02-17-2007, 08:26 PM
I wouldn't buy a setup with all the gear. You want a good filter and a good heater -- cheap ones break and will cause headaches at best, kill your fish at worst. You never get good gear when you buy a package.
Get a used tank. As BGnR pointed out, the bigger the tank, the less maintenance it will need. Soft Scrub works very well to remove hard water deposits.
Get the best filter you can afford. Marineland is good, but I don't care for their Eclipse tanks. I have a 39 gallon Eclipse but I'm not longer using the Eclipse filter. For one thing, the carbon filters were ridiculously expensive. You can make your own, but that's a pain. Also, Eclipse tanks get very noisy as the water level drops. I don't like to just add water to a low tank, but you pretty much have to with an Eclipse unless you want to change water once a week. Finally, I always had no end of problems with water dribbling down the back of the tank.
Personally, I use and recommend Eheim canister filters, both the pro and ecco lines. They're pricey. But it took me a while to work my way up to the Eheim line, and I wish I would've just started there.
I don't know of a good heater. They all suck. Maybe I shoulda bought the Eheim with the heater built in.
You should also think about a gadget to make it easier to change the water. You can use a Python, which hooks up to a faucet and uses the venturi principal to suck water up from your tank. There's an attachment which vacuums the gravel for you as well. Me, I just use pond pump, and also a dedicated garbage can that lets me mix my dechlor into the water before pumping it into the tank.
Get a used tank. As BGnR pointed out, the bigger the tank, the less maintenance it will need. Soft Scrub works very well to remove hard water deposits.
Get the best filter you can afford. Marineland is good, but I don't care for their Eclipse tanks. I have a 39 gallon Eclipse but I'm not longer using the Eclipse filter. For one thing, the carbon filters were ridiculously expensive. You can make your own, but that's a pain. Also, Eclipse tanks get very noisy as the water level drops. I don't like to just add water to a low tank, but you pretty much have to with an Eclipse unless you want to change water once a week. Finally, I always had no end of problems with water dribbling down the back of the tank.
Personally, I use and recommend Eheim canister filters, both the pro and ecco lines. They're pricey. But it took me a while to work my way up to the Eheim line, and I wish I would've just started there.
I don't know of a good heater. They all suck. Maybe I shoulda bought the Eheim with the heater built in.
You should also think about a gadget to make it easier to change the water. You can use a Python, which hooks up to a faucet and uses the venturi principal to suck water up from your tank. There's an attachment which vacuums the gravel for you as well. Me, I just use pond pump, and also a dedicated garbage can that lets me mix my dechlor into the water before pumping it into the tank.