Buy 5 Gallon Fish Tank

Review by Rod Harrison:

I have owned this aquarium for 3 years now. It looks great sitting on my kitchen counter. I could have been more consistent about cleaning the system (about 1x a month), but generally speaking the fish have thrived. Several mistakes I made include: 1) thinking that the bio-wheel needs to be occasionally replaced (don’t go there) 2) leaving the light on too much which created an algae bloom, and 3) buying fish that outgrow this small aquarium. I made those mistakes in the first year. Since then it has been smooth sailing except for the light fixture burning out. The light switch is pretty cheap, so repeated use caused it to break. I rigged up another lighting system since I was not able to order a replacement part except for the whole lid unit (which costs as much as the aquarium), but it is not very satisfactory. I am breaking down and buying another aquarium just to get a functioning light. This time I am going to hook up the light to a timer and avoid overusing the switch.

Review by JC Fisher:

This is by far the best aquarium kit i’ve used so far. Ive had it for around 1 month already. The filter and bio wheel do the job with keeping the water clear and ammonia levels close to non-existant, respectively. Fish seem very happy and healthy. I was so pleased with this tank, i bought another one!

Review by Ask Bjørn Hansen:

This is a great starter aquarium. Order a book or two about having fish when you order the aquarium too and wait a week before getting fish.

In years past you’d have all sorts of work with the filters and such. With the bio-wheel that comes with this tank your only work is to occasionally replace the “physical filter” and do a partial water change. That’s it! The tank also comes with a beautiful light that’ll really make your fish shine.

You will need some gravel too and some plants and maybe a stone or two for the fish to hide behind. The gravel and such are best picked up at your local pet store. Start out with plastic plants rather than live plants; you’ll have plenty to do anyway.

In my experience things are easier if you have a heater too. The fish likes the water temperature to be constant. I’ve been using a 150w heater with good success in this tank.

Let the tank run with the heater for a day or two to get the temperature stable. When you add your first fish, start out with just a few small fish (actually, in a 12 gallon tank you should always only have small fish, little tetras and such — don’t worry, they are beautiful) to get the bio-wheel going. Your books will explain it, but it takes some time for the biological processes to get going in the tank and keep things in balance, so the water can get poisonous quickly for your fish if you add too many. (Get a packet of test strips to test the water quality daily — it’s just when you get started, later the bio-wheel will keep things steady unless you keep too many fish in the tank).

I can also recommend getting another tank, maybe a 3 gallon tank, to keep new fish in before they go in the main tank. (Of course that only works if you keep small fish, with bigger fish the 12 gallon tank would be your quarantine tank…)

Good luck!

Review by slybiker:

I have owned a system 3 for almost 6 years now! If there was 1 word to describe this it would be: Effortless.

This is a fine piece of machinery that looks and runs great, for years to come.

Maintenence:

-Change the filter every 1-3 months (depending on the clenliness of your fish and the nuber you have)

-25% water change every time you change the filter or every other time (again, depending on your fish

-I also reccomend a gravel cleaner

-About once every 8 months to a year, I have to clean out the impeller housing to clean out the junk that builds up because of reduced performance.(manual shows step by step instructions on how to do this, and if you loose your manual, go to marineland.com to download one for free)

Cons-

none really, but it is quite small. Recently I have been looking at the system 6 or 12.

*I’m not sure about how it would do with salt water, as I have not tried, but reading reviews I have not heard very positive things about that.

*After having it for about 5 years, white crust started to show up on the edged of the tank lip. One more thing to clean, but what can I say? I have nothing to complain about though, because you can look at other 6 year old systems and they would look like junk, where as mine is in perfect condition(except for the little ECLIPSE marking on the front is half worn off from use!)

All in all, I have been happy with this tank from day one and I’m sure will continue to be happy with it for years to come(if I don’t upgrade, that is!) and I would definetly reccomend this to anybody wanting a quick to set up, long lasting, all in one machine that looks stylish. I hope this helps!

Review by J. Price:

It is easy to use and rated up to a 5 gallon…I thought mine being a 6 gallon wouldn’t be a problem but this sissy thing bearly heats up at all.

Review by Sandra L. Zarembski:

I totally recommend this aquarium kit for anyone just starting out in the fish-keeping hobby. Vitually everything you’ll need comes in the box. However, when I bought my BiOrb a year ago, there was no heater included. If you want to keep tropical fish, you will likely need to purchase BiOrb’s heater kit if they haven’t yet decided to include a heater in the package. You can purchase a small heater at any good pet store, but it’s likely to be a bit of an eyesore in the BiOrb.

I keep 3 dwarf African frogs and one dwarf puffer in the BiOrb and there is ample room. Cleaning day is about every 8 weeks and is generally only a matter of changing a few gallons of water and taking out the old filter cartridge and putting a new one in. The tank is well-aerated and you never see fish gasping for air at the top. Plus, it’s a gorgeous tank.

My only complaint is that when I bought the BiOrb, I had no idea that they would soon come out with a 16-gallon version. I definitely would have gotten the larger tank, since with the smaller one, you have to severely limit the number of fish or aquatic creatures you keep in it. With the 16 gallon tank, you can have double the number of pets. Still, I’m very happy with my BiOrb.

Review by Pass-the-Salt:

I have owned a Baby Biorb (.99) for 10 months now, and I am VERY UNhappy with it. Irreconciliable personality conflicts among fishmates prompted me to purchase a second acrylic tank (10 gallons at only .99) within 2 months of purchasing the Biorb, so I am able to report on the comparative performance of the 2 rival tanks. The Biorb is superior to the other tank in ONLY 2 ways: 1) Its silver plastic accents are more attractive than the standard black plastic accents of the 10-gallon tank; and 2) The Biorb’s biological filtration system (the ceramic media foster bacterial growth and proliferation, unlike the plain gravel in my other tank) sped up the aquarium’s cycling process, whereby the Biorb had fully matured in exactly HALF the time required by the other tank. Now for the BAD news: The Biorb’s poorly engineered filter set-up necessitates lifting the soiled filter from the BOTTOM of the tank for replacement, at which time the disturbed filter releases appalling pollution into the tank. The replacement filter barely stands a chance of removing the residual pollution, let alone maintaining a healthy environment for the next “4 to 8 weeks.” As a result, I am finding myself replacing the filter an average of every 2 to 3 weeks, which - at .99 to .99 a pop - becomes ridiculously expensive, and the aquarium’s water is perpetually yellow and unattractive. The other tank, on the other hand, boasts a filter set-up on the SURFACE of the water. I simply lift out the soiled filter - only .99 a pop - and replace it. No harm done. While the makers of the Biorb claim that the 360-degree view it affords of the fish inside really places Biorb ahead of the competition, I find that my second all-clear hexagonal tank likewise boasts

a 360-degree view. If I had it to do over again, I would NOT invest in a Biorb. The long-term expense is prohibitive, and the performance is poor.

Review by Peter T. Cheung:

I have 7 tanks set up all with power filters. Half of my power filter is tetra EX. They have been in this line of business for a long time and have been known to be reliable and trust worthy.

Power filter that hang at the back of the tank are design for aquarium of 5 to 80 gallons. For tanks of 10 to 55 gallon I definitely would say power filter is the best type of filter for them. You should get a power filter that is rated twice the size of your tank and may be even up to 3 times if you have a lot of “living things” in your tank. So the EX 30 is perfect for 10 gallon tanks and reasonable for 20 gallon tanks.

Power filter performs three filtration functions, mechanical, chemical and biological filtration. Each type of power filter has its advantage and disadvantages and none is perfect for all three functions. The EX is good in mechanical and chemical filtration and is great for biological filtration. The chemical filtration is great if you use bio bag and added more chemicals inside the bag instead of using the sealed cartridge. The sealed cartridge is more expensive but easier to handle. The bio bag is more time consuming to use but you can add more and different types of chemicals and I think the mechanical filtrations is also better. (The carbon that comes with the bio bag is the same amount as in the seal cartridge and you should add a lot more chemicals to the bio bag and I like the Ammo-Carbon) Another advantage of the bio bag is if you need to remove the carbon for some medication you can just empty the chemical out of the bag and keep the bag for mechanical filtration. If you use the sealed cartridge you have to remove the whole cartridge and lost the mechanical filtration (or replace it with an empty bio bag).

The noise level of the EX is better than most other power filters. The best power filter especially in mechanical filtrations is Aqua Clear. Unfortunately Aqua Clear has one big disadvantage. It will not restart by itself after a power failure. You need a UPS (uninterrupted power supply used by computer system) to make sure if you lost power for a short period of time the Aqua Clear stays working. If you do not have an UPS using Aqua Clear is a big risk and if there is a power failure and you are away for a few days you may lost your whole tank.

Review by M. Pla Jr.:

The filter is very quiet and easy to set up - the fish tank water was clear the next day.