Okay, so I am planning on buying a new aquarium. (Insert happy dance!) Since I'm going smaller than previous tanks, I'm looking to house 1 Ranchu, 1 Oranda, and (if I can find a great one) a snail. I work & go to school full time and although I look forward to taking the time to care for the fish, I want an efficient set up. My previous tanks were used and pretty basic with mail order 2 HOB Biowheel filters, flourescent lights, and bubble wands, etc.

I'm looking for a 20-25 gallon set up and am trying to look at the pro's and con's of combo's or kits. I'm curious, what do people think of the Eclipse Combos? Also, I've been looking at the Nano Cube 29 gallon too, and although it's designed for salt water use, I don't see how it could not work for goldies. However, I cannot locate the filter's gph... which may pose a problem. Plus, it has a really cool night lighting feature, and a certain web retailer is including stands for free. Oh and my previous tanks were glass... are there any major benefits to acrylic? Any thoughts and/ or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Things are coming back to me, but after 1 1/2 years it's slow going. I'm actually quite suprised at how much I have forgotten.

I personally think that if you're going to be housing goldfish, the best way to go is to put together your own tank and accessories.

I currently have two Eclipse tanks (small versions) with biowheel and filters in the hoods. They're great, but not made for goldfish and their massive amounts of waste. If you were going with tropicals or bettas, an Eclipse would be excellent! In the case of goldfish though, you wouldn't really be able to get the amount of filtration you need out of it and it's difficult to add filters to the back since everything is built in under the hood.

As for the nano cube, I don't have one of those, but I did recently purchase an Aquapod which is similar. Again, these setups are intended for small reef tanks, and aren't really made for goldfish either. I believe the nanocube like the aqua pod have a built in wet/dry filter (sump style kind of thing going on) in the back of the tank. What happens is you put in an underwater water pump, and water is first drawn through a sponge chamber... then flows through a biological media chamber or two, then pumped back into the viewing part of the aquarium. Again, this setup is great for fish who don't produce large amounts of waste and require a high filtration turnover. Tropicals and marine fish would be wonderful for this set up.

If you really are planning on getting one of the two though, I personally like the aquapod setup better. I am however a softie for sump and wet/dry filters. It would be really difficult to put an HOB filter onto a nanotank or aquapod though, so that is something to keep in mind.

Hope this helped!

::edit::
sorry i forgot to address the gph of the nanocube comment. with the aquapod, the water turnover rate depends on the size of the underwater pump you put in that will fit in the allotted space. so it can vary, which is probably why they didn't mention it in the description for the tank.

as for glass or acrylic... they are both good. acrylic is lighter but easy to scratch; it offers good viewing angles since there are no siliconed edges. between the two, i think i prefer glass. it's a matter of preference i think. both are good... both can hold fish... haha i'm easy to please. so your choice!

almost all my tanks were kits or combos and they all work great although i usually add different stronger filters ont he goldfish tanks

Thanks for the advice! Maybe I will buy things separately to make sure I get what I need in terms of filtration, etc.

i really think that is the best option for goldfish.

had it been for tropicals or marine fish, i think that the combo kit tanks would be great!
be sure to let us know what you plan on getting!

we've got quite a few experts on all sorts of tank equipment,
so they could probably help you pick out the equipment you'd get the best bang for your buck for.

have fun putting together a new tank!

Yeah, most of those all in one systems usually don't provide enough water turnover to be sufficient for goldfish. Also, those things are overpriced in my opinion. It's much cheaper to buy the accessories separately.

true if you buy them brand new new from a petstore, most of the time yes, it's not really worth it and you'd be able to set up a better set up at at a similar price. you can find some really good deals though online and sometimes petstores will have sales (not the chain stores but the small local stores). their display tanks will sometimes be cheaper than regular price.