Bi-Orb Aquarium

I love my Bi-orb 30L tank people always comment on it when they visit my flat. I bought it a little over 2 years ago and have had no problems, One of the best things I have ever bought. My tank is home to 1 dwarf goldfish, 7 smaller fish and about 15 snails. I find maintenance easy. I change half the tank water and replace the filter sponge every 4 weeks, I find this is enough to keep the tank water clean and healthy. The filter system works well and does a good job at trapping waste and maintain good water quality. The air pump is built in with the filter system which is a great bonus considering most tanks require a separate filter and air pump. The air pump it's self is fairly quiet but I find resting it on a soft sponge or tea towel makes the air pump even quieter. Filter sponges and stones can be purchased on Amazon, pack of 6 sponges and stones for 10 pounds, they work just as well as the Bi-Orb brand but at a much lower price. I recommend having live plants in the tank because this helps keep water quality it good condition, Plants produce oxygen that is released into the water and gives the smaller fish somewhere to hide and rest.

A year and a half ago, I bought this tank ... It started well since then.I find them easy to clean. The globe tank is beautiful. It looks like accessories are quite expensivee.

Biorb 60 marine tank .first thing I changed was the light .the filter I added a foam ring then added gravel . Bought live rock coral 4 kilograms.I bought a nano marine filter and wave maker and fitted it behind rock .two months later bought soft coral and have two clown fish and two shrimps . I do a small water change once a week .Tank has been running for a year and no problems

Pretty but not worth the noise!

I bought a 105L orb tank because I read the pump was VERY quite? I have tried everything going to silent the thing omg it is so loud the pump is about 4inchs long and about 3inchs wide the noise is like a engine running ive put it in a box full of cotton wool and nothing stops the noise.i am truly gutted because the tank is great but the pump arrrrrrrrrr

When we got our tank home we quickly realised that the ugly noisy pump has to be kept on the outside of the tank and also that the wire to the lid for the light hangs down loosely which looks terrible really - you can see it through the tank even if you try to hide it behind the tank.

I really wish we had have forked out a little bit more money and bought a Norrom Aquarium instead as they don't have any of these kinds of issues apparently.

My collection of little old goldfish will be 11 years old this month. I am a very experienced keeper. I felt I should warn about the very beautiful, but very poor design of the BiOrb 105. Do not buy a BiOrb 105 if you want to keep goldfish for the following reasons:(Based on ONE 7cm goldfish in 105lit tank) -

1 Goldfish create a lot of waste and the filtration system is not adequate to deal with amount of waste.

2 The pre-packaged filter kits are very expensive and must be changed far more often than is recommended by manufacturer. I.e. every week or two!

3 The tank mouth has a relatively small opening for maintenance, and it is not easy to use syphon to clear mess in bottom of tank, which accumulates fast under the ceramic gravel.

4 The soft plastic BiOrb syphon is very poor quality (valves not working), and you will need a better syphon. (Despite rave reviews on Amazon!)

5 The goldfish can damage their mouths on the sharp ceramic gravel when they try to hoover up food. Feeding is awkward as the food is sucked into gravel too fast and fish cannot feed well.

6 Aeration/ oxygen levels are too low for 105Lit. Air stones get clogged relatively fast.

My old gold fish are happiest in standard tank with really good filtration and aeration.They like sand rather than pebbles to hoover food. Sharp pebbles/gravel can cut mouths.

Goldfish are too dirty for the Biorb unless you perform more than the suggested maintenance. I've got some American Flagfish in my 60L and I'm much happier with them. Danios and White Cloud Mountain Minnows also do well in the Biorb. I like the look of the Biorb because it reminds me of my childhood days when I had a goldfish bowl. The pumps that come with them can be a little noisy so I would replace the pump with one from your local fish store, especially if you keep the Biorb in your bedroom. Also spend a few extra bucks and buy the cover for the air lift tube otherwise curious little fish will swim right on into the filter cartridge. I also purchased the Intelligent Light separately and I love it! The Biorb and accessories are a bit pricey so shop around for sales or make your purchases from Amazon. These days, it doesn't seem like the fish stores are carrying them anyways.

I bought one of the first biorb 30s about 12-13 years ago. I had 3 fancy goldfish at the time aged 4-5years and all three loved the tank. They lived in there for a further 10-11 years. I did water changes every week and changed the filter every 2-3 weeks and they were very healthy and happy. This isn't a tank if you don't want to do any maintenance or water changes, it definitely doesn't clean itself. I have now converted it to tropical and have four platies, they're much cleaner than the goldfish. Took about 8weeks to cycle the tank and now I do a 15% water change every Friday and change the filter probably every 2-3 months. Very attractive tank, happy fish if you make the effort to actively maintain it.

Although the Biorb is a very attractive tank you need to really ask the question what were the makers thinking about other than profit.

My point to the above is this, Biorb do a 15 litre 30 litre 60 litre and 105 litre tank and the one thing they all have in common is the filter. Simply it's not up to the job the bigger the tank gets and Biorb offer no solution.

I have been keeping fish for many years now yet I have never herd a good word said about these tanks from people who I consider to have much more knowledge than myself.

If your really considering buying a Biorb ask yourself what sort of fish you intend to keep. If you intend to keep fancy goldfish as I do then prepare yourself for lots of hard work. Trying to maintain good water quality with 2 or more fish will be very hard as I have found to my cost.

I can't comment on other fish types however from asking questions, reading forums and speaking to experienced fish keepers it very much sounds like this is a common problem across the board with all types.

The only solution I found was to add an external filter to my 105. Lots of hard work that ment drilling holes in my tank amongst other things. I can now say this has worked a treat. I have healthy happy fish in a modern attractive tank with peace of mind.

However this could have been a much more pleasurable experience if only the makers of the Biorb had put it's customers and fish health above profit.