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- HELP!! TetraTec HT 300 failed.
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
HELP!! TetraTec HT 300 failed.
- BenEadir (John Murray)
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I've a 450 litre tank with 35 cichlids. Did a 40% water change today, filled up with mains water (+ stress coat) as I usually do and made a note to check that the Temperature had returned to the normal 26.5C before going to bed but much to my surprise the tank is sitting at 20C and the TetraTec HT 300 which would normally have an orange glow to indicate it is working hard looks dead. I've unplugged and plugged everything back in again but can't get it to fire.
Will the fish survive at 20C until tomorrow when I can get a replacement heater? Is there anything I can do in the meantime?
Please revert to me ASAP. 9:45pm Sunday the 19th.
Regards,
John
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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Better get another one to have on standby, just in case!!
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- KenS (Ken Simpson)
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Regards,
Ken.
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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It's not a bad idea to have second heater in place set 1-2c lower to act as a backup heater in case the main heater fails.
Jager by Eheim is a good heater.
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- john kelly (John Kelly)
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- Acara (Dave Walters)
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Dave
always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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Is a Jager by Eheim the way to go and if so how do you choose the right model? Their largest seems to be a 250W and given I am already using a 300W TetraTec I guess thats the right one?
Are they easily sourced here or should I just order one from one of the online UK stores such as www.aquatics-direct.eu?
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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Check the size of the heaters on the site firstly though as the heater I got was considerably larger than my previous one,but is far better with temp control.
Excellent delivery times and very good price also.
Gavin
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- 2poc (2poc)
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Similarly two filters better than one.
Should you be in a position where it happens & you're stuck though wrapping the tank in a duvet will slow down the rate that it loses heat.
Have't seen you posting in a while, I remember when your tank was first set up.
You must give us some recent pics, you probably even have 2nd generation fry at this stage?
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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Yes, have a couple of second generation fish by now. Haven't intervened in any way, just let nature take it's course.
The tank is generally doing great and all the fish seem lively and more or less happy depending on whether or not they are getting too much attention from a few of the alpha fish in the tank.
Was just thinking I should post some new pics and will do, might even try videoing them for a few mins and posting that. I know that has to be done by first posting the pic/video to a photo sharing site. Is photo bucket still the preferred option?
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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Looking forward to seeing your tank soon.
You can use photobucket or any image hosting site ... you just have to link your post to it

If you need any more info, don't hesitate to give me a shout.
Valerie
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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I'll keep an eye on the 'worm' problem and get some better pics if it still seems to be a problem tomorrow.
Have a good weekend.
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- tm2204 (Thomas Maguire)
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Fish look really nice too.

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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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Yes I am a complete novice but always wanted a fish tank so when I was renovating my house last year (complete internal gut and rebuild) I decided I wanted a fish tank to semi divide the family room into into an area for adults to sit and chat/watch tv and on the other side for kids to play/do homework etc. The tank was cstome built for me by Damien O'Kelly and he was fantastic do deal with, a real professional who takes pride in what he does. Would highly recommend him.
The tank has worked out a treat and the whole family love it. I was worried we'd be chucking it out after the initial 3-4 month 'honeymoon' period but it's a keeper.
Regards,
Ben
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- serratus (Drew Latimer)
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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The temperature of my tank has crept up to 28c/82f recently but I don't recall tweaking the settings on the heaters. I guess I could have done accidentally whilst doing a water change.
Regardless, what is the optimum temperature for a 450L Malawi tank with +/- 36 fish mpst of whom are about a year old? I've researched online and find all kinds of recomendations ranging from 22c to 30c!!
I know I'll get real advice here.
Regards,
Ben
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- gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
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Once again stunning tank
GB
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- Ian (Anthony Ramirez)
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Fishkeeping CV: Co-founded, 1st President of the only surviving Fishkeeping Club (Accredited by Dept. of Fisheries) in the Philippines (mypalhs.com). I have mostly reared tropicals - Arowanas and monster fishes. My oldest arowana is 13years old (died in a tropical storm). Ive since reared a Black,...
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- Trimax (Trimax)
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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Kudos to Damien O'Kelly of Aqua Clear Aquariums who listened to what I wanted, designed it from scratch, installed it and helped me get up and running. He's a quality guy with high standards of workmanship.
So, 26c is the right temperature? I'll make the adjustment tonight.
Regards,
Ben
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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The temperature in my tank has crept up to 28.5C. Is that too high? What's the optimum temperature to keep 25 Cichlids at?
Ben
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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- gardoyle27 (Gareth Doyle)
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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Oh and stay away from Elite heaters,they are the pits.
Gavin
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- BenEadir (John Murray)
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Ben
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- scubadim (scubadim)
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First time i see this thread,your tank looks really good!impressive!
never used heo heaters and wouldn't know if it could over heat the tank up to extreme temp.
All i know is that the quantity of dissolved oxygen in the water is in relation with its temperature.the higher the temp the less dissolved oxygen in the water.
So it is important to not over heat,especially for african cichlids who need a lot of oxygen.I'd keep these at the lower range of tropical temp:24c-26c.
once again well done,your tank looks great.
Dimitri.
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- HELP!! TetraTec HT 300 failed.