Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
which filter would you buy???
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I am not very much devoted to any brands, but if I were to decide which one, I would:1) check the engine (I wouldn't relay on sellers oppinion "Yes, it's quite." - if you have any friends using these brands just ask them and listen yourself to the engines in working conditions.)
2) check the availability and cost of spare parts on the market
3) the same refers to filter media
4) try to get info which one is easier to maintain
I have 2 external filters: one is Chinese and another one is TetraTec 1200. Both of them have advantages and disadvantages eg Chinese was cheaper and has a built in UV lamp (big advantage in my opinion) but I have to buy all spare parts and some media on the net... TetraTec is good, not so loud, generally easier in use but I found it a little bit difficult to clean the plastic parts which hang on the tank glass (connection between in/out-take and the hose). It's in a square-like shape - difficult to clean even with a flexible brush (on the other hand, I don't clean it every week). Moreover, I didn't find a pet-shop in Wexford offering spare-parts and media to TetraTec...
I know I didn't help you much...
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Actually, when you think of how simply an Aquarium could explode by contact with the most innocuous of things, It only needs something hard to destroy a Tank, like a Kid throwing a Marble, a Fire Poker would only need to tip a Glass pane to smash it. I can't imagine how the big guys here on the Forum with 40+ Tanks manage without having serious accidents.
Kev.
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Uber-expensive equipment that you can get is maybe a bit of an overkill.....and some of that stuff is more like Bang and Olefson HiFi (more of a status than anything else).
It would be better to buy 2 Eheims than 1 supposed Bang and Olefson of the fish world.
But I have a mixed bag of filters, and in tanks where filtration is absolutely key, I always use multiple filters.
My old trusty Hagen Powerheads from years ago still keep pumping away. The newer ones seem a bit frail in comparison.
Fluval? I have a few Fluvals in operation....but all are backed-up with powerheads.
I bought the 305 or 405 (I'm lost as Peugeot also seem to make them as well
).....it was for nothing euro from MaxiZoo, and at that price is a snip (but not if you're paying the usual 200 euro price in other places). No real problems with it. The primer is a bit duff I must admit.I had a few NAD powerhead type filters......super powerful at give away prices. But parts are not easy to come by. The powerheads look like the old hagen powerhead design (which were great workhorses).
Back in the days, I would always have a Vortex diatom filter going on a timed system. Brilliant and very reliable, but unless you add a second filtration stage they are not the normal run-of-the-mill biological filters.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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