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
heating prob
- newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 394
- Thank you received: 59
I have a 90/100 ltr tank and a fluval E 100w heater and i'm having problems keeping the temp at 25 degrees since the weather has got a bit cooler, when i set the temp at 25 degrees it hovers around at 23.5. i have another heater same model in another tank so swapped them around to see if one heater was faulty but same with both. any suggestions? its a shallow enough tank so i cant get a higher wattage heater as it wont fit vertically in the tank.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
-
- Offline
- Platinum Member
-
- Posts: 1926
- Thank you received: 233
Is the tank an open top or beside a window or anything ?
Try put it up a degree or 2 and keep an eye on it till you fine tune it to get the temp you need
Sean
Sean Crowe
ITFS Member
Location: Navan
Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 394
- Thank you received: 59
cheers
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
-
- Offline
- Platinum Member
-
- Posts: 1926
- Thank you received: 233
Hi blue ram yeah it is a draughty spot alright i was thinking about upping the temp alright the only prob is if the weather improves i was thinking the temp will shoot up i suppose a couple of degrees wont matter too much
cheers
No wont matter to much if it is upped my a small bit as most if not all tanks will be up and down through out the day and night anyway
If the wather gets better and you see it is stable at a higher level put it down a bit till you get it stable for the level you want it
Sean
Sean Crowe
ITFS Member
Location: Navan
Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- JohnH (John)
-
- Offline
- Administrator
-
- Posts: 6067
- Thank you received: 857
Hi blue ram yeah it is a draughty spot alright i was thinking about upping the temp alright the only prob is if the weather improves i was thinking the temp will shoot up i suppose a couple of degrees wont matter too much
cheers
Your heater is (in theory, at least) thermostatically controlled so should not go above the temperature you set it at.
However, for a draught spot (as you say) I think you are just a little under what you should have for a hundred-litre tank now the weather is beginning to turn.
As Sean suggests, turn up the heater a few degrees but keep a watchful eye on it for a while.
It should reach a temperature (if it can manage to) then stabilise around that - if it doesn't you will either need to replace it with a higher wattage heater or, better still, put in a second heater, set at a slightly lower temperature to help your first heater in its work.
John
Edit: Of course, your thermometer might be showing a little under what it should be - this often happens - especially with those stick-on digital ones (not much cop, in my opinion).
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 394
- Thank you received: 59
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- JohnH (John)
-
- Offline
- Administrator
-
- Posts: 6067
- Thank you received: 857
All the heaters I have seen have a temperature guide on the heater - but that is only for setting it at, your real guide should be a thermometer.
You might, of course, have a heater I have not seen, perhaps you can tell the Forum what make and model it is, maybe someone will be familiar with this one?
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
-
- Offline
- Platinum Member
-
- Posts: 1926
- Thank you received: 233
also has a built in thermometer will flash green with the temp if it is right and blue if it is below and red if above so if its green then it is working right and is at the temp you set it for
As i and John said put it up a bit and that will help you getting the higher temp you want
I had mind set at 32 to get a temp of 30 in my old discus tank but didnt take long to get to 32 when i set it for 32 will stay on till it gets to the right them
If you ask me one off the best heaters around
Sean
Sean Crowe
ITFS Member
Location: Navan
Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
-
- Offline
- Platinum Member
-
- Posts: 1926
- Thank you received: 233
Sean
Sean Crowe
ITFS Member
Location: Navan
Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- SpiderMonkey (Mark O'Neill)
-
- Offline
- Elite Member
-
- Posts: 947
- Thank you received: 109
The 200W model couldn't keep the temperature in a 135 liter tank and the temperature they were telling me wasn't right going by my external filter and the regular thermometer?
Nice little light feature on it but it was always in the blue "Too Cold" so they had to go.
I might of got a bad batch

Mark
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- Blue Land (Brian McGeever)
-
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 45
- Thank you received: 11
Reverted to basic heaters with 2 in each tank. This is always a good idea as it provides for redundancy in case of failure. In your case it would provide a bit of additional wattage in the event that your tank is in a position where there may be draughts.
I think most heaters in the market now are thermostatically controlled which ought to mean that if you set a temp the tank water should not exceed that temp. What I would recommend also is a thermometer as a check on the temp set by you on the heaters.
Best of luck
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
- Offline
- Platinum Member
-
- Posts: 1026
- Thank you received: 156
I'm very new to this but u have read a few sites that suggest the temp setting on heaters should be thought of as a guide. All seem to say roughly the same, if water too cold increase setting slowly until heater turns on and if it gets too hot adjust back down slowly until heater switches off. May take a few iterations but worked for me.
The 2 heater appeals to me also as a nerd I like redundancy

Regards
Dec
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 394
- Thank you received: 59
Just to up date. I jacked up the temp a few degrees and no change so put in another 100w heater set at 24degrees one below my other heater, within an hour the temp was perfect. I suppose this is the solution for now i'm not totally happy as i wanted less hardware in the tank not more. I reckon the reason for my trouble is that i have a hang on the back filter and as it takes the water out of the tank and into the cool air i reckon it acts as a cooling system therefore the one 100w heater will not cut it for the winter months.
thanks guys for all your help

Please Log in to join the conversation.