Hi from Wash Sate

[elius316]

Hi everybody,

Thanks for letting me join the community. Look forward to discussing and getting advice. My kids got gifted a BioOrb about 5 months ago. After about 5 minutes of research, I realized that we wanted a bigger and planted tank, so we jumped in with both feet. We cycled a 40Gal breeder, and have slowly been stocking it. We have 4 Black Skirt Tertra, 4 Bolivian Ram, and 1 BN Pleco. We’re thinking of throwing in a bunch of Rummy Nose and then possibly some Jullii Cory. Looking for advice on how many Rummys, or if there are any reasons to avoid.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Welcome to the community. Looking forward to seeing and hearing about what you are getting up to.

Good news on upgrading from the biorb. They are one of the worst aquariums on the market. Their filtration is essentially non existent, and it could very easily be one of the best, but they just dont care enough to fix the problems. They have been advised on how to easily and cheaply fix their aquariums, but are quite happy to sell a rubbish product because it gives them "aftersales".

First thing i would do is add another 4 black skirt tetras to bring the numbers up to 8. You could easily add 8 rummynose tetras and 6 julii corys and still be lightly stocked, so take it from there. Dont add too many at once, maybe adding 3 or 4 fish a week. Once you have added the fish, see how you like the numbers and you could add some more if you wish.

If you dont already have driftwood in the aquascape, the BN pleco will need some. They chew on the wood and it aids their digestion.

 

[elius316]

Yeah that BiOrb is relegated to isolation tank if an occasion arises. It would be one thing if they were much cheaper, but at their price it’s quite the rip.

Thanks for suggestion, it looks like I’m on the right patch. This morning I spotted 2 baby black tertra, so up to 6 now!

I do have driftwood for the Pleco, he’s a pretty happy camper.

 

[Andy Sager]

Hello and welcome.
Nice tank.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Yeah that BiOrb is relegated to isolation tank if an occasion arises. It would be one thing if they were much cheaper, but at their price it’s quite the rip.

You biorb doesnt have to be a complete write off. This video explains how to upgrade the filtration to a very good system. There is probably a link in the description to purchase their upgrade kits, which I believe are a bit pricey. But you could DIY it with some filter foam. The only issue would be cutting the foam without the benefit of the templates.

https://youtu.be/wouDZINgpq4?si=uppu7ftv6ixYcHk1