What should I do...?

Question

I have a 10 gallon aguarium that was given to me, it came with a filter and the aquarium. No hood w/ light, no heater, no gravel, no plants, and no filter cartridages. Since I have to buy all these things seperatley should I just got to Wal Mart and get the whole kit with filter, tank, heater, food, hood w/ light. Would it be cheaper to do that or just buy everything seperatley?

Answer 1

Ten gallon aquariums are sold for about $7.00 wholesale. The components are the expensive part. You would likely save money buying a kit as opposed to peicing it together (preferably a 20 gallon starter). Get one with a Flourecsent light and a good undergraval filter. The hang-on power filter (which I recemmend) is sold seperately and runs about $15-25. Get about 1.5 lbs gravel for every gallon. I prefer medium to fine grain, natural colored gravel. Bright colored gravel drowns out the delicate fish colors. For a 20 gallon system expect to pay about $90 total for everything and for the 10 gallon system, $ 70. Email me at [e-mail] and when you are ready for fish and I will steer you right in fish choosing. jason (Phoenix Phish Care)

Answer 2

I agree Walmart does not do fish well, but they cannot messup supplies. Walmart is ok. Since you have the tank they do sell hood kits, not too expensive for a 10 gallon. I would recomend going to a local pet store you trust. Once you are a familiar face, they will wheel and deal with you.

Your hood w/lightat Walmart or kmart will be around $10-$15 dollars. If you are putting goldfish into your tank, you don't need a heater. You don't need plants. Filter cartridages depending on your filter will start at $5 and up. Howevr you can buy singles for around $1.50 if you are on a strict budget.

You could always go buy a new kit and use this tank for a quaranteen tank or a second tank as you get the money to complete it.

Petsmart, petco they are nice to visit, but I found are priced a bit high on a lot of things, especially fish. Iwould suggest taking a little trip and find out who has the best prices. Or Mix and match. I also found out, if I can buy it cheaper at petco and I am at petsmart, talk to the manager. They will lower the price.

Answer 3

Well, if you can find the stuff on sale, it may end up costing you less but frankly, it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new kit.

Your other option would be to try to find the missing parts, used, like on craigslist.com or your local classifieds or fish club. You can probably find heater, hood / light, gravel, etc, used. You would probably want to buy a new filter, too, but you can test the old one and see if it works. If you buy the lights / hood, instead of buying a hood, you can buy a glass lid and a light fixture, which can end up being cheaper - but typically you have to go to a fish store, and not walmart, for that stuff. As for the heater, make sure it's submersible. You won't find used filter cartridges, most likely (although check e-bay?) but you can buy those pretty cheap - or, even better, you can buy carbon sacks and filter sponges separately. Much more efficient that way.

If you do end up buying a kit, you can always hang on to your 10 gallon and use it as a hospital or quarantine tank... or just sell it and make 5-10$ to put against the cost of your new kit (which you can also find used, on craigslist etc, fyi)

Answer 4

It would probably cost around the same amount of $$ to buy everything seperately retail as an entire 10 g kit, yes, afraid so. However, if you go to your local fish store (or pet store that sells fish) and ask if there is a local aquaria society, many members have used canopy/light hoods, gravel, heaters and plants (real and plastic) for sale at exceptionally good prices. The only thing you should need to buy new are the filter cartridges. And even then I would look for a used Aquaclear 20 which allows you to use your own filter media and save even more money.

If you have the dedication of a bargain hunter, used is the way to go. If you are impatient, buy a whole new kit. (do price comparisons, first - Walmart is not always the lowest price)

Good luck!

Answer 5

Wal-Mart does alot of thigns well, but fish is not one of them.

Keep in mind that you get what you pay for. If you want to have good stuff, I would recommend that you buy things separatly. Petsmart is actually a good place to get your stuff.

Get a submersible heater. Marineland makes a pretty good heater that is worth every penny. For everything else, you should get what fits the tank.

As far as the filter, take a look at the filter and make sure that it is in good working order. If not, you can get a good hang on the back filter pretty cheap. Since you want to change out the filters once a month, you should get a box of filters. It will be cheaper than buying the filters individually.

The biggest thing you should buy separately is the heater. the hang on the back heaters are cheap, but worthless.

Answer 6

If you want a hood with light then yes it would be better to just go buy a kit since the hood is the most expensive part about a tank. You can use the tank you have now for a hospital tank if a fish gets sick.

Answer 7

i think you are going to come out at about the same price range if you go with a kit from walmart or buy everything separately. walmart sells hoods and filters and heaters so you are set either way. i would suggest getting stuff from the aqua tech line by regent. its the same company as marineland that makes eclipse stuff -- they just sell under a different name (for a lot less) at walmart.