Bi-orb

[laurasmithuk]

are these tanks any good?

 

[Bloo]

The general consensus seems to be that they are large, expensive betta bowls.

 

[laurasmithuk]

they do a mini 15litre one. am thinking og getting that to replave my betta/cory tank

 

[jkrekord]

i personaly like them i think they are unique stylish and very efficicient

 

[laurasmithuk]

what is the pump and equipment like with it?

 

[catxx]

a betta could cope in one, but corys wouldn't like it, there's not enough surface area for them to snuffle around in.

i don't like them much, it's harder to view fish through a curved piece of glass than a flat one.

ridiculously over-priced too.

 

[diademhill]

The 15 litre is really a bit small for just one Betta & corys can't be kept in Biorbs as the substrate is too jagged.

The 30L is just about usable but the filtration is second rate & they really ought to be regarded as a room feature rather than a fish home.

 

[docbanzai]

I have a 60L biOrb tropical. My opinion is that are wayyy over priced. So far I've had to replace the pathetic heater and the incredibly noisy airpump. Sooo, the orb cost £150 and I bought the iLight unit (which is actually quite good) for an extra £40. New heater (£15) and a Rena 200 (£20) so that makes £225. Pricey for such a small tank. The ceramic media that is part of the bio filter is useless if you want to keep any bottom-dwellers and IMHO is a very poor media in general. It gets very, very dirty, very quickly and is a swine to clean. Also bear in mind that the tank itself is acrylic and this media scratches it VERY easily. I've replaced the media with pea-sized gravel and it works fine (I did contact reef one about this and they said it wouldn't work!) in fact with the improved air-pump it works a damn-sight better than the 'approved' stuff.
So... Are they worth it? In a word; No. They do look very cool and when they work properly they work very well. My advice; Get a basic cold-water version, use normal aqaurium gravel, buy a decent quality heater and air-pump, do a fishless cycle and eventually you will have a decent tank.
Beware of the algae though. The biorb allows a hell of a lot of light through it. Put it near a window at your peril...
Regards,
DB

 

[laurasmithuk]

seem to be that a lof of people dont recomenf it. also looking around it is cheaper to get standard tank.

thanks everyone!

 

[qwikimpss]

It would probably be cheaper to go out and buy a cheap 5 gallon tank. Over here in the US we can pick these up for about 10 bucks....but stuff seems to be a lot cheaper here than over there.

 

[laurasmithuk]

tell me about it. my mate just brought me back some nike trainers for half the price they are here.