Wouldn't recommend buying a Juwel tank

Hi All

Just my little piece of advice for those looking to buy a tank.

I bought a Juwel Lido 120 tank which looked amazing at the time. It was a bit of a splurge because they are costly to buy. All said and done i was happy until things start failing.

1. Lights, the lido uses a 438mm tube. Until mine went i didn't even think that this would be a problem but 438mm is not a std size and a R20 tube costs you around R800 per tube to replace

2. Filter media is also about 5x the price of what you could get

3. The ecoflow little replacement pump also costs way more then entire pumps sets

4. Multilux, costs over R3000 now


I've also got a smaller 30l Boyu tank, looks really pretty but the pump went and i simply could not find a replacement, ended up buying one off ebay.

Just my little hard lessons learnt. While these tanks are really pretty, buy them if you're willing to spend a fair bit on replacement parts. Next time i buy a tank I'll be sure to do a bit of research on the replacement parts etc

Happy scaping
N


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Agree with what you say. I think a lot of the imported tanks are a bit of an issue when things start failing. I have a Boyu EA150. The canopy lid which is very small broke on one side(round rotator clip) and I couldn't get a replacement. After a while longer the light fittings gave in and the part were crazy expensive. Eventually just replaced the entire canopy with perspex and a led light fitting. This also meant that the overhead filter was wasted but I didn't have a choice.

 

I did really like mine, it's about 3.5 years old now, I've had to changes tubes before which was still ok even though a tubes are very expensive for a light bulb really, however seem to be running into more issues lately. Replaced the pump, now have to replace the Multilux.

In general these more "custom" tanks look really pretty and work well however once things need to be replaced be prepared to fork out a fair bit more then other market related products

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I've had a jewel set up before that I had bought around the same time as a friend. Around the 3year mark we both started having issues but we managed to get replacement parts through his dad who brought them for us while traveling so it was nowhere as expensive as it would have been if we were to look at shipping them ourselves.

I would add though that it goes down to the way you look after / handle your tank and it's equipment. I would still buy another but that's mainly because replacements here are widely available and not expensive at all

 

Also got a 1,5 m Jewel. Took a look at that filter setup and decided, No Go. Replaced the lights and added a Dophin 1600.

 

I feel its a problem with all the imported tanks. I also fell in love with the boyu something 500. The tank its self is great, the stand however was absolutely rubbish and I had to replace it after just 2 years. It simply could nit hold the weight of the tank and it started to twist the tank and the top bracing, which was made out of 10mm glass snapped right off.

I ended up replacing the stand with a proper metal stand. Also had issues with the lights and ended up doing a mod so that now I can use any led tubes I want. The top sump type filter which it came with was Also rubbish and I eventually did away with it.

I've learnt my lesson though, sadly I grossly over paid for a tank that I could have got made locally for probably half the price.

The other age old problem also of course with these tanks, is the local distributors, they are happy to stock and supply LFS to sell them, but usually thats where it ends. They don't every carry any spares for them.

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Cruel uhhhh Juwel is oneof the brands that decided to glue their own filtersystems in,
advice to change filtermedia far too fast and decided to make specific tubelengths to be sure you only buy their expensive once.

The tanks itself is okay but the lids are flimsy (is thos english?), I always remove the filterpart and use an Eheim Canister on them and I don't believe / listen to info given (filtermedia is in and rinsed now and then for years). Most Chainstores only sell Cruel here. Just like Tetra for food.

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I have 3 Juwel Tanks , a Rio 180 , Rio 300 and a Vision 450 .

The 180 and 300 I closed up and placed in storage as I didn't have much time to take care of 3 tanks , and im currently only using my Vision 450 . I have always loved the compactness and neatness of their design ,I found the build quality on the tanks itself to be impeccable , very neat and tidy with everything fitting in place and hidden away from view , no wires or pipes showing. The colors also blended in perfectly with our home decor and I replace the handles with the the same handles used in other pieces of furniture in the room so it didn't look out of place.Like another piece of furniture , only with fish and in it.

My Vision is about 15 years old and the others older . So far my absolute biggest issue with all has been the light bars going , not to mention the cost of the bulbs , but I found the correct size bulbs at Builders when the light bars worked and use those and with load shedding and the power spikes that we have been having, the pumps failed on the 180 and 300. When my heater failed because of the same thing, I just replaced it with a normal heater from the petshop that was of the same size and it fit in perfectly.

The pump failing on the 300 wasn't that big an issue as I replaced the pump with a Canister filter , the inlet goes into the box and the outlet goes out the same way as the juwel outlet , For the lighting I retrofitted the submersible LED tubes from china mall onto the fittings of the Light bars , the ends just pushed in and I screwed in the plastic rings . They really look OEM and seem to be working really well , I do plan on replacing them with Zetalights which have adapters for the juwel light bars but not right now , Zetalight cost is really prohibitive if you need to buy 4 bars lol.

Its a shame that the parts are so overpriced here in SA on so many items , not only Juwel but even my canister filters seals and such were cheaper buying of ebay then the LFS . For the filters , I just purchas normal filter media and cut them down to size and use them in the Juwel filter , for filter floss , I use that floss that people use when they are upholstering furniture , I have been washing the original plastic filters and reusing them since forever and its been working well like this for many many years . I had ever added different filter media to it to aid in bio filtration , I never purchased replacement Juwel filter media . The same stuff that goes in the canister goes in the Juwel system .

I do find the lids to be a little flimsy but I don't really open it that much .But I appreciate that It allows me to close the top up and gives a truly flush look and seal . I like how the Auto feeder is set up as well with its little cutout so its part of the system and seems as one .

I have looked at many custom setups and I was never happy with the look of them , I will admit , i prefer the factory built look .

Maintenance wise , its like any other tank , Iv almost completed my new setup on the 450 , its now mostly automated and when the fish are in even the food will be automated so my weekly maintenance / care will drop substantially .

At the end of the day , its just a tank , so if things fail , there are always better and cheaper ways to work around the Juwel parts while still keeping its original look.

 

I joined the Juwel train but I've gutted most of the standard Juwel equipment. I agree that the prices are excessive, although for the most part there is better equipment available at the same or lower price point. I've stripped out the filter box to make way for a canister, and removed the (definitely flimsy - as mentioned by others) hood to use a Chihiros light system (cheaper and better than the Multilux LED system). It would be great if I could remove the trim and brace bar at the top without compromising the structural integrity of the tank but alas this is not possible.

I bought Juwel as I liked the sleek tank + stand look that is hard to get from a custom made project (in my experience they either build beautiful tanks or beautiful cupboards but never both). Looked into Boyu and Jebo but found that the overall build quality didn't hold up over time as well as the Juwel tank. I have vowed never to buy a tank new given that there are a billion second hand ones available from people who bought and realized the hobby simply isn't for them.

So I guess pros and cons - for me I'd buy Juwel in a heartbeat again if I was looking for a full system with good build quality.