Tank prices

Evening all,

I'm new to fish keeping and just have one 80 litre Boyu tank that was originally bought without much research.
After 3 months, I'm loving having fish and have been looking for a 3-400 liter tank. Now that I have done some research, the range of tanks and prices seem amazing and am confused as to where to start.

Options seem to be everything from a custom built tank from someone like Graeme at Gapedi, to the 'flashier' Juwel type tanks, to the cheaper Boyu, and then the really cheap DIY looking 5 panes of glass jobbies.
Are the more expensive ones (Juwel, Powerlab, etc) really worth that much more than Boyu, etc? I know they have fancier covers, but is there any benefit from a fish keeping point of view?

Lastly, are there any brands that anyone can highly recommend, and conversely, any that should be avoided?

 

To met the best is still the normal glass tanks, ranging in size from 45cm, 60cm, 90cm, 120cm, 150cm and 180cm.
The tanks can be fully customised, and you have the choice of heater, filter and lights to use.
The tanks can be mounted either on plain steel stands, cabinets, custom stands or on racks (for the smaller tanks.)
You are not limited by the filtration system or lights that come with a lot of the tanks you mentioned.

 

Agreed ... flat glass open top gives me more wiggle room fro DIY ...



and at some point even the fancy tanks needs DIY to keep them relevant.



Later Ferdie

 

Oh yes .. unless you are parking your tank in the lounge .... then by all means get a branded tank.

 

Ja - that is a long term consideration for sure !!!!

Later Ferdie

 

Yup. This one needs to go in the living room, so looks do play a part to some degree.


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Then beveled edges, clean silicone lines and low iron glass .... - the stand is probably more important so make that match the rest of the room, have some space under the tank for xyz as a hiding space or engine room.

The bigger the tank the more I would then lean towards the more costly brands ...

Later Ferdie

 

First apply the 10:10:10 rule...how will you feel about your new tank 10 minutes after you bought it, 10 months after you bought it, 10 years after you bought it, then decide if 400l will be big enough.

If if is a display tank, bigger generally is better, and it may be worth your while to get a tank builder in to give a quote on a custom made ,fitted tank. This will include positioning the tank, designing a stand, (most stand tend to be very low), carpentry if you want cabinets, filtration, lighting, ease of waterchanges, blending if in with the design and interior of the room etc.

In the long run, it may be better to fork out a little more, and get something that works from the outset. It becomes a lot more expensive if you go through a number of upgrade cycles. 2nd hand equipment no matter how good the condition, has very little value in this hobby.

 

Now that is what I call sound advice @Jwh - and besides if you want yourself and have people wanting to admire the tank is HAS to look good in the room. I've seen a few people post pics of their tanks and honestly - it looks bloody awful - don't know how people can't see when ugly is VERY ugly. A display tank should be exactly that - a thing of beauty !!

 

Another thing to consider when getting a display tank, is the material that the tank is made of.
Acrylic tanks look nice, but scratch much easier than glass.
With proper care and handling that shouldn't be an issue, but accidents do happen.
Should your scraper pick up a piece of substrate, the acrylic will not handle it as well as glass.