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Aqua Oak tank purchase - any good?

Mil

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5 Year Member
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24
Location
London
Hi everyone. I am looking at upgrading my Fluval Roma 125 to an Aqua Oak solid oak 200l tank.

Just wanted to know if anyone has one of these, and if they are worth the money etc?

thanks in advance
 

Mil

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
24
Location
London
If you like the furniture surround the glass, then it's worth it.;)
its more that I'm looking for something which is solid and stable, just in case the kids who run around accidentally bump into it. the tank is in the hallway in the space under the stairs so gets a lot of foot traffic.

open to any other suggests if you know of any better brands?
 

ApistoBubs

New Member
Messages
8
Hello,

i have a 200L aqua oak and love it. I already had an aqua oak base that i wanted to reuse so i bought the tank and hood. Absolutely love it. I particularly like the hood as it opens fully, so you lift up the lid and lie it back on itself unlike say the seabray elite where the hood lid lifts to only 90 degrees and has to remain sitting on its side. What i dont like and this is the only negative for me about the tank, is that you have a glass piece at each end with a cut corner to allow your external filter pipes and any wires to go through. On one side, it is actually glued in place which is a bit of an annoyance. And the other thing is that the cut corner, in my opinion is not quite big enough. I have a fluval 307 with spray bar and a fluval 207 (as resiliency) which provides a nice flow without being too heavy. You can only just get one 307 tube and one 207 tube together in one side. For those that want to have the inlet and outlet on same side, you will need to cut the glass more on the side that is not glued in. I hope that helps. If you need any more info, just shout.
 
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Mil

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
24
Location
London
Hello,

i have a 200L aqua oak and love it. I already had an aqua oak base that i wanted to reuse so i bought the tank and hood. Absolutely love it. I particularly like the hood as it opens fully, so you lift up the lid and lie it back on itself unlike say the seabray elite where the hood lid lifts to only 90 degrees and has to remain sitting on its side. What i dont like and this is the only negative for me about the tank, is that you have a glass piece at each end with a cut corner to allow your external filter pipes and any wires to go through. On one side, it is actually glued in place which is a bit of an annoyance. And the other thing is that the cut corner, in my opinion is not quite big enough. I have a fluval 307 with spray bar and a fluval 207 (as resiliency) which provides a nice flow without being too heavy. You can only just get one 307 tube and one 207 tube together in one side. For those that want to have the inlet and outlet on same side, you will need to cut the glass more on the side that is not glued in. I hope that helps. If you need any more info, just shout.
Thanks for the input. You don’t have any photos of it to show what you mean do you?
I have a Fluval 306, and currently have the inlet and outlet at opposite corners, so assuming that should be fine and fit? Website doesn’t really show a lot of photos and didn’t pay much attention to this bit when I looked in store.
 

ApistoBubs

New Member
Messages
8
Yep inlet and outlet at either end is good, no problem. I just had a 207 as well as so really had to squeeze it in. Some peeps like to have them same side but two 307 tubes same side will never fit

the first picture is the aqua oak tank looking at it face on. So, the left hand side. This glass panel at the top is siliconed in. As you can see, my fluval 307 tube output is in with just enough space to get my 207 inlet tube next to it. And it is a very tight squeeze.
The next picture is same top left pane of glass but showing the front most edge, you might be able to see the silicon .
the third picture is the right hand side with the 307 intake pipe and 207 output. This pane of glass you can lift out and, if need be get a glass cutter to lop off more of the corner if you needed to as again, a real squeeze to get those tubes in.
this is only an issue if you going with two filters though (Or having in and out the same side).

i also attached a pictured of the hinged hood in open state. I really like that as there is no risk of lid slamming shut for example. The space between the hood and the glass is ample for lights (i am using fluval aqua sky 2.0).

just another point in case you needed to know, glass is 6mm.
 

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ApistoBubs

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Oh and a nosy a. Cacatoides double red marking his seal of approval for the tank too. He is actually a camera hog.
 

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Mil

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
24
Location
London
Yep inlet and outlet at either end is good, no problem. I just had a 207 as well as so really had to squeeze it in. Some peeps like to have them same side but two 307 tubes same side will never fit

the first picture is the aqua oak tank looking at it face on. So, the left hand side. This glass panel at the top is siliconed in. As you can see, my fluval 307 tube output is in with just enough space to get my 207 inlet tube next to it. And it is a very tight squeeze.
The next picture is same top left pane of glass but showing the front most edge, you might be able to see the silicon .
the third picture is the right hand side with the 307 intake pipe and 207 output. This pane of glass you can lift out and, if need be get a glass cutter to lop off more of the corner if you needed to as again, a real squeeze to get those tubes in.
this is only an issue if you going with two filters though (Or having in and out the same side).

i also attached a pictured of the hinged hood in open state. I really like that as there is no risk of lid slamming shut for example. The space between the hood and the glass is ample for lights (i am using fluval aqua sky 2.0).

just another point in case you needed to know, glass is 6mm.
Great thanks for the pics. Hoping it should be fine as I’m only using the one filter. Might upgrade to a 407 filter in the future but will only ever run one at a time anyway.

Your tank looks great, exactly the sort of look I’m going for. I have about 4/5 different tetra varieties in my current one. Might get back into apistos but probably keep it to just the one this time, had too many issues every time I’ve had pairs!

Do you mind letting me know what sand you’re using, and if you know of the plants you’ve got? I’m going for a ‘semi-biotope’ look, with sand and leaf litter and slightly blackwater but still want to put plants in that will be easy to look after and realise things like Java fern althrough not species specific are a lot hardier (and easier to get). Thanks
 

ApistoBubs

New Member
Messages
8
Hi Mil,

thank you. 407 should be fine yo as i believe its the same size tubing as the 307.

the sand i am using is speckled sand from maidenhead aquatics. Its a really fine soft sand that both the apistos and corydoras love to sift through and dig deep into.

one apisto is good. I got two simply because 1) i believed i had the space and 2) when i picked the one i wanted, the net was placed randomly in the tank at the fish store whilst the first was being bagged up. Now i was only going to go for one however, a second one was lingering around the net and then just swam right on in an didnt appear to want to swim back out. I took it a sign it wanted home with me it doesnt take much to convince me really.

as for plants, i have a variety of different anubias, java ferns and microsorum pteropus narrow leaf java fern (tropica) , buccephalandra, i did have an echinodorus but i moved it to another tank, i have also recently just planted in hygrophilia, limnophila heterophylla, hydrocotyle and also trying a lotus leaf. Now i do not use any fetilisers nor co2 and my substrate is just speckled sand. No additives. If the plants cant thrive on nitrates and light then they dont go in . I hope this helps. Wood is a mixture of gnarly wood (what you see in middle and right) and talawa wood for the roots effect on the left. My L129 columbian zebra plecos love that.
 
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