Anyone here have a BiOrb?

lordrobs · 17 Jun 2007 at 22:40

Pretty sure there are some fish keepers on here but just wondering if anyone has a BiOrb?

Basically just looking for peoples opinions on them. I've kept both tropical and coldwater fish before but in a larger rectangular tank. I'm after a neat all in one solution to put in our living room and a BiOrb 30 would really fit the bill. I also like the way that its an all in one solution.

Finally pics of your setups (Baby, 30 or 60) would be great.

Thanks

gort · 17 Jun 2007 at 23:59

I think you have to buy parts etc specifically designed for them such as a new light or filter part if it goes wrong. Unlike a lot of standard tanks where you can choose what filter to light setup to use. Might be costly at some point.

The Biorbs are more of a fashion thing or ornament for a room rather than a good home for fish.

An all-in-one tank such as a Juwel brand would still look good in a room.
Cheap as chips for a 2nd hand one on the 'bay, Not worth buying tanks new as they lose so much value when selling them on again.

AdamEW · 18 Jun 2007 at 01:22

Hi, I have the 30 litre biorb and my brother has the 60 litre biorb, they look really cool but beware they get scratched really easily. You can buy special scratch cleaning pads but they arent terribly effective. I'll try and get some pictures of my brothers tomorrow as his is in much better condition than mine and he has a proper tropical set up which looks great.

lookitsjonno · 18 Jun 2007 at 07:58

i've had one since November, although i wish i'd bought a full sized tank now

Helium_Junkie · 18 Jun 2007 at 09:23

They scratch easy and are a pain to clean.
Other than that, its a fish tank

lordrobs · 18 Jun 2007 at 09:43

gort said:
I think you have to buy parts etc specifically designed for them such as a new light or filter part if it goes wrong. Unlike a lot of standard tanks where you can choose what filter to light setup to use. Might be costly at some point.

The Biorbs are more of a fashion thing or ornament for a room rather than a good home for fish.

An all-in-one tank such as a Juwel brand would still look good in a room.
Cheap as chips for a 2nd hand one on the 'bay, Not worth buying tanks new as they lose so much value when selling them on again.

I'll have to look into the cost of replacement filter cartridges. As for lights I'll have a go at knocking myself up a bespoke LED setup. AFAIK the filter works using the action of the air bubles sucking water up the tube so a replacement air pump wouldn't be a problem.

I must be honest and say that my main reason for choosing one is that its the perfect size to fit on a bare piece of furniture that we've got

Having said that I want my little fishies to be happy. As long as I pick carefully and keep the tank under stocked I think it'll be fine. I'll have a look at Juwel's too.

I'll try and get some pictures of my brothers tomorrow

Thanks, that would be great.

i've had one since November, although i wish i'd bought a full sized tank now

I've had a small to medium and a medium large tank before. They do give you so much more scope for setup and what fish you can keep etc but they do tend to dominate a room and they also end up being rather a perminant fixture for the rest of time.

They scratch easy and are a pain to clean.

I've heard this a lot which is a bit of a concern seeing that one of their main selling points is that they are low maintainance :confused:

Mr_White · 18 Jun 2007 at 09:46

They're ****

A normal tank is cheaper, more flexible, better dimensions for the fish, a better way to view the fish.

No real fish keeper buys a biOrb

A normal 30 litre tank is pretty tiny and will be far cheaper, and the footprint won't be much different.

seeing that one of their main selling points is that they are low maintainance

No tank is low maintenance.

You're going to have to do just the same amount of water changes etc no matter what the tank is.

Arpegius · 18 Jun 2007 at 09:48

I've got the 60L BiOrb and it's fantastic. Really easy to set up which is good as I've not kept fist before. I'd recommend looking around for bundle deals though, my one came with 6 filter changes, the tropical heater and water pump and I added another pack of gravel. Not noticed it scratching but I don't really touch it that often.

lordrobs · 18 Jun 2007 at 10:16

Mr_White said:
No tank is low maintenance.

Thats fair enough. a lot of people say they take a lot of looking after. I'm not sure if that is compared to a normal fish tank or compared to what their expectations were.

Will continue to look at my options though. If anyone could link me up to what they think would be a good alternative then I'd be greatful. Don't really want to go over 30L or so because the place I have in mind I'm confident will take the 40Kg or so of a fully kitted out 30L tank but I wouldn't want to go much bigger. OR a self contained tank and stand with a footprint of no more than say 50cm x 50cm or so? I remember seeing a hexagonal tank a while back that I really liked the look of but thats going back maybe 5 years and I can't remember any other details or where I saw it

EDIT- A bit of Googling has drawn my eye to a Jewel Recford 60/70L which is 60cm x 40cm ish which would be OK. Going to have a think about if for a bit and maybe have a look at a couple of local places for ideas. If I were to go for a more traditional type of tank I've always fancied a tropical setup with just smaller fish such as Neons and using artificial plants (always used real ones in the past) set off with the right lighting and some quite bright gravel (always used natural gravel in the past) and I can see it looking quite cool

Mr_White · 18 Jun 2007 at 10:34

lordrobs said:
Thats fair enough. a lot of people say they take a lot of looking after. I'm not sure if that is compared to a normal fish tank or compared to what their expectations were.

Will continue to look at my options though. If anyone could link me up to what they think would be a good alternative then I'd be greatful. Don't really want to go over 30L or so because the place I have in mind I'm confident will take the 40Kg or so of a fully kitted out 30L tank but I wouldn't want to go much bigger. OR a self contained tank and stand with a footprint of no more than say 50cm x 50cm or so? I remember seeing a hexagonal tank a while back that I really liked the look of but thats going back maybe 5 years and I can't remember any other details or where I saw it

A 50x50cm with an average height would be borderline 100 liters.

A 30 liter tank wouldn't have more than a 30x30cm foot print

Just go into your local fish store and look at their kit.

Just go for a rectangular tank, all these silly column tanks, orb tanks and hexagonal tanks just give you less tank for your money, since your fish won't have as much space to swim as a same capacity rectangular tank would offer.

You're looking at £15 or so for the tank, £10 for the filter (get a Fluval 1), £8-10 for the heater, and £10-15 for the lighting.

A coldwater biOrb is £60

Edit: also, do you understand the bacteria cycle etc involved with setting up a fish tank? and the weekly water changes involved etc, just so you don't get into something that's more complicated than you thought.

lordrobs · 18 Jun 2007 at 10:37

Mr_White said:
A 50x50cm with an average height would be borderline 100 liters.

A 30 liter tank wouldn't have more than a 30x30cm foot print

Just go into your local fish store and look at their kit.

Just go for a rectangular tank, all these silly column tanks, orb tanks and hexagonal tanks just give you less tank for your money, since your fish won't have as much space to swim as a same capacity rectangular tank would offer.

You're looking at £15 or so for the tank, £10 for the filter (get a Fluval 1), £8-10 for the heater, and £10-15 for the lighting.

A coldwater biOrb is £60

Yeah was doing a bit of googling and edited my last post

I'll have a bit of a look around.

Thanks for your advice

Edit- yeah. I've kept fish for quite a few years despite sounding like a bit of a noob

The problem is that I've only ever had large tanks before and the last one I bought was about 8 years ago so I'm a bit out of touch with whats available. I'm fully up with the in's and out's of actually keeping fish. Thinking about it more though my plans of getting a hexagonal tank and then keeping the stocks low (due to the low surface area to volume ratio) would probably result in a rather empty looking tank

Mr_White · 18 Jun 2007 at 10:41

The juwel tanks are very nice if you can afford it, I'd certainly recommend the Rekord 60/70.

Everything you need already built in, and unlike some tanks, it's actually good equipment.

lordrobs · 18 Jun 2007 at 10:47

Mr_White said:
The juwel tanks are very nice if you can afford it, I'd certainly recommend the Rekord 60/70.

Everything you need already built in, and unlike some tanks, it's actually good equipment.

Good stuff, its more than I planned to spend but I'd rather have a quality product if its better at what it does.

If I had a tank as opposed to the BiOrb I think I'll do things a bit differently (as in my edit a couple of posts back) As I say I'm a bit out of touch in terms of tanks that are available. Going back many years a tank that came complete with a cabinet tended to be huge or tall, not the case anymore it seems :cool: