Customer Reviews

Fluval SPEC Desktop Glass Aquarium, 2-gallon

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

EDIT:
I purchased this tank a little over 3 months ago, and I now have to edit my review.
Unfortunately, one LED in the light started to flicker just 2 and a half months in, and went out completely at 3 months. I contacted the company and they say they will send me a new one when they get them in again, but they couldn't tell me when that might be. I'm not sure if they were serious or if I was given a brush-off. Now several bulbs are completely out or are flickering. At this rate, within the year, the light will no longer function - please see the video review I uploaded (trying to anyway) to see what the lights are doing.

I will update this review again to let the public know how the company finally handled it...

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I had originally bought a "GloFish" 3.5 gallon tank for my Betta. Couldn't get one that didn't have a scratched tank, so I did some more research and found this little gem and I couldn't be more tickled with it.

It is sort of small - has a footprint about the size of an IPad and claims to hold 2 gallons. The glass on the back compartment is frosted, so you can not see the equipment, a very nice feature, IMO. The glass (real glass - NOT acrylic!) is of a slightly thinner thickness than a larger tank might have, but I could detect no flex or bow, so it is probably thick enough for the job and I even found a forum thread where a child had pulled a setup one down off of a night stand and the tank did not break and did not leak when it was setup again - talk about tough! And I sort of like the brushed aluminum molding that hides the glass seams - seams are tacky and these look very stylish and protect the edges well. They finished off the bottom with a THICK, polished acrylic band - like the black band on most aquariums, but this one is thicker, polished and looks sweet - not cheap looking like most.

Setup is a no-brainer. It is a little difficult to get the pump into the compartment as the electrical cord does need to be bent sharply where it enters the pump body to get it to fit in, and then a little pressure will push it down to the bottom. I've taken mine in and out a couple of times now and never got it stuck as one reviewer had happen. Plenty of room in the back for a mini-heater and Co2/o2.

The pump is rated for 40GPH, but has a built-in "throttle" that cuts it back by probably half of that. I found it to still be just a little too much flow for my Betta, so used a mini valve in-line (from an old marineland canister) to dampen the flow even more, but you could use this too: Two Little Fishies Ball Valve w/ Hose Barbs for 1/2? (12.7 mm) I.D. Tubing - (1 Per Pack) Now it is perfect for the Betta. And the system runs silently - a bonus if you want this in your bedroom. The filtration is way overkill - like what you might find in a large reef setup. But I don't think there is such a thing as too much filtration, so this isn't a complaint, just acknowledgment.

Ok - the LED's. When I bought this tank, my main requirement was that it have good LED lighting that I could use on a timer. The "GloFish" tank has a weird switch that allowed you to cycle through the different light "schemes", but it would not work with a timer at all. The LED light that comes with the SPEC is fully timer compatible and is WAY bright. I have multimeter for garden use, that has a little light intensity meter (not sure what it is testing specifically), and these LED lights peak at about 750 (on a scale of 100-2000) - my 4ft florescent grow lights only peak at 500 and sunlight on an overcast day comes up as 350. So these get the job done. I was worried about the clip-on aspect of the light and that it might throw glare or otherwise get obnoxious, but it does not - angle it just right and even if you are lower than the level of the light, you don't have it getting into your eyes. I am concerned about longevity, as many LED lights have a tendency to burn out quickly, but Fluval has a pretty good rep for customer service and the system has a 2 year warranty, so hopefully if there are any issues, Fluval will remedy it with a new light.

The only things I do not like are the black back wall, and that is just an aesthetic thing, and the clear acrylic top. Personally, I think they should have carried over the frosted glass idea to the back wall, and used frosted acrylic, but others might not have liked that. Not sure how they could have improved the top, but it seems sort of cheap (compared with the quality of the tank itself) and like it was more of an afterthought. I can see this top getting all scratched up with little provocation, lol.

So all in all, this is an amazing little tank, crafted with care, and mostly of quality materials. And only a bit more pricey than any acrylic counterparts.
If you are looking for a tiny tank, this one rocks!

I was initially keeping my betta in a wall-mounted bowl with no filtration, light, etc. That lasted about a week, and I started looking for something more roomy and easy to maintain. I found this tank at my local pet store on sale. I read some reviews online and went ahead. In my reading, the most common complaint was that the four corners each have a band of metal where the glass joins are. This isn't a problem for me, as I typically only view this tank from one angle (from where I'm sitting now). I could see if you were used to a tank with very clean or invisible joins, this might be a drawback.

My single betta loves the extra space (people tend not to give bettas much room), and I love that there's built in filtration! I don't run it all the time, as it tends to be a bit strong for his liking, but I do run it about one hour a day. This keeps most crud out of my betta's living space. The light that comes with the tank throws a fairly harsh white light, but I suspect you could switch this out for another tank-mounted light if you wanted to.

To give you an idea, the tank is big enough that I have a single 8" plant (plastic), a 2.5" diameter moss ball (real), and a single structure for my betta to hide in. Beneath all this, I have about 1.5" of substrate to which I'll be adding mini clams next week!

Very good tank for beginners (me!) or for small spaces.

Wonderful product for the price. The footprint for this tank isnt much bigger than my phone. Quality materials, high tech look. I like the fact that all the filtration equipment is behind a black panel on the back wall. The LED light is very bright. Anyone that passes my desk stops to look and ask questions..

I bought this tank because the spot I put the tank I originally got for my betta didn't get enough light and I couldn't see him. Some reviewers complain that the lights are too bright, but they're perfect for me. Also reviewers complain about the corner edges in the front. My boyfriend thought they got in the way of him seeing the fish, but I don't have a problem with it because I'm usually looking at it from the side. Also, at night he says it's not a problem, just when it's bright out. The filter motor is a pain to put in - I had to use a ruler to shove it down. Then when it was in, the tube was twisted and I had to really yank the power cord to get it out and fix it. Thought I was going to break it. But it came out ok. The filter motor is a little strong even at the low setting, but I took one reviewer's suggestion and only run it an hour or so a day and that works great. I did buy the Two Little Fishies Ball Valve, but haven't put it in yet (don't want to have to yank the motor out again) and don't think I really need it. I also put a Hydor mini heater in with the motor and it works great. I keep my house around 68 in the winter, and so far it has been keeping his temp in the upper seventies when it's cold out. My Crowntail betta is very happy in this tank. He's very active and building bubble nests :)

Great little aquarium!! Yes, the pump barely fits in the back and you have to use a kitchen spoon to get it in there, but it does fit. It's totally worth it, because this aquarium is totally silent. It looks great. And the water flow is adjustable, via a slider switch on the pump. (You have to take the pump out to get to the slider. ). I set mine to the minimum flow. I have a beta and my fish is doing just fine in this tank. Perfect for a desk or bedroom. There is NO bubble noise and NO motor noise (at least on minimum speed the way I have it, I have not tried faster speeds). There is plenty of water filtration even at minimum speed and it is not too much water flow for a beta. The walls are made of glass, not cheap plastic like other 2 gallon aquariums. The only criticisms I have are: The instructions are very minimal. I had to scratch my head for a while to figure out whether I was really setting it up right. Also, if you have a small heater with thermostat, like I do (to keep the temperature constant), there is no hole or slot for the cord. I ended up VERY carefully cutting a small notch in the top of the back (black plastic) divider for the cord. They should have designed this as I'm sure lot's of people have heaters. But it was all totally worth it to me. You won't find a better 2 gallon aquarium!

An update: Since I wrote the above, my beta has started "resting" against the intake. The intake is just below the surface of the water. The beta can and does still swim around occasionally. When I feed him, he swims away from the intake to eat. But he is spending a lot of time pressed up sideways against the intake. I think he's doing it by choice. The current is only enough to hold him there if he's right next to it. He can swim away from it. The intake is much larger than the beta, and consists of a row of slots near the top of the plastic divider. If he swims down or away from it, there is plenty of area in the tank where the current does not pull him towards it. So I think he must actually like resting there at the vent. (He's a 3 year old beta.). But it's less fun to look at the tank when the fish isn't swimming in the midle of it. If this behavior continues, I may try to reduce the power going to the pump, or find a way to keep him away from the intake.

Further update: I tried putting a dimmer on the filter pump but had to remove it because the pump motor won't work with any less voltage. The built in slider switch on the pump itself goes to the slowest setting the motor can handle. This may be just as well because the tank wouldn't stay as clean with a slower pump. I ended up using my dimmer on the light, because it was too bright to be used a night-light. Now it's fine, the dimmer works perfectly on the light and when I want to see the fish better I can turn the brightness up. In the end, I am very happy with this tank, with the pump at its slowest setting. My beta likes to hang out near the filter intake but has not gotten "stuck" in the filter. I do have to turn the filter off at feeding time, otherwise the food gets sucked into the filter. After the fish finishes eating, I turn the filter back on. If you have really small fish (like baby fish for example, this tank might be a problem. The fish might get sucked into filter. If you forget to turn the pump down to its lowest setting before putting it in the water, you might have a problem. The current would be too strong. But my beta is doing fine and I'm very happy with this tank in the bedroom.

I have a betta and this tank is great. The flow is too strong for a betta though. To fix this I removed the nozzle piece from the return water connector. I then took a piece of air hose and stuck the air hose into and down the return tube. I then ran the hose to the bottom of the tank. This pushes up the debris from the gravel and also allows the betta to not be pushed around as much.

I did a lot of research before buying this tank, and I strongly considered a Fluval Ebi as well, but I will be keeping this tank at work, and I don't have a lot of room for a tank. This pint-sized all-in-one tank fit the bill for me. The built-in filter system takes up 1/4 of the entire tank volume! That's quite large. It should help a lot with keeping the water parameters stable in such a small tank.

In my particular case, I built the Spec to be a planted freshwater dwarf shrimp tank. I've been debating putting some Bororas in there, but I really don't think it's enough room for them to swim around comfortably. Since the shrimp generally don't swim around much, they should be quite at home in such a small tank as they go about their daily lives keeping the tank clean and algae free. And to be quite honest, the shrimp are much more fun to watch than most fish.

The tank only took minutes to assemble. Keep in mind that unlike some of the other tanks by Fluval, this one does not come with any substrate/gravel/sand. This makes sense as this tank also seems quite popular with the salt water pico-tank crowd. Just remember to order appropriate substrate when you order your tank.

The pump is very powerful, and right away, I had to turn it down to it's minimum setting.

It's been up and running for about a week now, and the pump is pretty quiet. Not silent, but I can't hear it next to my 8 gallon nano-tank with it's filter running. I have yet to add a heater to the tank, but will be looking for a small heater that will fit in the back of the tank in the filter/pump compartment.

Overall quality of construction is very good. I'm considering getting another one of these, but I'm not sure where I'd put it at the moment. I think it would be hard to go wrong with this one if you want a tiny tank to keep on your desk.

Pros: Inexpensive, well built, attractive design, huge filter, everything built-in, it's made of real glass.

Cons: I can't imagine keeping fish in this little thing. I think dwarf shrimp are your best bet. The pump is just a tiny bit rattly sounding, so I wouldn't keep it on your bedroom night-stand.

Interesting note: I saw a video on Youtube of a guy who build sort of a triptych with three of these things next to each other and a long light assembly over the top of all three. It looked really cool.

Bought this tank for my 8yo son as his first aquarium. Very easy to set up and with the pump and tubes behind a back panel, looks very attractive on his shelf unit. The LED light really makes the fish look good but perhaps a little harsh on the fishes' eyes in a small tank - it's not like they can swim far away from it. Can always swap it out with something softer though. The filter pump is fine but a bit strong for a small tank - thankfully it has a throttle switch, which I turned all the way down after several tests.

We put 5 small tetra fish in it. One died in the first 24 hrs, most likely due to stress, and all of the other four are doing well after 1 week. I bought the Aquafin Plus and Aquafin Cycle treatments as recommended in the user manual. Put some small pebbles, a small but good quality plastic plant, and a small piece of branchwood (real) to create a little habitat similar to the fishes' natural environment and it looks great. I almost want to get one for my desk at work!

Overall I am very happy with this tank. I can easily see us buying a bigger tank in the future, but for a beginner like my son not knowing whether it's a hobby that they will pursue, it's a great and easy way to start out.

I was torn initially between this aquarium and the Aqueon Evolve 2. I was able to physically inspect the Evolve 2 at a local chain pet store and found that it's build quality was much inferior to the Fluval Chi which is the only cube by Fluval I could find. The Chi even though it is rated at 5 gallons, is also glass and all the components seemed of much better quality than the Evolve. Also, the Evolve is an acrylic tank and not glass so while nice when new, is very prone to scratches over time. Based on these comparisons and viewing a few videos on Youtube of it, I went for the Fluval Spec knowing that it's build quality would be as good as the Chi's. I actually considered the Chi then read that people were complaining about the waterfall feature and that it was disturbing the water too much. It also doesn't come with a lid and must be purchased separately for around $15. I'm very glad in retrospect that I settled on this one even though it's smaller than the Chi. The packaging was awesome and no doubt, Amazon went above and beyond to ensure it arrived unbroken. It was literally wrapped all the way around the box four times with bubble wrap. It took me almost 10 minutes to even get all the bubble wrap off it!

As far as the Spec is concerned, the build quality is phenomenal for the price. It looks great on my desk and the lights are nice and bright. I have a beta, an African Dwarf Frog and a Mystery snail in the tank and it's the perfect size for this type of aquatic life. The current is a little strong even on the lowest setting for the beta so I just turn it off at night and run it as long as I am at my desk which is more than sufficient to keep the water nice and clear. The pump is a little bit of a booger to get in the back where it belongs, but not too bad. There is also a ton of space above the compartment for the pump to put a small heater if one so desires. The filtration seems to work very good and the water is staying nice and clear. One thing I will say however, is that the rated capacity of 2 gallons is suspect as I use store bought spring water from the store in gallon jugs and at most, it took a little over 1 1/2 gallons to fill it up. Overall, I am very pleased with the tank and it looks absolutely awesome on my desk.

One last thing, before I decided to get a cube style tank, I had a Aqueon Mini Bow 1 gallon and it was far too small and the current way too strong for my beta. This is despite the fact that it even says on the box that it's perfect for betas. So if you were by chance cross shopping this tank with that one, spend the extra and get this tank. It's so much nicer with better lighting and filtration and an all glass cube to boot.

Yes you read it right, this tank is sexy. While my main loves are my 28g led nano cube and my 70g oceanic reef tanks we also have a number of bettas in residence (my daughter can't pass up those cups w/o needing to save one). In the past I've purchased the $20 acrylic 2 1/2 g tanks for the bettas, and when coupled with the small flat heaters they are sufficient however when we decided our newest rescue would be living in the livingroom next to my new led nano cube I wanted something a bit nicer looking.

This tank is perfect! The lines are clean, I love how the faux back wall hides the equipment (personally I recommend ditching the sponge which will become a nitrate factory, if you want toss some filter floss back there and the carbon otherwise use the large area for a 25w or 50w heater. The pump is a tight squeeze and far to powerful so I simply put a couple slits into the line and now the flow is much more manageable for a betta. If you do want to keep the large sponge you can fit a small heater in with the pump, its tight but it will fit (I'll post a photo soon along with the brand of heater I'm using to keep it a steady 78). The led light is excellent, far far brighter then the ones that come with the cheap tanks. I used Super Naturals Tahitian Moon Aquarium Sand, 20 Lb black sand and it looks extremely nice.

I highly recommend this little tank, in fact I'm giving very strong consideration to swapping out at least one of our other tanks for one of these. I've also seen some really amazing pico reefs done by experienced reef keepers using these.