biOrb Life Portrait 60 - Reviews

(4.3)

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7.1.2016

Below is my review of the biOrb Life 60 L, This was my first ever aquarium purchased November 2015 so I speak as someone who was recently a complete novice moving onto dare I say slightly more experienced and can offer a bit of insight primarily to anyone diving into this for the first time with this particular tank.Just to be clear I chose the biOrb Life firstly because it felt a less daunting way to start than the usual aquariums, I liked the design and it seemed a good size for our house. When you look into getting an aquarium you will quickly see that enthusiasts and experts do not hold it in very high regard how you interpret this is up to you but I hope this review helps out a little as it is a significant little investment…IN THE BOX –Tank (Incl.LED Light), air pump, ceramic media (this is the lighter coloured pebbles in the picture), Filter, Water Treatment Sachets and Instructions.It comes with everything needed to set up a coldwater aquarium but for tropical you do need to buy a heater. I bought the biOrb Intelligent Heater (£59) which was a worthwhile purchase as it maintains temperature, looks good as it just sits at the bottom of the tank out of sight and comes with a power pod that you can connect the light and air pump to so your just using one wall socket for all the equipment.It’s worth noting the supplied air pump does feel rather small and flimsy and the fact they are replaceable at £7 each tells me everything. Mine failed within a week, I replaced it with an Eheim 200 (£35) which does by far a better job. It produces more bubbles with adjustable dials, it’s reassuringly built and it’s much quieter. I would advise anyone buying a biOrb to buy a new pump from the start and keep the supplier pump as a spare.Needless to say there are no supplied plants, ornaments or other decorations. If you see the photo of my tank on this review for those decorations (they are all from biOrb) you’re looking at about £80-90. Expensive but I am quite impressed with the quality and appearance.SET UP –The instructions provided are easy to follow and it takes no more than an hour or two to set up. Most of this time is spent filling it with water and trying to arrange your decorations. Once everything is up and running biOrb instruct you to put the sachet of water conditioner into the water leave for 24 hours and then put in the Bio Booster (both provided) wait a further 24 hours and add fish. Now if you do any research at all you will have stumbled on the “Nitrogen Cycle” which when done naturally can take up to 6 weeks before you can add fish. The Bio Booster is supposed to replace this cycle basically. I was in two minds, waited a week and checked the ammonia, nitrites etc. and it seemed to be good to go.I added 5 very small guppies, 4 died a week later (1 has survived to this day). I can’t say for certain if this was because I didn’t cycle properly, the fish were poor stock or I made an error when doing a water change. I think it was the latter but I would next time try and see through the full natural cycle.MAINTENANCE –This is where the biOrb falls over a little bit. This tank has a small surface area and it’s tall which does limit the fish you can put in as it does overcrowd quite quickly and a fair number of species just aren’t suitable due to their size and the space they require so if you’re looking for a large community of fish it’s probably not the right tank for you also if you want certain species research them before buying.Ongoing maintenance has increased the overall set up cost further. Due to the size and design of the tank I do think you need to test the water regularly as ammonia spikes do seem to be relatively common and the filtration isn’t perfect, I would recommend the API Master Test Kit (£25) as an essential purchase. Due to this I also carry out a partial water change weekly of around 25%, biOrb say two weekly but I’m not convinced.Due to the small opening on the top for access you ideally need a siphon (£6ish) when removing water from the tank. I also siphon it back in as it seems to be the easiest way to do this without causing the fish stress but because my tank is elevated I have to climb on a chair/steps to get my bucket of water higher than the tank to be able to siphon back in (it’s a real pain).It’s the same in the unfortunate event you have a fish die, finding it and getting it out can be difficult before it potentially does any harm to the water.Doing a more intense clean of the tank is even harder due to how deep it is, the small access and depending how high you put the tank it can make it even trickier. It is very difficult to reach the bottom and move things etc. while also trying to see what you’re doing and not stress the fish. I have invested in the Fluval Bio Enhancer and Aquarium Cleaner Solutions (£23) to try and help with this, I didn’t want to use too many chemicals but this tank makes it quite difficult to avoid. I have only started these recently so I will report back if they are successful in any way.Lastly there is the filter change and this is easy to be fair, basically unscrew the bubble tube, lift it out the tank, unscrew the old one, insert the new one, and put it back. I tend to keep a portion of the old sponge to keep some bacteria in there. At the moment I’m doing this every 6-8 weeks. biOrb filter packs are £7 a time so keep this in mind as it is a recurring cost.Frequency of filter changes, water changes and cleaning the tank will depend on the fish you keep and how much you populate your tank so I can only speak from my experience on this.OVERALL –There is no question when it’s all set up, decorated and running well it looks stunning and everyone who comes round comments on it. The shape and design means it looks neat and tidy anywhere in the house even though despite the stock photos wires are still visible and you will have to find room for the pump and power packs etc.Crucially as you can see from how often I have mentioned prices, despite the initial cost of the tank you will find the cost of the necessary extras quickly spirals. My £200 tank soon became circa £400-500 within a month or two. This will be the same with any aquarium but the biOrb has such a high initial cost that it does become a significant investment.The truth is biOrb tanks are extortionate for their size and for the same cost or less you could easily buy a tank two or three times the size which will give you much greater freedom on the type of fish you stock and size of population.All that said I have enjoyed my biOrb as an introduction to keeping a tropical aquarium and I don’t regret the purchase as I think it is a less daunting way to enter into fishkeeping. But there are bigger, cheaper and less restrictive ways of doing it with the benefit of hindsight.