Hi All,
I had to sell my tanks when I moved south several states, and after a 4 year hiatus, I've decided to get back into the hobby. I wanted a 125, but space was not great, budget & time was limited, and I really didn't care for the "cookie cutter" stands available at most of the local Pet Smart/chain operations. Custom work was extremely expensive, so I looked online and found a well-known retailer selling turn key aquariums. I ordered the 90 gallon in white. It shows up on the truck, and I bring home what turns out to be a new SunSun HRX-1200H in white. That's right suckas, I got all pimp-white because that's how I roll. (Actually, I'm not that hard core. We simply wanted a white and black theme in our office, and this was the only white tank setup I could find in the budget range.) Sidebar - This is the brief moment where I thank my future brother in law for helping me carry this thing. Tony, without you, this wouldn't have happened. I doubt you will ever see this, but thanks. Your help meant a lot.
First impressions - I'll rate everything on a scale of 1-10, 10 being perfect.
The tank - very cool looking with the bull nose front. Of course the rounded corners have distortion, but if you really want the look of a custom tank for little money, this is the way to go. The glass has a slight blueish tinge to it, personally, it doesn't bother me at all. The frame is attached via silicone, and they did a sloppy job, excess silicone had to be trimmed off in multiple spots. There were a few scratches on the frame, and I'll need to do some touch up because I like everything to look perfect. Overall, I give it a 7. It's been holding water for over 24 hours, let's hope it stays that way.
The stand - it's a pressed board opaque white semi gloss finish. They used an over-wrap of some sort to make this. The directions to put it together were 4 pictures of a similar but smaller stand. If you aren't mechanically inclined, it will take you a while to figure it out. Also, they give you six plastic feet. I tossed those in the trash, and promptly went to Lowes for furniture moving sliders that I placed on the bottom in six spots, much nicer for my hardwood floor and seems to distribute the weight more evenly. I hate pressed board stands. That being said, it will do for now. I give it a 5.
The hood/light/filter system - I'll break this down into three parts.
The lights - 3 fluorescent bulbs, one switch for the middle, one for the two others. They give you two daylight and one sort-of-actinic. Works great, neatly integrated, no complaints other than you have to remove to whole hood to get to them. Rating - 8.
The hood - a few finish issues & flip up access is flimsy. It doesn't give you a lot of space to add additional filtration, but it's neat looking. Overall - 6.
The filter - first, it has zero directions. If you are not mechanically inclined, stop here, go get an experienced aquarium buddy, and prepare to buy him/her dinner or beers for their help. Seriously, you are out of your league. The filter is essentially a simple trickle system with powerheads to drive two separate spray bars over five trays, and you have five outputs. Here's the fun part, they only give you one powerhead. I don't know if this is standard or not, but the filter is clearly designed for two. (I called my well known retailer about this, and I'm yet to get a callback. While this is small potatoes for them, it might have been nice, so if you are reading this, remember when I order from someone else next time) You get one SunSun HQJ-900g. This pump gets rated a 5, for the following reasons. It's an OK pump, build quality is not nearly as good as the aquaclear, which to me, is a 10. The good thing is the pump has one intake and two outflows, so you can run a tube from an elbow that connects to the spray bar right to the top of the powerhead. It also comes with a handy dandy bracket, so this works wonders for a clean install. The bad news is half the water continues out the second outflow, which doesn't give you enough pressure to get the spray bars cranking. The fix is annoying but simple, go to Lowes, and grab a 1/2" PVC cap for $0.44 and "POOF" - it's magically fixed. Now, you need another powerhead, so go get an Aquaclear 50 and realize with the parts provided from SunSun, you will also need a 1/2" PVC elbow because the AC does not have an outflow at the top like SunSun. Make sure you slide the black filter tray all the way to the left so you can accommodate the space needed for the bends in the elbow, this way a smooth line goes up to the trickle filter. Also, do a dry run, so you know how high to hang the stick on bracket for the AC 50 (Hint, it's almost to the rim). The trays each have a prefilter pad, and the nice part is they are spacious, I chose to fill three with carbon sacks and two with Fluval biomedia, and each tray is removable for easy maintenance. Included in the parts bag are 5 downspouts, which can only be connected by 5 small pieces that have a washer style lip (don't know the technical term for them.) Remove your filter trays, insert the small thing up to the lip in the top of the filter, then reach underneath and push the down spout onto the small piece of tubing coming out of the bottom of the filter. They will then be held on by the pressure, as both pieces slide into each other. Replace your trays, then put the spray bars back over the top, and you are ready for water. Filter parts are cheap plastic, but the overall design is ok, I'll give it a 7. You will have 5 extra lengths of straight tube and one SunSun powerhead bracket left over. You don't need them, save for spare parts.
It's about what I expected for the money. I would have liked both powerheads, some better fit and finish, and better physical filter parts, but on a whole, it's not bad. I'll take some pictures of stuff if folks have the interest, but if anyone orders one of these things and can't figure it out, I'd like to think this post can give them a little insight. Thanks for reading!
I had to sell my tanks when I moved south several states, and after a 4 year hiatus, I've decided to get back into the hobby. I wanted a 125, but space was not great, budget & time was limited, and I really didn't care for the "cookie cutter" stands available at most of the local Pet Smart/chain operations. Custom work was extremely expensive, so I looked online and found a well-known retailer selling turn key aquariums. I ordered the 90 gallon in white. It shows up on the truck, and I bring home what turns out to be a new SunSun HRX-1200H in white. That's right suckas, I got all pimp-white because that's how I roll. (Actually, I'm not that hard core. We simply wanted a white and black theme in our office, and this was the only white tank setup I could find in the budget range.) Sidebar - This is the brief moment where I thank my future brother in law for helping me carry this thing. Tony, without you, this wouldn't have happened. I doubt you will ever see this, but thanks. Your help meant a lot.
First impressions - I'll rate everything on a scale of 1-10, 10 being perfect.
The tank - very cool looking with the bull nose front. Of course the rounded corners have distortion, but if you really want the look of a custom tank for little money, this is the way to go. The glass has a slight blueish tinge to it, personally, it doesn't bother me at all. The frame is attached via silicone, and they did a sloppy job, excess silicone had to be trimmed off in multiple spots. There were a few scratches on the frame, and I'll need to do some touch up because I like everything to look perfect. Overall, I give it a 7. It's been holding water for over 24 hours, let's hope it stays that way.
The stand - it's a pressed board opaque white semi gloss finish. They used an over-wrap of some sort to make this. The directions to put it together were 4 pictures of a similar but smaller stand. If you aren't mechanically inclined, it will take you a while to figure it out. Also, they give you six plastic feet. I tossed those in the trash, and promptly went to Lowes for furniture moving sliders that I placed on the bottom in six spots, much nicer for my hardwood floor and seems to distribute the weight more evenly. I hate pressed board stands. That being said, it will do for now. I give it a 5.
The hood/light/filter system - I'll break this down into three parts.
The lights - 3 fluorescent bulbs, one switch for the middle, one for the two others. They give you two daylight and one sort-of-actinic. Works great, neatly integrated, no complaints other than you have to remove to whole hood to get to them. Rating - 8.
The hood - a few finish issues & flip up access is flimsy. It doesn't give you a lot of space to add additional filtration, but it's neat looking. Overall - 6.
The filter - first, it has zero directions. If you are not mechanically inclined, stop here, go get an experienced aquarium buddy, and prepare to buy him/her dinner or beers for their help. Seriously, you are out of your league. The filter is essentially a simple trickle system with powerheads to drive two separate spray bars over five trays, and you have five outputs. Here's the fun part, they only give you one powerhead. I don't know if this is standard or not, but the filter is clearly designed for two. (I called my well known retailer about this, and I'm yet to get a callback. While this is small potatoes for them, it might have been nice, so if you are reading this, remember when I order from someone else next time) You get one SunSun HQJ-900g. This pump gets rated a 5, for the following reasons. It's an OK pump, build quality is not nearly as good as the aquaclear, which to me, is a 10. The good thing is the pump has one intake and two outflows, so you can run a tube from an elbow that connects to the spray bar right to the top of the powerhead. It also comes with a handy dandy bracket, so this works wonders for a clean install. The bad news is half the water continues out the second outflow, which doesn't give you enough pressure to get the spray bars cranking. The fix is annoying but simple, go to Lowes, and grab a 1/2" PVC cap for $0.44 and "POOF" - it's magically fixed. Now, you need another powerhead, so go get an Aquaclear 50 and realize with the parts provided from SunSun, you will also need a 1/2" PVC elbow because the AC does not have an outflow at the top like SunSun. Make sure you slide the black filter tray all the way to the left so you can accommodate the space needed for the bends in the elbow, this way a smooth line goes up to the trickle filter. Also, do a dry run, so you know how high to hang the stick on bracket for the AC 50 (Hint, it's almost to the rim). The trays each have a prefilter pad, and the nice part is they are spacious, I chose to fill three with carbon sacks and two with Fluval biomedia, and each tray is removable for easy maintenance. Included in the parts bag are 5 downspouts, which can only be connected by 5 small pieces that have a washer style lip (don't know the technical term for them.) Remove your filter trays, insert the small thing up to the lip in the top of the filter, then reach underneath and push the down spout onto the small piece of tubing coming out of the bottom of the filter. They will then be held on by the pressure, as both pieces slide into each other. Replace your trays, then put the spray bars back over the top, and you are ready for water. Filter parts are cheap plastic, but the overall design is ok, I'll give it a 7. You will have 5 extra lengths of straight tube and one SunSun powerhead bracket left over. You don't need them, save for spare parts.
It's about what I expected for the money. I would have liked both powerheads, some better fit and finish, and better physical filter parts, but on a whole, it's not bad. I'll take some pictures of stuff if folks have the interest, but if anyone orders one of these things and can't figure it out, I'd like to think this post can give them a little insight. Thanks for reading!
