but it's also a bit like being in a fish tank
353821
Warning- if you are in a room without windows, these will make your room look very blue. It's calming, but it's also a bit like being in a fish tank. I had to take the middle loose, so some regular light shines through.
1745970
I got this as a cheap tank for a betta I'm looking after temporarily as he looked so sad in his little 1 gallon bowl. It's a good size and the design is not terrible - it doesn't look as cheap as it actually is. The guideline of 1 pound of gravel per gallon works well as 3 pounds of gravel was perfect for about an inch depth.

The filter, aside from being poor quality, is actually dangerous if you have smaller fish. The betta I'm looking after is full grown, so he's not tiny, but a few days after transferring him to this tank I found him somehow trapped inside the filter. His fins are shredded and he's very shaken, so I'll have to work hard to make sure that he doesn't get fin rot or some other disease while he recovers. The filter is very, very cheap, even compared to other cheap filters. It's basically an open bucket - there is no top cover - and you just shove a little bag of carbon/whatever else is in the refills inside. The motor at the bottom sucks in water and it pushes it out through the top in an aesthetically pleasing waterfall. The open bucket design at the top makes it possible for a fish to accidentally jump in, which is what I think happened in my case. I didn't overfill the tank and keep at least an inch of space near the top. I recommend throwing this filter straight into the trash if you do get this tank. I have the Penn Plax Cascade 300 filter in my main betta tank, and I would recommend it 100% for a small tank that's over 3 gallons capacity. It's fully submersible, minimizing the disturbance of the water surface so they can make their bubble nests, and it has two stage filtration - mechanical through a sponge and with a carbon cartridge. It's fully enclosed so no accidents like this happen with it.

The lid is also flimsy. There's no hinge or connection to the tank - it just sits on top, so it would be easy to fumble it and dip it in the tank, distressing your fish. I don't use the light but I can't imagine having anything electric attached to such a flimsy piece of plastic. The light seems to just clip on so it's not the most secure thing either.

All in all, this is a cheap tank with cheap accessories.
1136623
There is a hole in the bottom that allows water to flow in, more of a beach toy than an actual kayak
3731246
Tank - the walls are made of glass and the base, back and lid are plastic. Two compartments form the back, one for the filter and one for the pump. The filter is a sponge block with two holes, one for a mesh bag of activated carbon and the other for a mesh bag of "BioMax" media. The pump has an adjustable flow rate that was set to high by default. I have it on the second lowest setting for my betta but may still have to turn it down another notch. I can see the fish being pushed around by the flow, and the snails' antennae shaking around in the breeze. The pump is a little hard to place inside due to the small space but is still manageable. The filter sponge block has a handle so it can be easily lifted out.

Lighting - the light didn't work so I had to bring it back to the pet store and ask for a new one, which did work. The light fits over a notch in the back of the tank, with a screw to tighten it, which you can loosen or tighten by hand (no screwdriver needed). Light intensity is not adjustable. I have a live mossball in there and it seems to be doing well with the light, though I've only had it a few days.

Noise - virtually none.

Heater - I was able to fit a narrow 10W mini heater into the pump's compartment and it works fine. It's a little isolated from the main compartment there, but it still brought the water temperature up to just 1 degree C below the setpoint, which is within the error margin of the heater.

Vents - the filter inlet is a set of vertical lines along the top left in the back of the tank and the outlet is in the top right of the back.
3944026
My wife loved this fish tank. It was cool how you could grow stuff with the fish poop, however the rocks did get a little smelly and the pump was under powered.
3957890
Picked up my tank at a walgreens. I have it on my desk at work.  The plastic plants that come with this are cheesy so I replaced them with some from a local post supply store and I added colored stones instead of the rocks it came with.  My Beta seems happy and I love having it on my desk as its pretty and relaxes me to watch Rio,my fish.  Easy cleaning every few days by just pouring in water slowly to keep from scaring him.  Water sometimes doesn't stop draining so put your finger over the outside tube to stop the flow. I really think it's easy and fun. Everyone in the office loves it.
4052768
I have a full size aquarium with filter and heater, I bought this more as a sick bay for my fish.  I needed something where I can change the water easily and frequently and also doesn't have a filter in case I needed to give the fish medicine.  It's a pretty neat design and does work well.  The plastic is very cheap and films and one drop and the thing will shatter.  Also, the rocks and little plant that comes with it is absolute junk and can't be used.  I have my own decor, so it's okay.  I do place it in a nice warm area so the fish doesn't freeze in cold climate.
226201
Your fish can live like bottom feeders or elevate to this penthouse of fish tanks. This tank is sleek and modern. Definitely a conversation piece!!!
1970677
Sinks promptly for the most part.

My plecos and angel fish love it.
3644174
When I bought this program, I already owned the Marine Aquarium 2.0 screen saver. If I were not already spoiled by that excellent program, I might have given this program more stars. Ocean Aquarium looks more like open water, not a constrained aquarium. You have a choice of a vast number of fish and other sea creatures. You can also have many fish visible at the same time.

The overall program settings are more difficult to adjust. If you have a lot of fish visible at the same time it can be distracting. the fish go back and forth in a predictible line, unlike actual fish. The manta ray and the dophin were well rendered, but some of the other fish appeared to move in more 2 dimensional pattern.

It is more difficult to get the screen saver to fit a wide coputer screen. tha active desk top was a bit distracting for me because of the moving elements, but others might not find it so.
3273060
I loooveee this tank. However, after bubbles (my fish) died, I did some research and found out he needed a 5 gallon tank with a heater and filter with bio media. I was surprised. Why would they sell something if it wasn't appropriate for fish to live in? Ah, well. It works nice for growing live aquarium plants in, very cute like that, maybe with some bladder/pond snails.
4670851
It is a nice fish tank, I wish I got it a little bigger, we have baby Koi fish in it for the Winter and it does cloud up fast.
2793870
Some of the tank is cheap, the nozzle for return water, the plastic backing within the aquarium, the stand.  Also the plastic separator for the pump and filter was a few centimeters off of alignment so the plastic backing is just a wee bit crooked.  Other than that, I'm satisfied and the tank is running great.  I added a 80gph submersible pump you can find on Amazon, to the lower left of the aquarium because the flow is not quite enough for a marine tank.
650539
Its a pretty cool piece to put in your fish tank. But the paint seems to be rubbing off on it. I don't know if it's because my husband likes to clean the tank so often or what but the paint is taking a beating.
3893176
I was a little nervous about ordering this fish grill because some of the other reviews suggested that it would squish the fish.  I have actually found that it works pretty well for thinner filets and smaller fish.  However, if you caught (or bought) something big, this grill is not for you.  The grill does have two addtional drawbacks.  First, it is not that easy to clean.  Little bits of fish will stick to it, and you will need tp scrub carefully to get them off (or I suppose you could just leave the thing on your grill until it all burns off).  Second, the handle does not detach.  I have a gas grill but cannot close the top when using this device.  Still, it's not too bad.
358684
I really like this little tank. It was actually a move up in size for my little gold fish. And yeah, I realize there are people who will insist that goldfish "can't" live in a tank this size. Mine have been living perfectly fine in a 2.5 gallon tank for the past 9 months (and about a third of that volume was taken by the internal pump). This tank is their new and improved home, and they love it. I replaced my previous acrylic aquaponic tank (which cost twice as much as this one) because I kept having leakage problems with it.

I have all live plants, 2 small goldfish, and one very small plecostomus who keeps the algae away.

The filter is very quiet (unless you don't have the top on it quite right and it vibrates). It seems to be doing an adequate job. I also turned the flow to low so that my fish could swim through the flow-zone. I've had no problems with it running, and no leaking problems. I haven't tried to buy replacement cartridges yet, hopefully they are obtainable.
I received the correct top hinges, which at first I didn't think I'd use, because I thought they would obnoxiously stand out too much as being big and black. But they aren't bad at all, and without them, the top that comes with the aquarium will fall through. I slid the lid forward so that it overlaps the front of the tank (to me this isn't annoyingly noticeable) so that I could place a light bar across the back of the tank (I purchased an inexpensive 7" LED light bar off Amazon). If I placed my light on top of the lid, the light was reflected off the lid. This also allows enough space so you can lift the lid to feed or do water changes. Yes, condensation does build up on the lid. Of course it does - this is a cube of glass with water in it! You would see this in any open system of this style. If seeing condensation on the clear top of your tank will bother you, you should get a closed system with an opaque top (I personally really like the look of the clear top). I also don't find the lid to have "cloudy" issues as other reviews stated. Yes, it's rather thin plexiglass, but it's sturdy enough, and plenty clear other than the condensation. Maybe they didn't realize it comes with a protective sheeting that you have to remove!
I wasn't sure how I would fee about the curved front edges, as they do visually distort (see my picture), but I've adjusted to seeing it, and I think the nice clean looking lines are well worth the distortion.

If you are looking for a nice, small glass table top aquarium, this is a great value, and looks quite nice. I don't think you'll be disappointed!
1624577
I got this at back in Feb for my python. She'll spend hours just stretching up the sides and borrowing in the substrate. The only thing I don't like is it's a pain to clean with the fact it's a big heavy (think like 60lbs) tank and I'm just one guy. But still a real nice tank. Bit emtpy right now but I can fix that.