Biorb Fish Tank Full Length Review From A Newbie

I always wanted a fish tank and so my girlfriend and I decided that the time was right since we were in the middle of redecorating the living room. We seen some Biorb online and we originally wanted the Biorb Life fish tank but we couldn’t afford that particular model so we ended up getting a Biorb 30 litre fish tank.
We literally knew nothing about keeping fish and also my girlfriend said that it’s my responsibly to clean, feed and maintain the tank. Wow a lot of work I thought!

So below is how I started from nothing to knowing quite a lot about keeping fish in a birob, although I’m still unsure about most things I’m very keen to learn and ask questions.

Beginning My Biorb Journey:

Since we couldn’t afford the Biorb Life fish tank we knew that we would have to settle for a cheaper model and then one day when we were visiting a garden centre we seen the Biorb 30 litre fish tanks and they had a good deal going on. We spoke to the staff and they suggested the Biorb’s as they pretty much look after themselves and you only need to clean it every 3-4 weeks. Wow I was sold and we were also advised to get tropical fish as they are much cleaner than cold water fish. We paid for the fish tank and we went home to set it up.

I have spoken to a few of my friends and done plenty of research and they all say that goldfish in the Biorb is bad for the fish and that gold fish can grow quite big and that they are more messy than tropical fish.
Setting up Biorb Fish Tank

I couldn’t wait to get home and set the fish tank up. I took everything out of the box and then read the instructions and also watched a YouTube video of the setup but that was after I set it up to make sure it was right.

The Biorb comes with ceramic stones which are basically the fish’s toilet (nice) but for the 1st time you have to thoroughly clean them. I ran the tap water over them and so much crap came off them it ended up taking around 20 minutes just cleaning the Biorb ceramic media.

Big mistake found 6 weeks later with fish already in tank.

You’re given everything you need to setup the Biorb fish tank and the instructions are pretty much self explanatory. However I made a mistake when setting it up. I think I read the instructions wrong and it said that it comes with a filter so I thought it was a spare one. Little did I know until I went to wash the filter for the 1st time that there was no filter in the Biorb I forgot to put one in. Luckily we had 2 tropical fish in there and they seemed to be fine. There still swimming happily after 10 weeks. Basically the filter works like a Hoover and traps a lot of fish poo to it and every few months it needs replacing but after 4-6 weeks you can rinse it out in the fish water when your cleaning it.

Before you can add any fish into the Biorb fish tanks you have to make sure the water is right. The Biorb comes with a start up kit solution. You poor one in the 1st day and then after 2 days I think it was (read the instructions as my memory is rubbish sorry) you add the 2nd solution. This is just the 1st step you then have to wait a further few days for the tank to cycle.

This is because when the fish poo or food in the tank rots it causes ammonia which is bad for the fish, so in order to help the fish the water must be cycled first so bacteria will convert Ammonia into Nitrite which is also toxic to fish and then to Nitrate which is what you need to get rid of the bad stuff. I’ve probably haven’t done this justice but just read the instructions as it comes with a nice chart showing you.

However there are quite a few ways to do this and lots of people state you should do it certain ways like keep the fish tank cycling for weeks. Very confusing so we spoke to the guy at the garden centre who has a Biorb himself and he says that in order for the process to begin you need fish in there to start the process of which is also what the Biorb suggests.

Our First Fish In The Biorb 30 Litre Tank

So we were advised to get platys and start with 2, I have read some people get 10 and see how many last but that is just wrong and they have more chances to kill them all in the beginning. We started small and got 2 salt and pepper platys.

Took a few pictures to show the Biorb fish tank we have 4 fish in the tank but the last 2 platys we put in the tank seems to hide quite a bit and don’t really come out much.

Feeding Fish In Biorb Fish Tanks

We were told to feed the fish about 4 pellets each every other day so this is what I have stuck to, I feed them in the morning and the 2 salt and pepper platys come straight to the top and start eating. Since we added 2 yellow platys they don’t come to the top for the food.

I usually watch and see if they are getting any food and sometimes they do and sometimes they just swim near the bottom or round the middle, I’m not sure if any of the pellets are falling and there either eating them or they are eating of the bottom.

I did a little research and found that some fish are bullies and that it may be better to feed at night in the dark so that there fish senses can guide them to the food. So I have now decided to try the night time feeding and see how it goes.

Cleaning Biorb Fish Tanks

So I have to put this at the end as no one likes cleaning well I don’t anyway but it takes around 30 minutes to clean the fish tank and here’s what I do;

I purchased a bucket that’s just for the fish so no cleaning detergents get used in this and that way the fish don’t get infected and die.

With the Biorb it doesn’t come with a cleaning pump you have to buy it separately and so I purchased one and found it really easy to use. You just put the nozzle into the gravel and press the pump a few times and the water starts flowing through the nozzle and into the bucket.

I usually do a 3rd of the water change every 4-6 weeks as this is what’s recommended so I stuck to that. I remove all the fake plants and the castle and put them into the bucket.

I also purchased a special cleaning brush to clean the glass without damaging it.

I then empty the water and refill the water with cold water and a little warm water, as its tropical you have to keep the temperature around 70ish I think ours is around 72 at the moment but at one point it reached 78-80 but the fish were fine.

Adding New Fish To Biorb Fish Tanks

Apparently Biorb suggest adding 1 fish per month to the fish tank while it’s still cycling. We will be adding 2 fish every month and we will stop adding fish when we have around 8 although the dude at the garden centre said his has around 15 but we think its too small for that many and were happy with 8.

A Few Bad Points About Biorb Fish Tanks

• Apparently you can’t get sucker fish as the ceramic media can damage them.
• It’s quite hard to see the fish with it being circular (sometimes it takes me a minute to spot all 4 fish)
• Cleaning can be difficult due to the small open at the top
• The Biorb heater pump comes off sometimes (maybe I didn’t add it on right as since I last put it on its been fine)

Awesome Points About Biorb Fish Tanks

• Looks amazing and really stands out
• Water stays clean
• Easy to maintain
• Doesn’t cost much to maintain
• Good for newbie’s (especially myself)
• Can keep beautiful tropical fish (it’s like having a rainbow in your tank)

So this is my honest review of the Biorb 30 Litre fish tank. I know it’s a bit long but I hope to have got the points across that I really love my fish tank and that it’s really not that difficult to keep tropical fish in a Biorb.

I highly recommend getting a Biorb fish tank. While writing this I also came across some great deals on Amazon so click here and check out the Biorb fish tanks and see all the wonderful accessories that you can get to go with your Biorb.

I really hope that if you get one you will learn to take really good care of it as keeping fish is also very relaxing and soothing. It also distresses you after a hard and busy day at work.

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