Biorb - Especially designed for dead fish!! (Biorb Aquarium)

Member Name: lindseyphilpot

Product:	Biorb Aquarium
Date:	05/05/09 (441 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful when working properly

Disadvantages: Kills your fish, High maintenance

The Biorb Aquarium - Designer Aquarium for your designer fish made by Reef one.

The facts:

This designer fish tank is a real feature for any home. I purchased one a few years ago because when I saw it in the shop I was simply blown away by it. The simple design which is based around the 'original' fish bowl has been updated to be included in the more modern home.

The bowl which is made of arcrylic material is designed to lower the stress levels for fish. It has been proven that the biorb is the perfect shape ti give fish a fantastic view without corners and sides which seem to cause stress related behaviours.

The Biorb is designed to have higher oxygen levels - of up to 30% more than other fish tanks. The tube in the middle pushes air through to your aquarium ensuring your fish have the right amount of oxygen always.

The Biorb is also designed to reduce maintenance and help the water stay healthy and clean for your fish. Filters can last for up to 6 weeks without any maintenance and water will remain crystal clear during this time. Filters can be brought online or from any Biorb stockist at around £8.99 each. The ceramic stones at the bottom also provide a certain amount of filteration ensuring that all the 'good stuff' stays in the water.

The figures:
Avaliable in a 30l of a 60 litre version
10 x stronger than glass
Ideal for medium sized cold water fish although a heater is avliable to turn it into a tropical tank.
Safe low voltage pump
A large range of colours avaliable to suit your home
height 16.5 inches
Width 15.7 inches
Weight (full) 68 pounds
Volume: 8 gallon/ 30l (avaliable in 60l)
12 v transformer
12 month guarentee.

The Biorb comes with everything in the box that you will nedd including the cermaic media, the filter and the pump. You just need the fish.

The truth:

Whilst it is all well and good telling you all these facts and figures it is no use to anyone is they don't ring true and in my experience they don't. It is some time ago now that I had a Biorb - I would say 3-4 years but I guess they haven't changed much as I have heard people have the same experience as me.

Whilst Biorb or Reef one claim that the Biorb is designed to stay cleaner for longer this simply is not the case, Within about two weeks the ceramic media at the bottom was full of fish poop and the water started to smell completely stenching my house out. As you can imagine cleaning a 30l fish tank is not as easy as cleaning a tiny fish bowl which you can carry to your garage and in fact it is almost impossible. It take a small cup (which is all that will fit in the top of the tank and about 30 trips to the sink to even half empty it. It is impossible to lift to the sink whilst full because of the weight. This gives you absolutely no incentive to clean the tank and the water just gets more and more dirty.

When you do finally pluck up the courage to clean it you have to wisely choose what you use as the acrylic is so easily scratched and ruined and I did this once too often which just adds to the blurryness of the tank.

Not only this but I do not see how Biorb can claim that this is a better enviroment for fish. I had 3 lots of fish all of whom were dead within 3 months. They all miraculously contracted fish bloating and all ended up floating upside down and struggling to stay afloat which is not only stressful for the fish but also very stressful to watch. I cannot see that this is a coincidence as I kept my water and tank clean as it said to do so in the instructions (even though it was a painful procedure).

The tank retails at about £80 for the 30 l which in itself is a painful amount of money for a fish tank but when it was up and running perfectly and my fish were healthy and happy it was well worth it. Everyone commented on it and how beautiful it was and I was a proud owner. This was short lived though as soon enough my tank started growing green stuff and looked vile and had to be dragged by 5 people to the room which nobody went it because I couldn;t stand the embarassment and I just simply did not have the time to clean it every week.

I will say though that the customer service from Reff one was great and when I had an accident with the lid to my tank and split it down the middle they sent me another free of change within the week.

I think the conclusion to this is that if you have the time to maintain the tank then it has potential to be beautiful but this kind of defeats the object of the design as it is meant to keep itself clean for 6 weeks. Unfortunately my Biorb days were short lived and after 6 months I gave up and took it to the local boot sale where I sold it for £5.

What a waste of money!!

Summary: Your better of keeping your fish in a food bag!