I love this!! I was letting it get established (had it going for a little over a week) when I had an emergency and had to move my blood parrot fish in for one night. I was relieved heade it through the night, and promptly took him to his permanent home. I did a 3/4 water change, followed instructions exactly, and moved my 'baby boy' betta in. He is loving it! I soaked paper towels, wrapped about half the seeds from both packs in separate wet towels, and left them in the balcony in the sun for about half a day before putting the seeds in with the "rocks".. it was more than enough to jump start the growth within two days I had sprouts cimg out at insane rates. Less than a week and I could let my cat have open access to the grass and not see a difference in the list growth from her unrestricted snacking. No sign of mold, no smell. Just incredible growth esp considering I only used half of both seed packets! I also couldn't resist slipping in some marimo moss balls, choalla wood, and pathos cutting for my betta "Wolfgang" to have some additional resting places. I also added a bubbler that I turn on for an hour or two a day... He seems to enjoy playing in the bubbles, rising up with them and darting through the bubble stream depending on his mood.

I wanted to love this water garden. I was so excited. Got my fish pretty gravel and accessories to give him a little more of a home and got two male guppies. I read reviews about the fish getting stuck in the filter but figured it had to be atypical. My fish kept getting pulled toward the filter immediately upon entering the water. He was able to get away several times. Two days after I set them up, I left in the evening with them swimming around and came home a few hours later to them both dead and the water clouded over.
The plus side - the sprouts continue to grow beautifully from the top until I can figure out how to package this up and send it back

I bought this for my son for his xmas present and we have used it for a few months now. The water garden was very easy to set up and the plants sprouted easily. The only gripe would be the algae that ends up growing in the tank. We had to empty everything out to clean out the algae. there are some suggestions to leave it in an area that doesn't have much sunlight or to block out one side of the tank. We will try those recommendations the next time we set it up again.

Great tank not a big fan of the plants growing on top gets stinky water cloudy so after we grew one batch just using it as regular tank

Don't get me wrong, this tank is great for what it is, but it's not much, especially for nearly $100.

First, you really need a heater to keep anything more than a goldfish alive in this tank. We bought it for a betta, so we added a heater. And another expense.

Second, it's far from self cleaning. Keep it from sunlight and the plants don't grow to do their part. Give it enough sunlight for the plants and algae grows. Enter an algae eater and now you've got more poo than the plants can clean. Yes, I can go longer between cleanings in this tank than I can in our bigger tank with a traditional filter, but that tank is also ten times easier to clean since I don't have to disassemble the 8,000 piece top (I may be exaggerating) and clean every freaking grow stone for the other tank.

Third, it's really not enough of anything. The amount of rocks they provide doesn't even cover the bottom of the tank. There are no plants, decorations or any other hiding place for a betta. For a $100 kit, it really should come with everything you need.

Still, it's a neat science lesson for the kids, so I've played along so far. BUT...here we are, 9 months in and the filter dies. What my daughter really wanted was one of those $9 vase and lily systems where she could watch her betta and have a pretty flower. What I got was a huge headache and yet another expense, since now I'm shopping for a new filter.