New Desk Aquarium..which Tank?

[minikarter]

Hey! , i'm very new to all this but figured best way to get involved would be to ask!

now, i'm looking for a tank that i can keep in my bedroom at home on the desk, i love looking at fish and find it so relaxing, but I want some help in finding a suitable tank? At the moment, in the house we have a tropical tank and a cold water tank (both fairly large), and also a curent unoccupied 30L BiOrb. I have my heart set on setting up a betta tank, maybe even planted as i'm feeling adventurous. I know mentioning the BiOrb to experienced fish keepers is like blasphemy.. but it wouldnt look half bad. And i would be looking for a replacement filter. I've heard a lot of bad things about the filter system of the biorb and would be looking for a normal internal filter that i can just modify to stay in there.. i'm wondering if anybody has done that before? It would be a big cost saving for me. Otherwise the other alternative would be to buy a completely new tank, no bigger than about 500mm cube, but i dont know what's good and whats not from experience... any ideas or recommendations on a tank would be fantastic!

oh and i'm not looking for a vast number of fish, fairly minimal really, as i said, a betta would be cool , maybe a couple of catfish for the bottom and some smalltetras i heard they can be fin nippers sometimes) or minnows of some kind?

Thanks again!!

 

[Corleone]

Biorbs aren't really blasphemy. They have their disadvantages, but the bulk of trouble with them comes from following bad advice (including what it says on and in the box).

If you want to do a planted tank, I'd go for something different. Biorbs have some sort of undergravelish filter, and I don't know how great it is with plants, normal undergravels aren't great. There are quite a few lines of 5 gallon acrylic bowfront and hex tanks, most of which come with internal filters or filters built into the hood - you can swap it for a small hanging filter and they look fairly nice. Most of them are roughly cubical, which gives you a better floor space for planting.

 

[doresy]

Ideal desk top tank would be an AquaOne 320 (28 ltr) with a mini filter and 25 watt heater (should be around £50, total) Or for a bit more the AquaOne 380 (34ltr) with built in trickle filter and a 50 watt heater (see my signiture)

*edit* both the above tanks have the advantage of being glass

But then again there are plenty of small tanks about, I just love AquaOnes

 

[D3m]

Ideal desk top tank would be an AquaOne 320 (28 ltr) with a mini filter and 25 watt heater (should be around £50, total) Or for a bit more the AquaOne 380 (34ltr) with built in trickle filter and a 50 watt heater (see my signiture)

*edit* both the above tanks have the advantage of being glass

But then again there are plenty of small tanks about, I just love AquaOnes

Doresy your tanks in your sig look ace, especially the massive one. Have you got a bigger picture of them I can see?

 

[doresy]

Ideal desk top tank would be an AquaOne 320 (28 ltr) with a mini filter and 25 watt heater (should be around £50, total) Or for a bit more the AquaOne 380 (34ltr) with built in trickle filter and a 50 watt heater (see my signiture)

*edit* both the above tanks have the advantage of being glass

But then again there are plenty of small tanks about, I just love AquaOnes

Doresy your tanks in your sig look ace, especially the massive one. Have you got a bigger picture of them I can see?

Always happy to show off but I may be changing this whole set-up to go Discus

As requested

 

[D3m]

That looks amazingly bigger than the 155ltr suggests, and I love the massive piece of wood you have in there, how the hell does'nt it fall over?

Really nice looking tank though m8, Well Done

 

[doresy]

That looks amazingly bigger than the 155ltr suggests, and I love the massive piece of wood you have in there, how the hell does'nt it fall over?

Really nice looking tank though m8, Well Done

That piece of 'wood' is resin but looks great with algae and Cristmas Moss on it. The tip of it is lodged in a deep ledge in the 3D background and the base deep in the sand. Been like it for a year now.

It is a biggun but I want BIGGER but it's upstairs and I want to keep it there!

 

[RadaR]

Arcadia Arc Tank.

 

[aaronnorth]

clearseal do small, cheap tanks.

 

[fish.com1]

i agree with radar, the arcadia arc tanks are very good.

 

[minikarter]

The Arcadia tanks do look very impressive, I like how you are able to even see from above a bit as well! is it only the arcadia tanks that are like that with a clear lid?