Aquariums

[phatch]

Hi,

Does anyone have a view on which aquariums are the best to buy.
alot of companies have the complete package, lights, internal filters etc, are these any good?
i know Jewel tanks have changed from german power heads etc to italian.
& what about the companies who make tanks to your specification, are these a good option?

Ca anyone help me out?

Thanks

 

[Squid]

I bought a Juwel Rio 180.. Im pretty happy with the tank, stand and hood etc, for the the money i paid, however, after a while i added an external filter. The Juwel filter was not as effective and required more maintenance. It's still good enough and the maintenance is not too high, but with a new tank I have found the water chemistry easier to keep stable since i have added the eheim filter.

I do like the hood though, easy to get access, and no need for condensation trays..

Squid

 

[jarmado]

i have an aqua-one windsor 66..
no fault found...yet...

 

[phatch]

I bought a Juwel Rio 180.. Im pretty happy with the tank, stand and hood etc, for the the money i paid, however, after a while i added an external filter. The Juwel filter was not as effective and required more maintenance. It's still good enough and the maintenance is not too high, but with a new tank I have found the water chemistry easier to keep stable since i have added the eheim filter.

I do like the hood though, easy to get access, and no need for condensation trays..

Squid

Thanks Squid.

Are you saying tanks with condensation trays are a bit of a pain?

 

[MoreCoffee]

If buying a 'complete package' you may want to consider the installed lighting.

If plant growth is not an important issue then most of the complete packages should be fine, however
if you are looking at some serious plant growth (either now or in the future) with added CO2, you'll soon
find that in most cases the lighting is too low.
A general rule of thumb for planted tanks with CO2 is 2 watts per gallon (WPG) - not many tanks come
with that as standard !

I have a Tropiquarium 88, bought as a complete package adn there is nothing wrong with it.
The tank, filter and lighting performed exactly as it is supposed to as a basic aquarium setup.
However eventually I got more and more interested in having a lush planted tank and soon found out
the lighting is going to need a little DIY upgrade to get the best results.

There are of course plants that will grow perfectly well with a lower light, but you will end up restricted to
the plants you can successfully grow.

Have a look in the Planted tank section of the fourm and also some of the lighting upgrade posts in the hardware and DIY sections. Bloo's recent thread in the DIY section a good place to start.

Mr G

 

[Squid]

I bought a Juwel Rio 180.. Im pretty happy with the tank, stand and hood etc, for the the money i paid, however, after a while i added an external filter. The Juwel filter was not as effective and required more maintenance. It's still good enough and the maintenance is not too high, but with a new tank I have found the water chemistry easier to keep stable since i have added the eheim filter.

I do like the hood though, easy to get access, and no need for condensation trays..

Squid

Thanks Squid.

Are you saying tanks with condensation trays are a bit of a pain?

i just like having easier access to a tank.. This is fairly good with the Juwel tanks.. An old tank had a condensation tray with holes cut in it for cables.. it needed cleaning, and you had to move it to get into the tank, and when i moved it, it kept moving the filter and the heater.. It was just a messy set-up.

 

[Marcos]

I also have a rio 180, I think the built in filter is perfectly adequate but there is better. I still have an Eheim aquaball in mine but I've no doubt an external filter would be easier to look after and once funds allow I will be looking at an Eheim external. I'm still very happy with the tank, it's very well designed and put together and as squid has said, the lid design allows very good access for maintenance. I also only paid £66 for it on ebay!