Superfish Aqua Expert 70 - Independent Review

The Superfish Aqua Expert 70 is available at all branches of Maidenhead Aquatics, normally at £79.99 but last year in their post-Christmas sale it was reduced to £59.99 which is when I bought mine. This year it is now on sale at £69.99 which I still consider a bargain.

This is essentially a straightforward tank, nominally 70 litres, but in practice mine holds about 65. It comes complete with a 100w heater and an internal filter, both of which have more than adequate capacity for a tank of this size.

A particular feature is the inbuilt LED lighting. Although this consists of just 24 LEDs, in two lines of 12, the lighting is surprisingly bright. One strip has a reddish tinge,  the others are white and both fish and plants show good colour under this lighting. The lights are switched on by touching an area of the top of the hood towards the back of the tank and they ramp up slowly to full strength. One disadvantage, for some people, is that "as is" the lighting can't be used with a timer. However, it can very easily be modified to use a timer and instructions for this can be found on the internet, including a Youtube video. Because the power supply is built into the plug, only low voltage cable is involved, no mains, and there is no soldering etc., it literally just involves pulling a small plug out from the controller and plugging it directly to the low voltage supply from the mains plug. Using a timer does mean that the lights come on at full strength immediately, rather than ramping up, but in that respect it is no different from tanks with fluorescent lighting.

I was particularly pleased to see that my plants have thrived under this lighting, as well as or better than in other tanks of the same size.

Because of the very compact LED lighting, the hood is very shallow which means that the tank could be fitted in a space with less headroom than most. Otherwise, its looks are pretty standard and it certainly doesn't look cheap.

In summary, particularly at the sale price, it's difficult to fault this tank. Many second hand tanks of similar size are advertised, and often bought, on EBay for a similar price. New nano tanks are often much more highly priced and are far more limited in the fish that can be kept in them. Unless you have a very small space to fill, I can't see any point in choosing a smaller tank than this. As a starter  or extra tank, or perhaps even as a quarantine or emergency tank, I can highly recommend this.