Fluval Flora Aquatic Plant Kit, 7.9-gallon

Dangling the promise of being able cultivate beautiful aquarium plants with an all in one system, The Fluval Flora is designed to attract many buyers but fails to deliver on almost all of its key components.

The best thing about the fluval flora is the aquarium itself. Made with quality glass, the aquarium is attractive, comes with a pad and can be placed on most desktop environments easily and attractively. I would have prererred a pure cube shape, allowing for more depth in the aquascape design but overall the aquarium itself is fine.

Everything else is a false economy. The 13 watt lamp that comes with the system is in itself, fine. However a lamp providing less than less than 2 watts a gallon limits your choice of plants to a much greater degree than the included care guide suggests.

The mini pressurized CO2 system is also fine as a stand alone product but does a low wattage system like the Fluval Floral really need a CO2 system when the lighting component can only accomodate low light plants that photosynthesize at such a slow rate as to normally do better without CO2?

Hagen needs to upgrade the lighting or just elimanate the CO2 feature to make sense here. I suspect the market research shows that aquarists are eager to get into CO2, but are wary of pressurized systems that seem somewhat dangerous to the average user. Hagen capitalizes on this desire but doesn't deliver a lighting system of sufficient intensity to make the CO2 make sense.

The other issue I have is with the substrate. Stratum is a quality substrate but the system comes with a 4 lb bag and it should come with twice that amount.

To my mind the worst component of this entire box is the internal filter which has the dubious distinction of not only being a craptastic filter but adds insult to injury by taking up a considerable amount of real estate on the aquarium floor giving the effect of seven foot sectional couch in a studio apratment.

What Hagen could have done and could still do [-before judgement day is upon us ] is design a system friendly version of their incredible, peerless, stupendous, best of its kind AQUACLEAR filter specifically designed for this kit. Aquaclear already has the virtue of creating very little surface disturbance anyway, certainly not as much as that ridiculous "spray bar"

Anyway, I don't like the filter.

In short for this system to do what it promises, the aquarist would need to buy AT MINIMUM an additional lamp and an additional bag of substrate. Not to mention being willing to learn about balancing water parameters that are inherently much less stable with a high tech system. In other words high tech components, like intense lighting and CO2, not properly managed can throw an initially lovely aquarium into a dismal algae ridden mess quicker than you can say "Fluval Flora"

The tank itself is truly nice with rounded corners and clear glass. The aquarium kit is perfect for any desk or person who is looking for a planted aquarium. There are some debate as to whether this tank can sustain plants but the lighting system while can be improved, is still good enough for lower light plants. The substrate is alittle fine for my taste but is a good start for growing roots. The CO2 system is again something to be improved but still effective for this application. Im really impressed on how the aquarium kit is but it does have some flaws.

My aquarium arrived damaged on arrival. I believe Amazon or whoever ships this product needs to step up their game. Im not the only one who has received this tank and the glass is broken. The kit has alot of promise if it was shipped correctly.

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This is a great tank for people new to planted tanks or those who want something different.The light is perfect for growing med to low light plants.Filter works great its a little big for the tank but your plants will hide it.The substrate is good i mixed it with Floramax for more planting depth.Co2 system is also good .This is a good buy for a planted tank setup.

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I will be the first to admit that I was very uneasy with all the bad reviews this was getting on Amazon and off..but I've been 100% satisfied so far with everything except the Co2 unit included (as I've yet to try it out yet). If this works at all, it will be an added bonus in my opinion, as the rest of the kit is well worth the price I payed. The item arrived in perfect condition, not a scratch on the tank, not a piece of broken glass, nothing! Trust me, after reading the other reviews on here I was just holding my breath that everything arrived intact and would work. Well I'm happy to report that everything works just fine...filter works(albeit it a tad noisy at times but it could be just a matter of readjusting it), light works perfectly, and setup is a breeze. My only complaint is that in order to attach the cheesylooking, styrofoam background to the back of the tank, they apply some type of aquarium safe adhesive to the glass. This background piece comes loosely attached, but I just to remove it as I wanted the extra space. The aquarium adhesive is an annoyance to remove, but comes off relatively easily (I used an algae scraper blade, along with warm water and got it clean in no time). The plant stratum included works great too, it makes it super easy to plant stem plants especially. Not sure if the 4.4 ounces bag is really enough to make a deep substrate bed, so I would suggest purchasing one additional 4.4 ounce bag as I did afterward (I've only added half of the second bag). Also, at the suggestion of reviewers off of Amazon I purchased a second Fluval mini compact lamp. If you really are trying to stick to a budget though, I'm sure you could get by just fine with what's included in the kit, but I always tend to go the extra mile to ensure better success. A nice bonus is the cool pair of aquatic tongs they give you as I've already put them to use and they really do come in handy! Hope this review helps those of you who may be on the fence, and to serve as a positive counterbalance to the terrible reviews a couple of shall we say, unhappy Amazon customers? lol A final bottom line recap: excellent buy for the price, you will not be disappointed with this purchase if everything arrives in great condition as they did with my product. Only drawback is the background piece that comes loosely attached to the back of the tank (this can be easily addressed in accordance to one's own aesthetic preference, see above for more detail).

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Just as advertised, does a great job! Highly recommended! Fluval is a great company, and I would buy this product again! Thank you!

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