Choosing A New Tank With A Good Filter

[Toon49]

Been doing a bit of research for a while now as planning on buying an aquarium for tropical fish for the first time. I'm hoping to get at least a 60 litre tank which is ready to go with filter, lighting and heater. I have a budget of around £100 and was wondering if anyone could reccomend a tank which has a good quiet filter as I had a coldwater tank when I was young and had a filter which was useless!
I could buy the products seperately but I need it to be an internal filter as I just don't have the room for an external one.
So far I have looked at a marina 60 from pets at home, a juwel rekord 600, an aquael classic 98 litres and an aqua 65 from maidenhead aquatics. Has anyone had any experience of any of these and able to comment on the filter?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Aquascaper]

We looked at the Marina 60 but went for the FishXBox 60 instead as it had better equipment. We also have two large Juwel tanks so can recommend them too.

 

[deftuch]

Been doing a bit of research for a while now as planning on buying an aquarium for tropical fish for the first time. I'm hoping to get at least a 60 litre tank which is ready to go with filter, lighting and heater. I have a budget of around £100 and was wondering if anyone could reccomend a tank which has a good quiet filter as I had a coldwater tank when I was young and had a filter which was useless!
I could buy the products seperately but I need it to be an internal filter as I just don't have the room for an external one.
So far I have looked at a marina 60 from pets at home, a juwel rekord 600, an aquael classic 98 litres and an aqua 65 from maidenhead aquatics. Has anyone had any experience of any of these and able to comment on the filter?

Thanks in advance.

juwel tanks are excellent and the internal filter is whisper quiet and does a great job! all the internal filters you get with juwel tanks are easy to use, everyone ive seen has the heater inside of them too! all parts are easily replced. heater, impeller, media ect. id go for that one

 

[Aquascaper]

Just a note on the Juwel internal filters.....they are great and easy to use with the benefit of hiding the heater in the box as well but they're not so great if you stock to the max or have messy fish so bear that in mind.

 

[Donna_G]

I've got a marina tank, had to replace the filter as it was so noisy. Also got a fishbox 60, it's a great tank been running for over 3 years with no problems

 

[snazy]

The filters on the small Juwel aquariums versions(Record 600 and Korall 60) are useless in my opinion, both have the same flow output and mine is still in the box and probably never to be used. The Juwel Korall filter also comes with a mini sponge as media(just one blue sponge) but you can always buy more and proper media I guess. I don't know about the Juwel Record filter media, but it uses the same power head inside, it just seems to have a bigger box for more media. The heater is also horrible, doesn't even have numbers for the temperature printed on it so I was playing with it and the thermometer for 3 days before I got it right. Hope I never need to change the temperature. I haven't had any of the bigger Juwels aquariums, but I have read their filters are a bit better quality than the small version ones, but annoying to clean and a lot of people replace them with better ones, or the minimum upgade the power head inside. Additionally, they can trap fish in side. The tank itself is ok, neat looking, but I don't like their plastic covers that need to be removed altogether if you need a hand access to the tank. My other tanks have access to nearly half the tank by lifting the front flap so I don't have to splash condensation water all around the place if I suddenly decide to remove a floating leaf. If you are going for a small tank, I wouldn't be overly satisfied with the equipment that comes with the Juwel small versions and the cover design.
Generally, the best way is to buy all tank and equipment separate but that's not always the cheapest way.

 

[cliffy]

This may interest you. I was looking at the same tanks as you and then can across this.

http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/aquarium-bargains/all-products.html

It arrived two days after I ordered and looks pretty good quality. Let you know how things go.

 

[MBOU]

That Aqua 60 is a good value tank the Aqua 200 filter is good, really high turnover for a little filter! I have the Aqua 100 filter running like a powerhead in a 300 liter tank (with an external aimed at 600L) and the little filter takes out more dirt and does a better job of cleaning the tank than the bloomin external does!

In the end the tank you get is down to you, but one thing worth remembering is that if you have any emergency, need spares for the filter or light bulb or light unit etc... if you go with an Aquael tank, the only place you'll get those spares is online which takes time. See what your LFS stocks and what they have availeable like do they stock Juwel sponges? (if its a MA then they will probably be called AquaPearl or something like that now and a bit cheaper than branded Juwel sponges).

and I have so lost my train of thought...

 

[Toon49]

This may interest you. I was looking at the same tanks as you and then can across this.

http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/aquarium-bargains/all-products.html

It arrived two days after I ordered and looks pretty good quality. Let you know how things go.

Thanks everyone for the advice thinking of getting a juwel and I can replace the filter if it's no good. WOuld be interested to know how you get on with the aquael though as it's a great price. Let me know what it's like when you've got it up and running please

 

[cliffy]

Its up and running now and am really happy with the whole package. Had a couple of questions on set up to the supplier and they were very helpful and got back to me very quickly. Let you know how things go, just on with reading how to start the whole cycling process

 

[Toon49]

Its up and running now and am really happy with the whole package. Had a couple of questions on set up to the supplier and they were very helpful and got back to me very quickly. Let you know how things go, just on with reading how to start the whole cycling process

That's great thanks keep me updated!
Yeh I've had a read of this cycling thing and it's pretty confusing!