Review on 🐠 5 Gallon Marineland Portrait Glass Aquarium Kit with Hidden Filtration and LED Lighting by Angela Mason

This is a great rimless glass aquarium that is half the price of similar aquariums I have seen. Excluding the base, the tank is 14" tall and approximately 9-10/16" wide and long. The base adds another 1-1/4 inches of height without increasing the footprint. On the rear of the tank is a silicone plastic baffle that forms a separate rear 2-inch chute. Over the front compartment of the tank is a glass pane with a small gap at the front that allows air to pass through. The back is covered with a thin piece of plastic (more on that later). Overall the aquarium is well protected on the outside and there is no risk of fish jump out or cats jump in. The filter basket and pump are well hidden in the rear compartment and there is enough space for a small immersion heater (not included). The rear compartment is a really nice feature as it keeps all cords and accessories out of sight of the tank - very clean and minimalistic look. The flow from the filter is strong, as other reviewers have noted, but it can be reduced or diverted away from the surface if needed. I like a strong current just because it distributes the nutrients I'm adding for my plants evenly throughout the tall tank without creating dead zones. In fact, the filter has a pretty nice design. It has an inlet in the bottom right corner of the divider as well as a surface skimmer in the top right corner. A 3 inch wide filter basket is located in the rear compartment and redirects flow from the inlet to the pump on the left. The pump circulates water through a spout in the top left corner of the separator to the main tank compartment. As I mentioned above, there is space in the rear compartment between the pump and filter cartridge to accommodate a smaller heater. Just remember to set it low as the water level in the back compartment is usually lower than the front compartment. The aquarium is equipped with LED lighting. Light source with "Day/Night" switch. The light is fairly bright but not enough to grow decent live plants. I replaced it with a Finnex Planted+ Cliplight and was very happy with the lighting and growth rate of this large aquarium. I only have two complaints about the design of this tank, but none of them are major contributors. 1) The rear compartment has ample room for a multi-stage filtration system, but is instead limited to a standard carbon cartridge. Edge. I would love to see a basket system that could use sponges, floss, biomedia, purigen, etc. I ended up remodeling the filter housing using 1/8" acrylic sheet and some acrylic glue and now I can use whatever material I choose. 2) The plastic cover for the rear compartment is flimsy and doesn't fit. It's raised around the edges and just looks bad. I had some acrylic from my filter mod so I replaced that as well. Considering the quality of the rest of the tank, I'm not sure why they cut here. Despite these two small complaints, the aquarium is very high quality overall and definitely worth its price. With my filter rebuild and plenty of stock I was able to easily keep a male betta, three otos, a couple of ghost shrimp and a couple of snails. I think it's a great looking tank and I would definitely recommend it.