Penn-Plax Radius Desktop Nano Aquarium Kit – 10 Gallon

The aquarium itself is great, sturdy glass, the rounded corners give it a much smoother look. The size is perfect for a Betta or perhaps an aquatic frog.

The filter however is the biggest and loudest filter I have ever seen, I’m shocked other people said it was quiet!!!! It’s not! At all! Makes the whole aquarium vibrate and the current is way too strong even on the lowest setting for such a small tank, especially if you are getting a Betta or aquatic frogs who are not strong swimmers and are easily stressed by noise and vibrations. The lid is very flimsy, it works okay but the 3in gap is a bit large and fish could easily jump out.

Basically, be prepared to buy a seperate filter unless youre keeping active fish who don’t mind noise and vibration… You get what you pay for I guess!

This review is in the perspective of an aquascaper and aquarium enthusiast.

Great tank, the glass is thick and the curved corners make for an awesome view and a great addition to a Nano aquascape.

Not sure why people were complaining about the lid, Ya it’s flimsy but why would you want something thicker? Its more then enough and gets the job done and it’s looks neater being thin and light weight, it also has a large gap near the back, because it’s for easy filter maintenance, you don’t have to remove or open the lid to get at the filter. The lid hinges are a great design, I love how you can open it to feed the fish, or you can easily slide the clear plastic out of the hinges, to clean or perform maintenance on the tank.

The included light is definitely subpar. It’s better then nothing for sure but I get why people were complaining. 1. It’s not really bright (this only really applies to growing live plants) and 2. No on and off switch (yes you can use a timer). Other then that I mean it’s ok as a spare light, or maybe you can find another purpose for it.

The internal filter is so far so good. The flow is kinda high for a Betta even when it’s set to low (yes it has a flow switch) but if you angle the outflow head to the side of the tank it blocks most of the flow from disturbing the Betta. On high it’s actually quite a powerful flow, good for cycling the tank before you add a fish, or shrimp etc..
The way it has a built in air bubbler is really neat, I don’t use it because I have a Betta , but I did try it out, and it works awesome , however the filter can only be about 1/4 inch under the surface of the water or it won’t blow bubbles (guessing you might be able to fix that with a longer airline tube)
Really the only draw back to the filter is the lack of filtration it can provide and how fast it clogs. Itsreally small which is good for aquascapes, though the size of the media basket cant hold really anything that big. I got away with using bioRings smashed in half placed under the stock sponge. Its definitely better this way over stock, but still not really that good. Wish the filter was slightly bigger in length for more media to fit.

I took a star off because the way they include all the extras (light, filter,lid) in the tank, they siliconed a box with all of the above mentioned to the bottom of the tank glass and was really hard to remove , also felt like I was gonna break the tank trying to get the box out as well as remove the silicon from the glass (see photo)

Overall super pleased with this tank! I will update review after a few more weeks. But so far really decent value for a nano aquascaping tank that would normally be alot more in cost from a dedicated aquascaping store.

Update , Sept 26 ,2019.

Tank is still excellent , no issues with anything since I’ve bought it. I’ve changed the light a couple times till I was happy with one I found (nicrew flexible clip led) and I changed the filter to a azoo mini hob filter that is way way better then the stock one this kit comes with. Overall still amazed at the quality of this little tank!

If you liked this review or found it helpful , I would really appreciate it if you give it a like! Thanks

I love the look of this tank. I bought the five gallon, and I love that it’s shaped to provide plenty of horizontal swimming space for my Betta. I’m also keeping a mystery snail.
The gap at the back (for appliance cords) has allowed the snail to escape several times.

The included light, as others have said, is not great—not sufficient for live plants, I don’t think, and I didn’t find it bright enough to illuminate my tank to my taste either. I bought a Finnex Stingray Clip on LED, which is great, and I use the included light for some supplementary lighting.

The filter works fine with some minor adjustments—it has an adjustable flow rate, but is still too strong for my Betta. I fixed the flow issue by turning the output nozzle toward the corner with the heater, and baffled it with some aquarium foam. I have not been able to put the filter all the way in the corner as I’d like, because my Betta has gotten stuck on the side of it (the little turd.) The filter is very quiet (I don’t use the bubbler). My biggest issue with the filter is the color. The bright blue is very distracting (I’ve allowed brown algae to stay there to tone it down, lol) and I wish the gray appliance label was on the back.

To sum up:
1) the tank is great, very classy looking.
2) the filter works fine with some minor modifications
3) You’ll need a heater, depending on what you’re keeping
4) You’ll probably want a different light.
5) As with any tank, you’ll still need to buy gravel, decor, and a thermometer, plus whatever maintenance tools, such as a siphon for water changes.

Over all, I found the tank itself worth the cost, even if the included filter and light aren’t the best.

There were many mixed reviews about this aquarium so I was pretty hesitant to purchase it, considering I had to purchase two after my impulse purchase of male bettas.. I did a lot of searching to see what was out there and what would be best for my new additions, and this sounded like the best option since I don’t have enough space for two five gallon tanks. It’s a beautiful design, well packaged on Penn Plax’s part, (I purchased other stuff to go in the tank, it all came in one large box that was half opened on my front porch…) it had a cardboard box over the top and over the bottom, held together with two straps of whatever that plastic stuff is, and had the light and filter contained in another partial cardboard box inside of the tanks, and of course the tanks were in their own individual cardboard boxes inside of the large one. Along with the light and the filter, you are also provided a piece of foam in the bottom of your box to put under your tanks to protect the surfaces you put them on, so be sure to pull that out before tossing the cardboard! The filter didn’t come with instructions that were very helpful so I tried to go off of the other pictures people have posted on how to install it, and it seems fine. I’ll likely upgrade those as well as the lights that came with it, as they’re not the greatest lights and the only way to turn them off or on is to unplug them, which can be a little annoying. I read a review about the lid that comes with it, saying it was not form-fitting, but mine turned out to be perfectly sized. The downside to the lid is that it’s kind of easy to slide it forward out of its latches so my cat has tried to take advantage of that. The only thing I was not excited about was that the cardboard inside the tanks that held the filters and lights was hot glued to the bottom, so I struggled a little to get it out. Overall, it’s a great little tank for a great price, and my bettas love it, they spend hours swimming around the whole tank, exploring and whatnot. Would definitely suggest purchasing this tank! Keep in mind though, you’re having something relatively fragile shipped through the mail, so there’s always the possibility of it arriving broken, so don’t let that discourage you.