Equipment Review and Discussion :: Best Overall Brand?

[adam85491]

OK, I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys think is basically the best brand for buying aquarium items. Obviously each brand does not make everything but who do you think puts out the best products?

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I think tetra owns marineland..when I had trouble with my whisper filter (tetra) I called the 1-800 number and it said "hello, this is marine land". For aquariums, i would go with tetra.

[DavidY]

Are we talking strictly aquarium products here or herp products? If it's herp products I'd say Zoo Med. If it's just aquarium (fish) products I'd also go with Tetra.

[adam85491]

I would say both since we use fish products like filters and heaters. I think Tetra is a great brand and I own quite a few of their products but I believe Exo Terra has the highest quality products. I have their heat and uvb bulbs and when it is in stock I would like to try their turtle food (it comes in a black bag).

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Tetra makes realy crappy water heaters though. Top fin makes good ones, my girlfriend uses a top fin heater in her setup and she claims it can kick my stealth heaters butt.., psh..yeah right

[adam85491]

Top Finn...that is like the Petsmart brand right? My brother just got a ten gallon set up from there and it came with a top finn tank and filter, but an all-glass aquarium heater which is nice, but not fully submersible. I just got my stealth and my older brother has one...I believe it is the way to go.

On a side note this is part of a review of the top fin filter:

"Top Fin makes inexpensive aquarium products that are commonly sold at PetSmart in kits. While there heaters are the cheapest on the market, this is a case where saving a buck is not a good idea.

Accuracy (7)

The heaters are initially fairly accurate. They typically will stay where you have put them and do a decent job of maintaining the water at it's set temperature for a long period of time with minimal maintenance.

Ease of Use (4)

One of the most difficult things about heaters is that they are touchy to set. This problem is compounded with Top Fin heaters as the heaters are touchy overall. When setting a heater, you turn it until the light goes on, thus letting you know that it is on and heating slightly above the water temperature. If it is getting too hot, you can turn it down slightly.
This all works well enough except in the case of cheap heaters. Often when ever you touch the top fin heater, the light will go on. You can turn the temperature up or down and the light stays on. This makes setting the temperature nearly impossible and very frustrating."

[xsavingsaturdayx]

My girlfriend has one, her water stays at a constant 79 degrees. It sometimes drops a degree or two overnight.

Though, my stealth keeps the water at 78 degrees all the time! No matter how cold or warm my room is. I love stealth's..

[DavidY]

Hmmm, good point about Tetra heaters. I like the Tetra flake food, their freshwater test kits, their air pumps and other miscellaneous supplies. But I do shy away from any of the other electrical items. So overall I'll stick with Zoo Med with Exo Terra a very close second or even a tie.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I think Zoo med makes good turtle food. My guys seem to enjoy it way more than tetras Reptomin.

[adam85491]

My turtles love HBH pellets which I think are good because they are made up of fruits and veggies, though I do use Nutrafin pellets too. The only thing about Zoomed is that they make turtle bones (which I have) and don't say anything about the hard backing which I guess is why my turtle never used to eat it...they also advertise turtle filters which are sort of junk, I like their dock though.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I never used their filters but i have read of people that regret spending 30$ on it.

I always wanted to try the HBH pellets but i can never find them.

[adam85491]

They came in a nice big container for like three bucks but I got them because they were colored (I pretty much knew nothing at the time...) I still have like half a bottle. The Petco by me either has nothing or a lot, like for the longest time I don't think they had UVB bulbs or reptomin..or really anything for that matter. I saw last time though, the local grocery store had reptomin selcect a food! It came with pellets and some other stuff like shrimp.

[marisa]

It depends on the type of product you're talking about.