TANK ADVICE!!

[kat and james]

hi everyone
we are new to this site, and fairly new to tropical fish keeping (about a year)! we are looking at getting a larger tank.. hoping for a 5x2x2 ft tank, the ones we like most are the bow fronted aquaone tanks, however these tanks are fairly new to the uk, and therefore we can't find any reports beit good or bad about these tanks. just wondering whether anyone has one, and what they think of it, ie filtration, lighting, sturdiness, etc.
thanks for your help!
kat and james

 

[fatguppy]

I have a Juwel 180 which is possibly slightly bigger than you want. However, it does have a bow front and Juwel appear to be bringing out new tanks all the time so I would imagine that smaller ones are available.

They come with all necessary kit (filters/heaters etc) and are (certainly to my knowledge) excellent. You can buy a stand to go with them as well if you wish. They are reasonably priced too.

I would also advise an air curtain/stone for oxygenation of the water - this does not come with the tank but they are IMO a necessity. You do not need to spend a fortune on the pump - the one we bought was about £20 and perfectly adequate even for a biggish tank.

The only other thing with Juwel tanks is the lighting which is adequate but if you want something a bit more specialised then you need to buy replacement lights. This is NOT essential but it certainly improved the look of my tank. We have a heavily planted tank and we have found the specialised lighting to encourage plant growth is excellent.

Have fun B)

 

[kat and james]

heya
thanks for the advice, i think we are going to go for a juwel tank, we like the vision 450 which is a really big tank.. but we are addicted to the hobby!! no tank seems to be big enough!! thanks for the help though!
we'll have to get a photo of the tank once we finally get it.. won't be for a while though!

 

[annka5]

Actually, I was torn between the Aqua One and Juwel bow-fronted models.
What I found was that the volume of filter media in the Aqua one was a LOT better than the Juwel, also the kit was more flixible generally. The cabinets etc seemed better made.
However, I ended up going for a Juwel as the Aqua One is incredibly tall - by the time you add the base (76cm) and tank height (70cm) it is TALL. Go to the store and try seeing how far down inside the tank you can reach... I'm 6ft and have disproportionately long arms, but would've probably needed a step ladder/ stool for a lot of tank maintanance. Am not sure on the dimensions of the 400 you're thinking of, I went for the Vision 260, and can reach to the bottom of the tank.

 

[kat and james]

someone else did mention that to us, but that was what we liked about the aquaone tank. i think we will go for the juwel tank it is 100 gallons, probably won't be able to reach the bottom either! but we decided that it is really easy to get replacement parts etc for a juwel tanks. also we cant' find any info about aquaone tanks anywhere.. no one seems to know anything about them!
what do you think of the filtration with a juwel tank? we've heard that it isn't great, and that a lot of ppl use an eheim external filter instead! also can you remove the internal filter on a juwel tank, so you don't have that big black box in the corner.
thanks!

 

[Joviella]

We bought a rio 400 just before they brought out the vision 450. The filtration on juwel tanks is ok depending on what fish you want to keep.We added an eheim external as soon as we got our tank and have just recently removed the internal filter in favour of adding another external(eheim pro 2.....has heater in it).It does seem to create more room for the fish.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[kat and james]

we are thinking that we would remove the internal filter also, for the same reason as you; to provide more room for the fish, we would also go for the thermo filter, as this means you don't need any equipment in the tank (other than the outlets and the inlets (?) from the external filter). but then this makes me think why do'nt we just get a rena tank. but as far as i can see these generally tend to be more expensive. which means we are back on the mission to find out what rena tanks are like!!! it's relentless this quest for the perfect tank!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Joviella]

The rena tanks are ok.....but I don't personally like the silver tops.....the juwels are more pleasing to the eye!! (If that makes any sense)lol

 

[annka5]

I think the filter and heater for an Aquaone would be something you could find out more about, in that you can buy them separate from the tanks. The lighing unit is just a lighting unit, so so long as it was an OK wattage for depth of tank...
From what I read, the glass thickness and quality on aquaone tanks is excellent, arguably better than a jewel. The cabinets certainly look far more solid, and when it comes to which you prefer the look if, that's down to you...
If you were to start replacing filters and heaters immediately, e.g. from a jewel, IMO it would probablly work out cheaper to get another brand to start off with.
Despite having chosen a jewel myself (due to depth) I actually think on paper the aquaone looks like a better tank.

 

[kat and james]

well we've just come back from the garden centre, wanted to take a look at the bigger tanks to get an idea of size "in the flesh", and we have realised that whatever tank we get, chances are we will have to get an external filter to add on anyways. we saw the rena tank we were looking at, and found that for only 100 pounds more we could buy ourselves a MASSIVE tank.. 640 litres !!!! so now we are torn AGAIN!! so comfuzzling!!
any opinions on rena tanks??
thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ps thanks for the heads up annka5, aquaone could be back on the table!!! coz we still like these tanks the best!!

 

[Joviella]

Hi Kat and James,
Have a look at this website.....www.meraquatica.co.uk.
I want to get a new tank and they were advertising on e-bay the other day. They basically sell the tank and the cabinet.....anything else...i.e filters,lights....you have to buy yourself.
On the website they have a 96"x24"x24" for £750.....but on e-bay the other day I could have got this tank for £450.
Apparently,they advertise and sell on e-bay all the time.
Really hope this helps,as my advice is to go for the biggest and the best tank you can afford.
Chali.xx.




Edited to say that they do all different sizes and they are all on e-bay from time to time.....you even get to choose what colour cabinet as they make to order.

 

[kat and james]

wow! that site is amazing.. those tanks are so cheap!! everytime i see something like the size of tank we are gonna get goes up! we started off with wanting 400 litres, then 450 litres, now its 640 litres !!!
will definetly take a look at this site with james, and we will let you know our course of action!!
thanks again!

 

[kat and james]

well we are sorted now.
we visited the garden centre just to take a look at the size of tanks "in the flesh" we noticed that the rena calvados tank (480 useable lt) was £899, while the rena classic 200 (640 useable) was just £100 more, on special offer. we decided to start saving and see how we get on.. i've been given some money by my granny!

anyways, took a look on ebay, and found the exact tank we wanted, with the original xp3 filter, a fluval 404, 2 rena heaters, and the rest for not too much, we bid on it, and actually won the whole lot for £350, all we need to do is drive up and collect it... from hertfordshire.. bit of a mish.. but james works for an import distribution company, dealing with mountain bikes, so they have big transporter vans, which we have been told we can use to collect the tank in.. at no cost to us!!

so it's all happening.. now all we have to do is move house, to be able to accomodate the new tank!!!!! (we were planning on moving anyway!)

 

[Joviella]

Fantastic news.Good luck with it all.