[EU] What aquarium to buy?

[aelen]

Context: I'm looking for my very first aquarium to buy.

I've been looking around a fair bit and while there is a lot of advice about all the stuff you can put INTO the tank, I'm struggling to find anything about buying the actual tank.

I've observed some huge price differences in tanks of very similar sizes and I'm quite curious why this is. I know the OpticWhite (spelling?) glass is generally quite a bit more expensive but are there other things that factor into this cost?

Besides that, I really don't want to buy an aquarium that comes with a stand since we want something that is bigger than just the aquarium.

Additionally, does anybody have any suggestions for (online) shops to buy aquarium supplies in the Netherlands/Europe? There are some local fish stores where I intend to buy my fish, but they don't really stock aquariums.

Cheers!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Link to video on choosing an aquarium.

https://youtu.be/lM1r2P0rnC0

 

[aelen]

Oh nice, I'm gonna watch that. I'm currently leaning towards an aquarium from ILA which is 120x60x60, optic white. But maybe that changes after watching that video!

 

[aelen]

Watched it, somewhat helpful - I think I will go with the ILA 120x60x60!

My LFS said they can order it for me.

 

[aelen]

I got into contact with them, the delivery time is about 4-5 weeks it seems, due to a worldwide glass shortage. :/

I'm gonna have a drive around on Saturday to see if I can find a nice 120cm tank anywhere around - there's a couple of stores around I could try. Wish me luck!

 

[Aiken Drum]

I think the fluval roma 240 is 120cm. That might be something you can get off the shelf. Comes with a good light and filter. I think the bottom is drilled which you would need to account of if you want to self build the cabinet

 

[aelen]

Cool! If Saturday's road trip does not result in me getting a tank I'll likely just go through with the order of the ILA, but since I have ~1.5 week off at the end of the month before I start a new job, I was hoping to make plenty of time for scaping and starting this tank.

We're gonna see

 

[aelen]

So I went for a little tour today, one shop had the Oase Scaperline 600 available for which I could order just the aquariums without the stand, so I decided to downscale slightly from my desired 120 since the options I could find for that size typically came with rather flimsy tops and stuff.

It should arrive within a week!