Fluval Spec Aquarium Kit - 19L - Black

The Fluval Spec Aquarium Kit is a 19 litre nano aquarium in etched glass with an aluminium LED arm and a three-stage filter concealed in a compartment at one end.

Key Features

• 19 litres (5 US gallons) — a nano tank, and one of the better-made ones
• High-output 7000K LED in an all-aluminium waterproof housing, with a touch start. 7000K is the right colour temperature for growing plants and showing fish properly
• Three-stage filtration hidden in the rear compartment: foam, activated carbon and BIOMAX
• Oversized circulation pump with an adjustable output nozzle
• Available in black or white
• Made by Fluval, the aquatics brand of Rolf C. Hagen, which has been building aquarium filters since 1975

Setting It Up

• Put it where it will live before you add water. A full aquarium cannot be moved, and glass on an uneven surface cracks
• Check what the furniture underneath can take. Water weighs a kilo a litre before you add glass, gravel and rock
• A new tank has no bacteria in it. Cycling — running the filter for several weeks until it processes ammonia and nitrite to zero — has to happen before fish go in, or they sit in their own waste while the bacteria catch up
• Plant it and let it settle for a few weeks before the first fish. A tank that has been running a month is a far kinder place to arrive in
• Add fish a few at a time, not all at once

Living With It

• Nano tanks swing faster than big ones. A small mistake in a 19 L tank matters more than the same mistake in 200 L
• Small, frequent water changes suit it better than big infrequent ones
• Never wash biological media in tap water and never replace it all at once. Chlorine kills the bacteria living on it, and changing everything together restarts the cycle
• Turn the output down or baffle it. A 19 L tank with the pump wide open is a washing machine
• Unplug anything electrical before putting your hands in the tank

Good To Know

• Stocking is the thing beginners get wrong. Ask what the fish grows into, not what it is in the shop — most tropicals sold at 2 cm do not stay that size
• Nothing in this kit heats the water unless stated. Tropical fish need a heater; a heater is sized at roughly 1 watt per litre
• A liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tells you more about a tank than anything you can see
• Most tanks want 20–30% of the water changed weekly, with the replacement dechlorinated and matched for temperature
• 19 litres is for a betta, a shrimp colony, or a small shoal of something tiny like chilli rasboras. It is not a goldfish tank and it is not a community tank
• No heater is included. A tropical nano needs a small heater, and the Fluval P25 is sized for exactly this
• The LED is bright for the volume, which is good for plants and means algae if the photoperiod is too long