Hi everyone. So I appreciate the biorb is hated by some but I have been gifted an empty tank so I may as well use it as Iām a novice fish keeper. The tank has been in a garage for several years and I have cleaned the dust off with tap water only. I have bought some biorb ceramic media and a new sponge filter. Where do I go from here? Do I need to wash the inside of the tank with anything more than water? I have no instructions but am aware I fill it with water then leave it for a few days (or a week I read somewhere). I have the large tank. What fish and how many do you think it will tolerate? Many thanks for any help
I have inherited a biorb..where to start?
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Hi and welcome to the forum 
If you could post a picture of the tank and give us the dimensions, we will be able to offer more advice.
Assuming the tank has not been contaminated with anything whilst in the garage, you only need to wash it out with tap water.
If you have another tank with a power filter you could set up the new tank with water from the main tank, and use a piece of filter material from that tank to help get the new filter going. You use rubber bands or string to tie a bit of filter material from the established tank, onto the new filter material, and the bacteria can move onto the new filter material. Then you will have a cycled filter on the new tank. Just keep the feeding down for the first few weeks and monitor water quality and away you go
If you could post a picture of the tank and give us the dimensions, we will be able to offer more advice.
Assuming the tank has not been contaminated with anything whilst in the garage, you only need to wash it out with tap water.
If you have another tank with a power filter you could set up the new tank with water from the main tank, and use a piece of filter material from that tank to help get the new filter going. You use rubber bands or string to tie a bit of filter material from the established tank, onto the new filter material, and the bacteria can move onto the new filter material. Then you will have a cycled filter on the new tank. Just keep the feeding down for the first few weeks and monitor water quality and away you go
I think you're talking about the nitrogen cycle.
It takes more than a few days or a week for a newly set up tank to become ready for fish. Usually it takes 4-6 weeks.
Basically, you need a colony of beneficial bacteria to build up in the tank, that can deal with things like fish poop, before adding fish. If this bacteria colony isn't established before you add fish, then you are putting the fish in danger of getting ammonia poisoning, gill inflammation, bacterial infection, and stress related illness.
I strongly suggest you get yourself a water test kit, not the strips, the liquid kind. Use that to test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates regularly. And learn about how the nitrogen cycle works, so you know what the results of those tests mean.
There's all sorts of resources on the nitrogen cycle available. We have a nice sticky topic on it here on this site.
Really 6 weeks thatās not how they market the biorb they say 24 hours! I had read it can take up to 6 months to get the tank just right however. I have bought a heater today and added it but again I donāt know what to heat the water to presumably it depends on the fish ? I have found different people give different advice about how many fish you can Lee in the community. And also which fish are appropriate for a novice. Itās a blinking mind field! I will get some water test kits thanks for the advice. Unfortunately Colin this is my first and only tank so canāt transfer from another tank the orb has a circumference of 125cm and height approximately 35cm. So about 8 gallons?? My maths is not great!
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I know. There's a LOT of products on the market that do that. Pet stores even tell people 24 hours. Marketing and proper fish keeping are not the same thing. The marketing worked though, because you bought one. Now watch as the reality is nothing like what was promised. I really wish these companies would stop promoting bad practices with their marketing. Most new hobbyists will follow the advice of the marketing and then wonder why their fish are sick or dead a week later.
Looking at biorb website - and converting 125 cm circumference to 39.8 cm diameter - it could be a baby biorb which is 30 cm diameter and 32 cm tall and is 4 gallons/15 litres volume; or a biorb 30 which is 40 cm diameter and 42 cm tall and is 8 gallons/30 litres volume. Does your height measurement include the stand and lid? If it doesn't then it's most likely the biorb 30 as manufacturers do include those in their height.
30 litres is not a very large tank. I have a rectangular 26 litre tank which contains only one male betta and a nerite snail. There are no cold water fish that are suitable, nor temperate fish. Those all need much bigger tanks than 30 litres/8 gallons. There are some tropical fish that would be OK so you should aim for a temperature of approx 25 deg C.
This http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ explains what cycling is and how to do it.
Here is the manual which is common to all sizes of biorb http://www.biorb.com/files/6014/3267/0211/biOrb-biUbe-instructions.pdf
However, in common with lots of other tank manufacturers, their maintenance regime is not perfect.
Water changes should be 50% per week, not 30% once every 2 weeks as they say.
You can use any water conditioner/dechlorinator at the dose rate for that brand for the new water only.
The cartridge contains carbon, and used to also contain zeolite. Carbon gets full after a few weeks, which is why they say to change it regularly. But carbon is not necessary on a routine basis so leave it there. Zeolite is white granules mixed in with the black. This absorbs ammonia so the bacteria don't grow. If it is not changed regularly, it gets full and stops absorbing ammonia; there are not enough bacteria to cope and ammonia in the water starts to increase. If you have zeolite in the cartridge (both black and white granules) personally I would break open the cartridge, throw away all the contents and cut up a sponge to make it fit instead.
30 litres is not a very large tank. I have a rectangular 26 litre tank which contains only one male betta and a nerite snail. There are no cold water fish that are suitable, nor temperate fish. Those all need much bigger tanks than 30 litres/8 gallons. There are some tropical fish that would be OK so you should aim for a temperature of approx 25 deg C.
This http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ explains what cycling is and how to do it.
Here is the manual which is common to all sizes of biorb http://www.biorb.com/files/6014/3267/0211/biOrb-biUbe-instructions.pdf
However, in common with lots of other tank manufacturers, their maintenance regime is not perfect.
Water changes should be 50% per week, not 30% once every 2 weeks as they say.
You can use any water conditioner/dechlorinator at the dose rate for that brand for the new water only.
The cartridge contains carbon, and used to also contain zeolite. Carbon gets full after a few weeks, which is why they say to change it regularly. But carbon is not necessary on a routine basis so leave it there. Zeolite is white granules mixed in with the black. This absorbs ammonia so the bacteria don't grow. If it is not changed regularly, it gets full and stops absorbing ammonia; there are not enough bacteria to cope and ammonia in the water starts to increase. If you have zeolite in the cartridge (both black and white granules) personally I would break open the cartridge, throw away all the contents and cut up a sponge to make it fit instead.
I appreciate what your saying āI have a dog toā but I was gifted the tank - I perhaps would not have bought it
Yeah I have read about dismantling the cartridge.. itās interesting you suggest it I might look more closely at it. Measurements donāt include stand. I doubt itās a baby as I have seen them in shops and itās bigger so Iām thinking a 30. I was just going to put some platys in ..maybe 4 or 5.. what do you think about that idea? Betta are beautiful fish.. but thereās something about just having one that makes me feel sad lol x thanks for your help
Yeah I have read about dismantling the cartridge.. itās interesting you suggest it I might look more closely at it. Measurements donāt include stand. I doubt itās a baby as I have seen them in shops and itās bigger so Iām thinking a 30. I was just going to put some platys in ..maybe 4 or 5.. what do you think about that idea? Betta are beautiful fish.. but thereās something about just having one that makes me feel sad lol x thanks for your help
Cycling the tank will take a few weeks, so you have plenty of time to decide on fish.
The first thing you need to know for choosing fish is the hardness of your tap water. Some fish need soft water while others need hard water. The easiest way to find your tap water hardness is to look on your water supplier's website. If it's given they'll use words and a number. ignore the words, they can be misleading. Tell us the number they give and also the unit as they could use any one of half a dozen different units.
The first thing you need to know for choosing fish is the hardness of your tap water. Some fish need soft water while others need hard water. The easiest way to find your tap water hardness is to look on your water supplier's website. If it's given they'll use words and a number. ignore the words, they can be misleading. Tell us the number they give and also the unit as they could use any one of half a dozen different units.
30 litres is not big enough for 4 platies seangee? really im quite surprised about that. im pretty certain i have seen fish in smaller tanks. i have slightly hard water, 58.8kmg/l calcium ..is that the right numbers? thanks
4 adult platies will be fine in 30litres, however I think they are more concerned about baby platies rapidly increasing the numbers from 4 to more. If you have 30 or 40 young platies appear they won't add much bioload initially, but after a month 40 young platies will require more room.
The best site for researching fish is Seriously Fish http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
You will see there that platies need a tank with 60 cm/24 inches swimming room. One of the problems with spherical tanks like biorbs is that they have less swimming room than a rectangular tank of the same volume. Platies also need water with a hardness of 10 to 30 dH so they would not be suitable if you have soft water.
The tank needs to be cycled before you get fish, so you do have a few weeks to decide which fish are suitable. Please read this link for how to cycle a tank http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
You will see there that platies need a tank with 60 cm/24 inches swimming room. One of the problems with spherical tanks like biorbs is that they have less swimming room than a rectangular tank of the same volume. Platies also need water with a hardness of 10 to 30 dH so they would not be suitable if you have soft water.
The tank needs to be cycled before you get fish, so you do have a few weeks to decide which fish are suitable. Please read this link for how to cycle a tank http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
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