The Best Fish Tank, Heater, Light, and Accessories - The New York Times

Our pick

Marina 20G LED Aquarium Kit

This is the best kit we've found for beginners because it includes the highest-quality filter, light, and lid—but it lacks a heater.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $97.

Even though it lacks a heater, the Marina 20G LED Aquarium Kit is hands down the most impressive tank kit we tested. Of all the kits we considered, the Marina has the brightest light and the most elegant design, and it has a stable, customizable filter that will keep beneficial bacterial colonies alive much better than any other kit filter. The Marina kit's only drawback is its omission of a heater, but no kit comes with absolutely everything you need to get started, and if you add our heater pick, for only a little more money you end up with a substantially better setup than other kits we tested.

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Our pick

If you buy the Marina kit for use with tropical fish, you'll need a heater. The 100-watt Eheim Jäger Thermostatic Aquarium Heater is the best we found for a 20-gallon tropical tank after researching more than a dozen and testing seven. It has the largest temperature range of any heater we tested—from 65 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit, in two-degree increments—and its temperature-control ring is easy to see and adjust without putting your hands in the tank.

Runner-up

Aqueon LED 20 Aquarium Kit

This kit has all the essentials, as well as a heater. The overall quality of its equipment is inferior to that of our main pick, but compatible equipment is easy to find at any fish store.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $103.

If our main pick sells out, or if you want a kit that includes a heater, the 20-gallon Aqueon LED 20 Aquarium Kit is a good alternative. Compared with the Marina kit, it has a dimmer light and a less powerful filter, though both are still decent. Its preset heater isn't as good as our adjustable stand-alone recommendation, either. But it's available at a great price for a kit that contains all the basics for a tropical tank, from a company with reliable customer service and a huge range of compatible accessories that are available at most fish shops. It's the second-best tank kit we found after the Marina offering.

An aquarium kit comes with a tank, a light, a filter, and (usually) a heater. But you'll also need substrate, water conditioner, a water test kit, a gravel vacuum, food, an algae sponge, and fish. We have recommendations for all of those components (except the fish), and you can buy most of them online, though you should plan a trip to your friendly local fish store for the fish and for advice on the best way to set up your tank.

While either the Marina or Aqueon starter kit will give you a good basic setup for a great price, you can get significantly better equipment by buying components individually, which will likely improve the conditions for your fish. Buying our individual picks for tanks, filters, heaters, and lights will cost between $30 and $70 more than going with a kit, but you'll end up with a more powerful and versatile filter, an adjustable heater, and a significantly brighter, customizable light, which is important if you plan to grow live plants.