Baby Biorb Aquarium Review

March 10th, 2009
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We at Biorb Reviews plan on reviewing each Biorb aquarium model in depth over time to help others make more knowledgeable purchases and to write about the things that you won’t figure out until you have had a biorb for a while.  To do this we want to create several metrics, or categories to judge the biorb aquariums against, if you have any ideas shoot us an email at info@biorbreviews.org.  For now we will just try our own.

BiorbReviews.org – Review process

You may be wondering where our reviews and information come from, and rightly so.  Besides the experience we have gained over the last couple of years with Biorb Aquariums we have scoured the internet looking for the best information about the biorb aquariums, accessories, and products.  We have read through countless user reviews to find the highest praised and most frequently complained about items about the Biorb Aquariums and accessories and summarize them into good, okay, and bad review summaries.  In addition to these summaries we have also included some of the most helpful reviews that customers have given throughout the internet.  That way, you don’t have to search dozens of websites to find the research information you are looking for, and it saves you time.  If you have a review you would like to submit, send us an email at info@biorbreviews.org, or contact us through our contact form.

Baby Biorb Review Table of Contents

  1. Aquarium Overview
  2. Biorb Aquarium Specs
  3. Detailed Product Description of the Aquarium (directly from the manufacturer)
  4. The Good – Real User Reviews of Biorb Aquariums (Summary of best points of the aquarium)
  5. The Bad – Real User Reviews of Biorb Aquariums  (Summary of worst points of the aquarium)
  6. Good Reviews – Real customers quotes of the aquarium
  7. Okay Reviews - Real customers quotes of the aquarium
  8. Bad Reviews - Real customers quotes of the aquarium

THE BABY BIORB AQUARIUM REVIEW:

AQUARIUM OVERVIEW

The 15L (4 Gallon) Baby biOrb is the perfect size for any space in the home. Coming in a range of striking colors, the Baby biOrb will also complement any interior. The 15L aquarium uses the same advanced multi-stage filtration as it’s bigger brothers, so you can be confident your fish will be well looked after in their new home.

The Baby biOrb stands at 13 inches high and 12 inches wide, making it a perfect size for any space in the home. Baby biOrb is an affordable introduction to fishkeeping for any member of the family. The Baby biOrb comes with everything you need to set up a safe, stylish and simple to maintain desktop aquarium in a child’s bedroom, office or quiet corner of your home.

Baby Biorb Specs

What Comes In the box

  • Baby biOrb aquarium
  • 450g of ceramic media
  • Standard low-voltage baby biOrb light
  • 12v Transformer
  • Standard freshwater filter cartridge
  • Low-voltage Air Pump
  • Tap water conditioner and Beneficial Bacteria liquid
  • Printed documentation

Size and weight – Baby Biorb

  • Height: 13 inches (32 cm)
  • Width: 12 inches (30 cm)
  • Weight (empty): 2 pounds (1kg)
  • Weight (full): 35 pounds (16kg)
  • Volume: 4 Gallon (15L)

Baby Biorb Transformer

  • 12v transformer
  • Two connectors (light and airpump)
  • 12 month guarantee

Standard Baby biOrb Light

  • 12v safe low-voltage
  • 12 month guarantee
  • 5w Bulb installed
  • Spare 5w bulb supplied
  • 1.5m power cable
  • Plugs directly into transformer (supplied)

Air Pump

  • 12v – safe low-voltage pump
  • Quiet operation
  • 12 month guarantee
  • 1.5m airline with 1-way valve
  • 1m power cable
  • Plugs directly into transformer (supplied)

Electrical and environmental requirements

  • Voltage: 12V AC
  • Maximum continuous power: 8W

Safety Standards

  • Complies with UL, ULC and CE safety requirements.

BABY BIORB DETAILED PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Low maintenance

The Baby biOrb offers a low maintenance fishkeeping experience, making it ideal for children or busy professionals who don’t have hours to spend cleaning an aquarium. The unique filtration system that is used in all our aquariums collects dirt and waste in the patented filtration cartridge, making cleaning the Baby biOrb no hassle.

 

Your fishkeeping experience starts here

You’ll be amazed at how simple and quick the Baby biOrb is to setup. The Baby biOrb comes with everything you need to start keeping a variety of small fish, just add water and fish. Nothing is more frustrating than getting home to find you need something else, which is why we include everything you need in the box, even the fish food! The Baby biOrb is ideal for children who want to keep their first pet, and unlike many aquariums the baby biOrb uses low voltage lights and pumps ensuring complete safety at all times. Even the aquarium itself is constructed using super strong acrylic which won’t shatter like glass.

The Baby biOrb might be on the petite size at just 13 inches tall but it still houses the biggest biological filtration system compared to any similar sized aquarium (in fact many aquariums twice its size have less biological filtration). Also the biological filtration in the Baby biOrb remains in the aquarium at all times, ensuring that filtration is not disturbed when maintenance is carried out. The Baby biOrb also features the same multi-stage filtration as all our aquariums. Every cartridge contains mechanical filtration, chemical filtration and water optimizers to give your fish the ideal water conditions and keep maintenance lower for you.

Baby biOrb Style

The Baby biOrb distills the essence of its big biOrb brothers into a compact aquarium that expresses style and elegance. Enjoy the quality of an intelligently designed aquarium that offers built-in features that are not found elsewhere in its class, and an aquarium that looks great anywhere in the house.

USER REVIEWS OF THE BABY BIORB AQUARIUM KIT

GOOD

 

  1. The baby biorb looks great, almost everyone loves its stylish design
  2. It comes with everything you need to start your aquarium except for decorations and fish
  3. The baby biorb is small so fits on most any desktop or table
  4. The baby biorb is easy to customize with a swap top, or decorations. (5 different colored swap tops for the baby biorb)
  5. The Baby Biorb fish tank runs quietly
  6. The service kit filter system is easy to change and clean
  7. The baby biorb aquarium is small and doesn’t take long to clean or maintain
  8. The baby biorb instruction manual includes a detailed how to and FAQ, as well as recommended fish for the fish tank
  9. It is much nicer than regular fish bowls, and has much better aeration and filtration than a regular fish bowl

BAD

 

  1. Due to the curved shape of the baby biorb, it is sometimes hard to see the fish, or the fish get distorted from the curve of the aquarium.
  2. Since the Baby Biorb is only 4 gallons, and it is curved, it doesn’t allow for as much surface area as a square fish tank, which means you can’t put very many fish in it.
  3. Choice of compatible fish with the baby biorb is limited due to its size and structure
  4. Sometimes the baby biorb light bulbs don’t last long
  5. More expensive than regular fish tanks
  6. The Baby Biorb has a small opening at the top so it can be difficult to get your hand inside to clean the aquarium
  7. Water sometimes splashes out of the feeding whole at the top and gets water on your table or desk
  8. The air pump is guaranteed for 6 months, but sometimes don’t last a lot longer than that

GOOD CUSTOMER REVIEWS OF THE BABY BIORB AQUARIUM- DIRECT QUOTES

You get what you buy, in this case, its worth it! Date: March 17, 2007
“I bought this to brighten up my work surroundings about 3 months ago and it’s been serving its purpose ever since. If you are interested in just putting a couple of fish in there plus some gravel and realistic plants, it’s perfect. But if you’re more towards exotic aquariums with bountiful fish variety and real coral, this is not for you. So to wrap it all up, great product, gets a good review from me (which is not easy, I assure you), and that’s about it.”
 

sweet tank!!! Date: December 17, 2006
“I love it, im not going to get all technical its not like im trying to put oscars in the thing just a betta & some shrimp with plants. Looks great, all aspects are integrated (air stone, chemical/mechanical/biological filtration, light) get compliments on it daily!”
November 26, 2008
“I would recomend this tank! It was definitely more than worth the price…and my fish loves it!!!!!!”
Pros: beautiful, easy to care for, easy to get started, many accessories
“The Biorb is by far the greatest fish tank I have ever owned. I received mine from a friend who had owned it ever since the Biorb was released in America.
The greatest thing about the tank is the effective filtration. I will be buying another one so that I can have a saltwater tank as well.”
July 21, 2008
“I bought the Baby BiOrb about a month ago and I absolutely love it! I have a betta that loves making laps around it! Not only do I love the aquarium, but I love the accessories that come with it (especially the weighted plants). The upkeep is very easy. I would definately recommend this product!”
January 21, 2008
“I bought my Baby BiOrb over a year ago after I won a goldfish at the fair. The tank has been awesome. I’ve never had a problem with leaks, the acrylic has not a scratch on it, the filter service kits are easy to use and find, and the weighted plants have been really nice. The goldfish has long since outgrown this little tank, but I currently have 3 Starfire Red GloFish and a mystery snail in it, and they’ve been doing well for about 7 months now. If I had one complaint, it’s that there is not a lot of real estate. It’s kind of hard to place/arrange plants and rockwork just because there is so little space at the bottom around the filter, and I don’t stack anything on top of the filter because it makes the filter changes easier. The lights burn out too frequently for my taste (see the review I wrote on those for more detail), but overall, this is a wonderful tank, especially for beginners who are looking for low maintenance and beauty all in one package.”

 

OKAY CUSTOMER REVIEWS OF THE BABY BIORB FISH TANK – DIRECT QUOTES

  Date: January 27, 2007
“I bought one of these for my wife for Christmas. It is a very nice startup kit with everything you need. It is a good size and looks quite nice.
The air pump is too powerful for the tank (or maybe we have a bad plastic airstone?) and we had to restrict the tube from the pump otherwise far too much air would flow out of the central column. We also unfortunately seem to have received two bad halogen bulbs: one blew immediately and the other after about 2 weeks. Hopefully we were just unlucky and they aren’t all like that.”
November 29, 2007
“I bought the 16 gallon Mega BiOrb and I absolutely love it. It was easy to set up, cycled quickly and is the most beautiful, larger sized aquarium available. The filter works great and I heard some complaints over the price of the filters but less than $10 every few months doesn’t seem like a lot. There are only a few drawbacks. One, it’s heavy, over 130 pounds full, so keep this in mind when trying to figure out where you’re going to sit it at (the stand is not efficient for this size because of the top-heavyness). It scratches extremely easily. You can’t see the marks unless you really look closely but just by filling and wiping it off carefully we had a few scratches externally. And the capacity. The instructions say you can add up to 6 fantails. I have one small black moor and two small calico orandas and that’s pushing it. But those small setbacks aside it’s absolutely gorgeous, contemporary, noiseless and the fish seem happy.”

BAD CUSTOMER REVIEWS OF THE BABY BIORB AQUARIUM – DIRECT QUOTES


 Date: July 15, 2006
“This aquarium looks very cool. It has a four gallon capacity, and therefore, by the standard “one gallon of water per inch of fish” you could have four inches of fish in it. This is not correct. Fish capacity is more acuratly determined by the amount of “surface area” (the amount of water that comes in contact with air) a tank has. A larger surface area allows for greater gas exchange, meaning less carbon dioxide, ammonia, and nitrite, and more oxygen in the water. Surface area is determined by multiplying a tank’s width by its depth. You can safely put one inch of fish per 10 sqaure inches of surface area. Because this is a bowl, there is very very little surface area, so even though it has four gallons, I would only put one or two very small fish in it. Aeration and filtration also play a role in the amount of fish kept, but since this has a combined aeration and filtration that is only undergravel, it does not increase the amount of fish you can have.”
“Drawbacks: small opening at the top makes it awkward to set-up and make water changes; acrylic scratches very easily. Other than these two problems, I have found this to be a quality product and have had no other problems thus far.”

  1. LaVonne
    December 2nd, 2009 at 15:28 | #1
    Reply | Quote

    I bought one for each of my children for their rooms. I find the small opening more safe. I do wish we could have more fish but I do love the idea of a beta in one instead of those terrible little cups pet stores keep them in. The water changes are hard because the tank is heavy. Overall I do love the look and the complete package. The options and the weighted plants are so great. I would recommend this to anyone wanting one or two small fish.

  2. Barrett
    December 16th, 2009 at 14:06 | #2
    Reply | Quote

    When you do water changes the easiest way is to use the biorb siphon hose and cleaning pump and change about 20% of the water at a time, you shouldn’t ever need to dump out all the water in the tank at once.

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