Aqua One Oakstyle 230 Slate Grey Aquarium and Cabinet Set

Aqua One Oakstyle Slate Grey 230 oak aquarium and cabinet set. My personal favourite colour from Aqua Ones hugely successful aqua oak range of aquarium furniture sets. When you see the Aqua One Oakstyle Slate Grey 230 in the flesh it looks quite impressive. It certainly does not reflect the cheap price you pay for it visually. It looks well-made and the choice of panel with some texture gives it a quality feel too. The 230 in the name refers to the tanks volume in this case 230 litres usable volume. Some sites will quote the volume as 245 litres but this is total volume calculated with the tank filled to the top. The tank measures 123cm long, 78cm high and 48cm front to back. It has all glass lids, and the centre piece of glass lifts out for maintenance and to allow the input of rocks, roots, and other décor. Please note that the opening does sometime prevent the placement of large piece of decoration or ornaments. The way that the glass covers fit reduces aquarium access to 98cm x 20cm approx. So, plan ahead if you have your eye on a large piece of wood. You now have the measurements so you can check, or you can always get the saw out. The Aqua One Oakstyle Slate Grey 230 cabinet. The cabinet comes flat packed but, is an easy build with good instructions. As you can see from the image the cabinet features 3 working drawers. Which sets it apart from most other fish tank cabinets and we think it looks great. The handles feature a modern design, but the doors and drawers could easily be fitted with traditional handles if you wished. Top Tip when building the cabinet Just watch that you put the bottom rail the correct way around. You will kick yourself when it’s all done, and you stand back to admire your work and spot your mistake. Also, when fitting the top trim fit the front first, use the sides to centre but, stick them on last. If the sides are slightly proud the long front piece will stick on but may not stay on as at the ends it cannot stick. Aqua One Oakstyle Slate Grey 230 Equipment The Aqua One Oakstyle Slate Grey 230 grey oak aquarium and cabinet set is supplied with lights, heater and filter. The filter supplied is the Ocellaris 850 external filter a good choice and not a bad filter. With a flow rate of 850 litres per hour and a low power consumption of only 10 watts it’s got power for low cost.  It also comes with all the media, hoses and fittings supplied too. The heater, a standard glass 300 watt aqua one heater nothing special but, reliable. The lighting is LED now most websites will copy and paste Aqua Ones description which is “Powerful LED lighting, featuring white & RGB LEDs, with separate blue LED function” Which we agree with apart from the “powerful” bit. Sorry Aqua One. Remember we are a retail shop, and we interact with customers daily.  Instore the truth also goes a long way; people enjoy an informed none pushy choice. We have an opinion we know the product and we talk to owners of the Oakstyle Slate Grey 230 Grey oak Aquarium and cabinet. Online however, very different mostly and websites usually don’t know about the product they list. The light is ok for lighting up the tank an gives a nice colour, but high light dependant plant species will not fare well with this Low power LED light. Light Upgrade for the Oakstyle Slate Grey 230 oak. There are many lights to choose from and here we will only consider LED. Very popular and highly recommended Fluval Plant 3.0 59w Led which has all the bells and whistles full colour control of the six channels. It’s got a 24-hour timer with dawn, noon, dusk, and night. What’s more it can all be set up using the free easy to install and use app that you can get here  or here  can be used on any smart device. Choice number two would be the Ai’s freshwater Prime. The Prime 16HD Freshwater White. With a spread up to 24″ 60cm The Ai freshwater LED packs plenty of power for even the most demanding aquatic plants. Nice colour rendition too. The Ai Prime 16HD White has stylish looks. It is also available in black, so it will blend in nicely on most set ups. Or the Daddy of them all The Radion, Hands down the best there is now you might get very differing opinions on forums but remember we have used all these lights. People on forums will tell that the only Led Light they have ever owned of used is the best! Trust us they do not know. The Radion XR15 G5 Freshwater led is fully controllable and the colour choice and blending options set the standard. Having used these lights ourselves we can totally promise you the best possible results in plant growth and visual impact.   More from the Oakstyle range here Oakstyle 230 briefly. Overall dimensions: 121cm long 148cm high 40cm back to front The Aquarium: 116cm long 60cm high 38cm back to front. Cabinet: 123.5cm long  81cm high 41cm back to front. Tank Volume: 230 litres. Glass thickness: 8mm. Lighting power : 20w led featuring white & RGB LEDs or all blue selected via rocker switch on the unit. Filtration:  Ocellaris 850 external filter. Heater: Aqua One 300 Watt Heater thermostat The Oakstyle 230 can easily become a marine tank with a few modifications. If you would like any help with this please telephone 0161 476 4439.