Juwel Tanks

[joloco]

i've been offered a juwel rio 400, but i don't know whether this is a good thing or not
i know nothing about juwel tanks having never had one - are they any good?
are they the ones with the rubbish filters?

 

[CFC]

They do have rubbish filters but the tanks themselves are ok and do come with a half decent lighting system, if the monies not to much then get it and rip out the internal filter and replace it with a eheim external.

 

[Pheonix]

i have one of these tanks!! heres a link to it on this site

Rio 400

The tank itself is great, its true the filters arnt that great but it all depends what u want to keep,

ive emptied out the filter box and use it to hide equipment which works well then use a canister filter on the outside.

if you dont want it ill ave another one

 

[joloco]

its 350 including cabinet, its also new

what do you think - is this a bargin or should i stay clear?

 

[annka5]

I've a Juwel tank, a vision 260.

The filter IMO is pretty good (lots of volume of filter media, flow rate pretty low) for an internal filter. Not as good as an external in terms of filter media volume, admittedly. I like a lower flow rate as I keep fish from slower-moving waters, so less current but enough water turnover through the filter to keep water quality good. I also like that it's fixed in place, as it's pretty much where you'd end up putting a filter anyway and no danger of the suction cups you get on many internal filters slowly losing grip over time - this happened a lot with my old fluval filter at least, and it was easy enough to fix but irritating.
The heaters are as good as any others, really. Nice that they're tucked away in the filter box as less chance of damaging them and with a good flow of water across them.
The lighting is fine for me - I grow plants in a very low-tech way, so a lower wattage on the lights doesn't give me a problem. Not too difficult to upgrade.
The stand isn't the prettiest /best made on the market, but to be fair, it's pretty typical of the price range. Sturdy enough to do the job. The canopies are pretty inoffensive, too, a lot less "clumsy" looking than many tank sets with more expensive stands.

I reckon they're pretty good - there are undoubtably better tanks on the market (particularly if you buy everything separately and get a decent joiner to make the stand...) But, these are invariably more expensive, often a lot more expensive.

 

[Pheonix]

£350s not a bad price for it brand new its RRP is about £700-£800

id have it for that much ull love the tank i promise

 

[joloco]

really! hmmm - very tempted now!

 

[Pheonix]

is that with the stand aswell??

just checking as that retail price is with the stand

 

[joloco]

it is with the stand

 

[Pheonix]

then go for it

 

[dwarfgourami]

Filters are all about what you want to use them for. A filter like the Juwel would be rubbish for CFC because he keeps great big monster fish. For me, with my planted tanks, light stocking and mainly small fish, they are excellent. It's horses for courses. And you can always add extra filtration.

 

[cane76]

i agree^^jewel filters do a ok job it all depends what you are keeping.

 

[joloco]

i had Tanganyikan or malawi cichlids in mind....
do they need a good filter system?
i suppose i could bump up the filter power at a later date.

 

[demonmagus]

yes they do, in african cichlid tanks people tend to overstock to even out aggression, and so the filter needs to be quite good

 

[annka5]

I agree, African cichlid tanks generally need good big filters due to the high levels of stock. However, for the price of the tank, you could add /substitute an external filter and it would still look like a bargain!