Any Manufacturers That I Should Look Out For?

[pethappy]

On looking for new stuff for a possible new and aquarium, i was wondering if there are any makes or manufacturers that stand out above the rest for quality? I'm mainly looking at the quality/good makes of a filter, but if there are any good ones for plants, tanks, ornaments or anything else that would be really helpful too

I don't mind spending a little more for quality, if the stuff's going to last a little longer or be a little better

 

[raptorrex]

On looking for new stuff for a possible new and aquarium, i was wondering if there are any makes or manufacturers that stand out above the rest for quality? I'm mainly looking at the quality/good makes of a filter, but if there are any good ones for plants, tanks, ornaments or anything else that would be really helpful too

I don't mind spending a little more for quality, if the stuff's going to last a little longer or be a little better

well the names of, Juwel. Clearseal and Aquaone come up time and time again. all see good quality (i have a juwel and a clearseal myself). they all seem good aquaria.
if you are looking for an 'all in one setup', I'd look no further than Aquaone. juwel do a setup like this too, just its not in the same league for quality, and has dodgy filters, lights and heaters. (be aware these items are not 'useless', they just have a reputation for unreliablity)

looking at buying separate units?
well the tank suggestions stay the same, though you may look at someone like Boss aquaria (there are many other quality makers out there).
lights? i dont see any point in using units more expensive than Arcadia balast units.(its true there are some lovely and expensive 'illumieres'(spelling?) tubes seem much of a muchness, i tend to buy on price.
heaters? Jager, hydor (though this is for external filters). and i am sure may others will be pointed out to you in this thread.
filters? avoid the juwel item. but Fluval, Rena, Eheim and several others make good internal (my experience says fluval are a bit fragile) as for externals, Eheim and Aquaone seem to top the poll. but good offerings come from fluval rena. and the new, (comparatively untested) Allpond is getting good revues here. though the UV option is useless for freshwater aquaria.

 

[pethappy]

Thanks! From reading a bit on the beginners sections and topics on here, i think i'd prefer to get separate items and not the all in one solutions. As with a lot of other products, the all-in-one solutions always seem to lack quality.

I don't really know what i'm looking for plants wise, other than plastic can injure the fish i believe, so synthetic are better. I don't know much about the benefits of live plans(i guess i'll save that for a different topic) so i should probably look into that before getting into lighting and such.

I'm slowly getting addicted to this fish keeping malarky

 

[waterdrop]

From my time here on TFF I can at least verify the jist of what Raptor is saying about the popularity among the members for the various filter offerings. Fluval are quite popular for internals, although there are a wider range of internals that members seem to end up being happy with. In the HOB category Aquaclear is a standout for being very open and generic is allowing the hobbyists to customize the types of media and have nice rectangular space to put it in, not to mention low price (at least in the US.)

Externals of course are the main show for many serious hobbyists, since the media volume goes way up and that is the probably the prime spec for a filter. The main three contenders, Eheim, Rena and Fluval have been refining their designs for years and each manufacturer has many followers. Each model line has various good and bad points and of course as hobbyists we've been down and dirty over in the hardware section with individual models for years it looks like to me when I search back before I was here. At any given period of years there seems to be an up-and-comer for low price and newness and for a while that's been Tetratec, at least until a few leakage/breakage problems began being reported, so now that position seems to have been taken over by AllPond and there appear to be quite a few trying this new offering out who will be able to report how they do after a few years. All of the majors have their victories and failures, so it's really hard to generalize - you just have to read a lot and gradually form some opinions as well as experience with whatever first equipment you spring for. Most good equipment of course works even better with gentle and proper and regular care and this is especially true with equipment that runs constantly like filters.

~~waterdrop~~