Review on GloFish Betta Shadowbox Aquarium Kit: Transform your Betta's Home by Lakeisha Smith

Visually this aquarium is beautiful and I'm pleased to see that the aquarium is actually being sold in a rooster tank which is actually the right size for a rooster fish but that's about it tank. Therefore. Already in the first 24 hours of keeping the fish I noticed some problems. The biggest problems seem to be with the built-in filter system. The built-in filter is aesthetic because it's invisible, it's tucked away at the back of the tank behind the filter box, and it's by far the quietest filtration system I own, but less than a day after everything went live. I noticed that the water level in the tank was much higher than it should have been and the pump was making a strange noise. When I opened up the filter box to look inside and see what was going on, I found that the compartment containing the filter cartridge was so narrow that water couldn't get into the rest of the filter box, where the pump actually was. was localized. This was not the case when first installed, but I think after a day of use the filter cartridge swelled so much that the fit became too tight for water to flow properly through the filter box at one end. on the other hand. I was able to fix this by squeezing a small piece of plastic between the back wall and the filter cartridge compartment to allow the water to flow back through, but I didn't have to. Another issue is the pump itself. It has an adjustable flow setting, which is good, but everything else about the feature isn't great. First, the flow adjustment knob is in such an awkward spot that the only way to reach it is to disassemble the pump and remove the whole thing from the tank. Another issue is that I can't tell any difference between the highest and lowest settings. I'm starting to wonder if the Flow setting works at all. Even on the lowest settings it creates such a strong water current for such a small tank that my poor little Betta couldn't swim freely and had to constantly fight against the current to keep from being carried all over the tank. I ended up having to buy a very large hollow aquarium decoration just to break the flow and give her something to go in with to escape. But now almost the entire interior of the aquarium is taken up by this fish house and all of the swimming space that I bought the aquarium for is gone. And because of the construction of the aquarium with built-in filter. I don't know of any other filtration system I could use other than throwing in a sponge filter, but I'm not sure if that would work behind the filter box and if having to throw it in the main body of the tank filter the box will only waste half a gallon Place. And then there is the problem with the heating. The tank isn't included, but I knew that. I expected to have to buy one separately and add it to the tank. But once I got everything set up, I found that with the way the lid and everything fitted together, there was no room for the heater. The only thing I can think of is to take a very small one and squeeze it into the filter box next to the pump. This is the only area where the lid has room to allow the cable to exit the tank. I hope it's still efficient enough to heat the aquarium when placed there, but it's just a very poor design choice for a betta-specific aquarium. You need a tank heater. Therefore, building a tank without space for a heater is problematic. This tank is still usable, but with difficulty. And for the price, I feel like I didn't have to make all those small adjustments.