DO "starter kits" reallly offer an advantage?

I bought a 29 gallon tank a while ago while PetCo had their sale, and sometime in the near future I would like to set it up. I only have the tank itself, so I need to buy the filter, heater, etc. But I was wondering, if those all-in-one "starter kits" are cheaper than buying each piece of equipment separately, would it be better to sell the 29 tank and then buy a 29 starter kit?


Also, what brand starter kit would you recommend? I have had good experience with Aqueon products, but the Marineland ones look nice as well.

 

Love your signature given the topic of conversation

All in one kits - yes they're pretty good from a simplicity point of view.

However, IME, many are under rated for the requirement (i.e. filters underated, lights are often not great for planted tanks etc).

For a beginner, it's not a bad way to enter the hobby, but over time, you'll end up upgrading, and choosing your own equipment as you go.

 

Depending on the kit, it's a good way to get up and running quickly and accumulate extra equipment. The underpowered filter that comes with the kit might be perfect for either a secondary filter, emergency filter or the filter for a smaller tank.

The hoods are quite often awful, but the LEDs can be canabalized and used with something nicer.

Plus there is the spare nets and thermometers and other bits and pieces they sometimes toss in.

So the answer is they can be a good deal if used creatively.

 

For a beginner they're a good starting point as a lot of beginners wouldn't know much about filters, heaters etc but as Ryan said, it soon becomes obvious that many of the included items aren't really up to the job.
I could start a shop with all the stuff I've taken out tanks that come with equipment but I never throw them away because in an emergency they're a good back up.

 

Hello,

Agreed with Ryan. I think starter kits are just fine especially for beginners to the hobby. As time goes by, and the tank owner gets more experience and realizes they want to stay in the hobby, at that point, they can do some upgrades. Starter kits are a great way to learn and may save a few dollars.

Ken

 

They'e OK. They don't always come with the type of filter I like though......

 

Yeah I see where you are all coming from. I got a starter kit for my 14 gallon but have since replaced the light and added a second filter.

 

Starter kits are great for some of us old timers just getting back in the hobby after a long lay off.


Technology and "best practices" have changed so much that it gave us a quick start.


Now a couple months later (with considerable knowledge received from this forum) future additions will not be kits.

 

If you plan to understock the tank and have low light plants the starter kits will do the job.

But , how many of us stay understocked forever?

Eventually, as others have stated, you will want better filtration and lighting.

 

Best one I ever got was a 6.6 Bookshelf aquarium from PetCo. But in general, you usually end up having to replace parts in it. Or they are so ridiculously expensive (I'm looking at you ChI fish tank) that it's much cheaper to just buy parts separately.

 

The way I can put it is this. And you've gotten good responses above but...

If you are the average newbie walking in the store, not knowing or experiencing much of anything in the hobby up to that point then yes it's a good introduction to the hobby. If you are someone like yourself already on the forums, in the community, and really diving into the hobby then no because the chances are you have already read things about upgrading, what equipment is better, and have a general sense of how to do things to create your own setup. The kit may be cheaper, but I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for.

IMO of course. The people that make it to the forums are already heads and shoulders above those that don't.

 

Thought I'd let you in on my personal experience, tale it or leave it. When I started I bought a "setup" deal. 10 gallon with lights, hood and filter. Cost ~100$ + the cost of gravel, and a heater. I bought a 34g tank and stand with lights, filter, gravel, rocks, 2 heaters, 2 drain snakes, bunch of meds, tons of food, ferts, co2 system. Everything and more, second hand all for 150$. Needless to say, I learnt the hard way. Which do you think was the better deal?

 

I learned the hard way that aquarium kits may not be the best deal all of the time (depending on your preferences).

I bought a 20 gallon aquarium kit and bought a new filter right away because I read the reviews and saw that the filter was loud and had heavy outflow and no adjustment knob (at the time I was planning on a betta sorority). I now have decided I want to plant my tank since I'm not keeping female bettas in the tank as I originally planned. Now that I want to plant it, I learned that my lights will not be able to grow much of anything, so I now need to get a new light and top. And the strip thermometer was very inaccurate and I didn't know my tank temperature was almost 86 degrees until I got a better thermometer.

Lesson learned that you should always research everything about what you want beforehand (planting, fish, etc.) and what they need for the tank. Although it did come with a net, but those are only a few dollars.

I wasted a lot of money on this kit to just replace with new stuff later, so I think researching good equipment is always best while you also think about what your fish will need.

Since this is my first tank, I thought it was a great deal, but most people will want to upgrade their equipment soon after once they research further.

 

I too bought a 55gal starter kit. I'm still using the filter, hoods and lights, however I had to add an additional filter, more LED lights for my plants which I attached to the hoods, and a new heater as the first one broke.

I don't regret buying the kit as it got me going, but you do need to budget for the upgrades.

 

My 29 gallon was a kit too
I only replaced the filter. The light was 6500K, so I didn't get a new one

 

I bought a 29 gallon tank a while ago while PetCo had their sale, and sometime in the near future I would like to set it up. I only have the tank itself, so I need to buy the filter, heater, etc. But I was wondering, if those all-in-one "starter kits" are cheaper than buying each piece of equipment separately, would it be better to sell the 29 tank and then buy a 29 starter kit?


Also, what brand starter kit would you recommend? I have had good experience with Aqueon products, but the Marineland ones look nice as well.

This is just my 2 cents...You can get the TopFin 29 gallon starter kit for $100.00. It comes with a heater, power filter and other goodies. You would most likely buy a different filter since you would a minimum of 200gph while the one supplied is only 150 gph so you're looking at $35 for that. Then depending how how good the heater is, another $35 for that. It comes with the hood and LED lights? Doesn't say what the wattage is or know if they're suitable for plants or whatnot. That' would be another $100 minimum.

 

I've had pretty good experiences with the starter kits I've bought. My 10 and 20 gallon tanks were both tetra starter kits from walmart, came with the tank, hoods with pretty basic LED lights on them, and tetra whisper filters (10I and 20l respectively). After everything was said and done I ended up replacing the hood of the 10 gallon for something more suitable for plants as I turned it into a walstad planted tank as well as replacing the filter with an aquatech 10-20 filter, but my 20 gallon still remains pretty much everything I bought with it. The only things I added was a tetra 50w heater for the 10 gallon and an aqueon 100w heater for my 20 gallon as they didn't come equipped.

I plan on buying a 125g topfin kit here soon unless I can find something for a better deal and can see it holding water before I buy it. However, not sure if you can really consider those 'starter' kits, as all they really have is a light fixture (you'd have to replace if you're planning on doing plants, which I'm not at the time for the stock I'm considering (my nw cichlids)) and lids. I'd still have to get the filters, heaters, substrate, etc.

So final notes, it really depends on what you're wanting to do with said kit. If you're wanting to go with minimal stocking (and honestly everyone really should for the most part as maintaining weekly maintenance as opposed to monthly is more than some people are willing to commit to), non-planted tank (which most new people will probably go that route), there's absolutely nothing wrong with the kits.

 

Personally I think the starter kits are a horrible idea and deal. Yes they are cheap, but they also come with cheap equipment. The filters and heaters are usually the cheapest around. Especially with heaters, you don't want to go too cheap and have a thermostat stick or electrocution hazard. Then there are the lights, I love planted tanks, and will have plants in any tank I own. The lighting included with most starter kits is usually very bad for plants, at best, they will keep low light plants alive, but just barely.

For a much better option, I think buying the tank locally either new or save money and check out craigslist. Just be sure there are no cracks or leaks.

Then you can buy all of your equipment online for way cheaper then any local place. You can spend the same roughly as the starter kits, but get much better equipment. Places like bigalspets.com and kensfish.com also have free shipping on orders over $75. So do some planning for chemicals, food, and equipment, buy everything at once, and have it shipped straight to your door for free, your even saving on gas money. The selection at online places like bigals and ken's is also so much better. They have all the larger more reputable brands.

It's somewhat similar to buying a new computer....

You can go to Walmart and get a good deal on a cheap computer.

Or you can build one yourself with high quality parts. It just takes a little research and time, but you end up spending around the same money, just with a much better end result.

Replacing anything that comes in a starter kit is like paying for something twice. I would rather buy the equipment I know will work and last the first time, rather then spending money twice.

 

Just remember if you are in Canada, shipping (which isn't free), customs and taxes start to add up.

 

Just remember if you are in Canada, shipping (which isn't free), customs and taxes start to add up.

Bigalspets.com is based in Canada, and they have a Canada specific site, I believe. I have heard they have different prices there, but you I don't think you will have to pay customs. According to the bigals Canada website, they still have the same free shipping deal on orders over $75. You can also google search "bigalspets.com Canada coupon" on find a variety of shipping discounts. I'm not sure about how taxes work in Canada, perhaps it's similar to the US and if you are not in the same territory or province then they don't charge tax, not sure though.

 

I have used 3 kits now. The 5 gallon Color fusion, 10 gallon color fusion, (both by tetra) and the Aquaculture 55 gallon kit. I only upgraded the light/hood on the 10g, and added a heater. The 55g, I kept both filters, but added a canister, and upgraded to a LED for plants. However, the kit lights from the 55 gallon I was able to rig one set up to the 5 gallon betta tank and it lights it up very bright. The other set, I will be fitting onto a 1.5g nano I recently got for shrimp. In a way, the kits have their advantages in the sense of having spare equipment once you get addicted to the hobby and find that the number of tanks you own starts to increase rapidly. It also really depends on how you plan to stock the tank, and whether or not you want live plants.

 

When I first started fishkeeping a couple years back, I started out with the Top Fin 10G starter kit. The filter was pretty underrated, only 3-5x GPH for a HOB. The heater was only 50w I think. The lights went dead within a month. I ended up upgrading everything. So I actually ended up spending more than if I had bought everything separate. So I learned my lesson after that horrible experience.

 

I think starter kits have their advantages for some people - especially for a newbie.

I found that the one I got from Walmart ( 5 gallon ) was just that! It's a great QT tank now and I have had for 4 + years and still works great for that purpose.

When I bought my 36 gallon tank 4 years ago, it was basically a starter kit with everything included ( lights, filter, heater )

What I found that I didn't like about it was that the filter was underrated - it said it can be used up to 40 gallons but I ended up having to get another filter alongside of it to boost up the GPH on it.
The heater was bare minimum ( 100 watts )

My 72 gallon that I got last year, I made sure I bought everything separate so I can be sure it was adequate equipment and met all of my needs for that tank.

 

I think starter kits have their advantages for some people - especially for a newbie.

I found that the one I got from Walmart ( 5 gallon ) was just that! It's a great QT tank now and I have had for 4 + years and still works great for that purpose.

When I bought my 36 gallon tank 4 years ago, it was basically a starter kit with everything included ( lights, filter, heater )

What I found that I didn't like about it was that the filter was underrated - it said it can be used up to 40 gallons but I ended up having to get another filter alongside of it to boost up the GPH on it.
The heater was bare minimum ( 100 watts )

My 72 gallon that I got last year, I made sure I bought everything separate so I can be sure it was adequate equipment and met all of my needs for that tank.

It may have sufficient equipment for a QT or "smaller" tank, but it's much more economical to buy everything separately for your main tank.

 

It IS much more economical but you have to also take in to account, some of those people, "just starting out" may give up the hobby altogether. I have known a few friends that did this and never used the tank again.

When we first got in to this, we bought the Walmart 5 gallon for my son who was in kindergarten at the time. We almost gave up too. And even if we did, it would have only set us back $29.00

 

It IS much more economical but you have to also take in to account, some of those people, "just starting out" may give up the hobby altogether. I have known a few friends that did this and never used the tank again.

When we first got in to this, we bought the Walmart 5 gallon for my son who was in kindergarten at the time. We almost gave up too. And even if we did, it would have only set us back $29.00

Good point. I started a year ago and lost quite a few tetras and platys in the beginning. Would have been easy to just hang up the ol' fishing net.