully timer compatible and is WAY bright. I have multimeter for garden use, that has a little light intensity meter (not sure what it is testing specifically), and these LED lights peak at about 750 (on a scale of 100-2000) my 4ft florescent grow lights only peak at 500 and sunlight on an overcast day comes up as 350. So these get the job done. I was worried about the clip-on aspect of the light and that it might throw glare or otherwise get obnoxious, but it does not angle it just right and even if you are lower than the level of the light, you don't have it getting into your eyes. I am concerned about longevity, as many LED lights have a tendency to burn out quickly, but Fluval has a pretty good rep for customer service and the system has a 2 year warranty, so hopefully if there are any issues, Fluval will remedy it with a new light.
The only things I do not like are the black back wall, and that is just an aesthetic thing, and the clear acrylic top. Personally, I think they should have carried over the frosted glass idea to the back wall, and used frosted acrylic, but others might not have liked that. Not sure how they could have improved the top, but it seems sort of cheap (compared with the quality of the tank itself) and like it was more of an afterthought. I can see this top getting all scratched up with little provocation, lol.
So all in all, this is an amazing little tank, crafted with care, and mostly of quality materials. And only a bit more pricey than any acrylic counterparts.
If you are looking for a tiny tank, this one rocks!
My single betta loves the extra space (people tend not to give bettas much room), and I love that there's built in filtration! I don't run it all the time, as it tends to be a bit strong for his liking, but I do run it about one hour a day. This keeps most crud out of my betta's living space. The light that comes with the tank throws a fairly harsh white light, but I suspect you could switch this out for another tank-mounted light if you wanted to.
To give you an idea, the tank is big enough that I have a single 8" plant (plastic), a 2.5" diameter moss ball (real), and a single structure for my betta to hide in. Beneath all this, I have about 1.5" of substrate to which I'll be adding mini clams next week!
Very good tank for beginners (me!) or for small spaces.
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Wish I could give a 4.5 star review, because I would give this tank an "A", but not a 100% "A+". Instead I give a 4, although a "B" is a bit low.The imperfect rating is mostly because the instructions fall short in providing certain info, but once I figured out a few things on my own this tank is just great! It is beautiful on my shelf, with a nice bright LED light. The light is great for showing off my betta fish's brilliant color and nourishing the plants I placed in the tank. The pump and filter make the tank easy-peasy to care for, esp. since I only have one betta fish (and a few sneaky snails). The black wall between the filter/pump and the living area of the tank very nicely hides the guts and mechanics of the tank and allows a minimalist, uncluttered, and (depending how you decorate) natural appearance to the tank. I really recommend this tank for a betta/siamese fighting fish especially; its just the right size!
Two important things to note!:
1) The instructions didn't seem to match the parts precisely. There may be a variance in product but its most likely that the illustrations simply do not depict the power cord attached to the pump for some reason (which is silly, where else would it get its power, batteries?). When installing the pump, part of the power cord must be submerged along with the pump, and it requires a bit of "wedging" to get the pump and its cord down in its slot. It didn't look quite right to me, especially because the illustrated instructions didn't depict the pump as having a cord at all, but I shoved it down and it works fine. Feels weird running a cord through water, but it is perfectly water safe. The tube of the pump required the slightest bit of bending/twisting to fit into place, but the water moves through it fine.
2) !!!!IMPORTANT!!!! Be attentive when setting the spout for the water pump. Pay attention when feeding your fish, making sure the current of the water doesn't immediately sweep the food into the filter. Because it is such a small tank and most fish food floats (for a while) it is easy for the flow of the pump to push the food directly into the filter, which will quickly clog up the filter and leave your fish hungry. I point mine upwards and towards the middle, and it seems to swirl the food and then push it downwards instead. Take some time to fine tune this when you first set up the tank!! I didn't notice this at first and was careless; the next day I found the filter covered in food pellets and my fish seemed very hungry, poking around the gravel to no avail, poor fella. Good thing it only took me a day to notice! (He's ok now). Another thing, notice that the pump flow is adjustable. You can make the flow from the pump less intense if current is too strong.
My personal suggestion: with a light, filter, and pump, this kit includes ALMOST every (basic) thing you need for a simple aquarium setup--EXCEPT A HEATER. This may be because the tank is so small that the heat running off the pump could possibly be enough to heat the whole thing. But if you, like me, live in a drafty place that gets under 70 degrees (esp. at night), I recommend the Fluval 25 Watt heater to keep the tank at a cozy 78 degrees. I recommend the Fluval heater simply because aesthetically, its design matches the tank quite well (being made by the same company of course) but any 25-watt heater will do! You could always stick it behind the handy wall with the pump and not have to look at it, afterall!
One last note: another review of this tank speaks of issues with the tiny LED bulbs burning out. This hasn't happened to me but I've only had the tank for a brief time so I can't confirm or dispel this reviewer's complaint. I will say that this was a cause of concern for me when purchasing the aquarium because it doesn't seem the bulbs can be replaced and I would be very disappointed if the light stopped working! It's odd because LED lights should have a 25,000-100,000 hour lifespan, so I wouldn't think that they would just burn out. I'll update this review if I experience a similar issue.
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Wonderful product for the price. The footprint for this tank isnt much bigger than my phone. Quality materials, high tech look. I like the fact that all the filtration equipment is behind a black panel on the back wall. The LED light is very bright. Anyone that passes my desk stops to look and ask questions..Want Fluval SPEC Desktop Glass Aquarium, 2-gallon Discount?
Yes you read it right, this tank is sexy. While my main loves are my 28g led nano cube and my 70g oceanic reef tanks we also have a number of bettas in residence (my daughter can't pass up those cups w/o needing to save one). In the past I've purchased the $20 acrylic 2 1/2 g tanks for the bettas, and when coupled with the small flat heaters they are sufficient however when we decided our newest rescue would be living in the livingroom next to my new led nano cube I wanted something a bit nicer looking.This tank is perfect! The lines are clean, I love how the faux back wall hides the equipment (personally I recommend ditching the sponge which will become a nitrate factory, if you want toss some filter floss back there and the carbon otherwise use the large area for a 25w or 50w heater. The pump is a tight squeeze and far to powerful so I simply put a couple slits into the line and now the flow is much more manageable for a betta. If you do want to keep the large sponge you can fit a small heater in with the pump, its tight but it will fit (I'll post a photo soon along with the brand of heater I'm using to keep it a steady 78). The led light is excellent, far far brighter then the ones that come with the cheap tanks. I used Super Naturals Tahitian Moon Aquarium Sand, 20 Lb black sand and it looks extremely nice.
I highly recommend this little tank, in fact I'm giving very strong consideration to swapping out at least one of our other tanks for one of these. I've also seen some really amazing pico reefs done by experienced reef keepers using these.
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