Is this overkill ?

[flukes]

smart thinking 99

Just a idea i once saw on a mates tank. Before the U.V's add a T piece with a tap and the same after the UV's, the run a hose from each T piece.

This way for any reason you need too stop usage of the UV's you can just send the water around...

Although i cant see a problem with the water running through them when the light isnt on, it will come in handy if you ever need to do maintaince on the UV's...

He also did this on cannister filters aswell..

Just a thought...

[dreamer]

is there any reason why do you need 2 UVs?

[Dee]

Hi Flukes,

Thanks for the tip mate, I will consider that.

Hi Dreamer,

No real reason for the double Eheim and UV other than I will be running a heavy fish load in the 4x2x2. I just wanted a UV on each Eheim, seemed to make sense having all water that passed thru the filters be UV'd. Oh and the other reason which seems to be more valid is ........... I have more dollars than sense ! :P

Cheers,

Dee.

[Benno]

I would certainly love to be living in that tank. Benno

[jim]

2 x 400W Hydor THEO Heaters
...are you trying to cook your fish??

i think 2 x 250W is enough for 4 ft tank...

I only use 1 300w...which is ok to keep my water temp arond 29 C during winter

be aware that if you use high power heater...it will boil your water very quickly if it goes wrong

[Dee]

G'day Jim,

Yeah I'm going to run 2 x Hydor THEO 400w heaters. I currently have 3 x 200w Tronics going. I have a Hydor 200w heater that's now in my water storage tank that has been running for about 2 -3 years 24/7 with out a hitch, Hydor heaters are the best IMO. The tronics all way seem to be on in the colder months and when its really cold there seems to be a little temp fluctuations here and there. So with winter in Melbourne upon us, I thought I would upgrade my heating set up. I have 2 heaters as back up, one stops working the other kicks in. I have only ever had problems with heaters not working, never with them sticking on and as I said hydor's have never given me any problems. With Melbourne winters being what they are ... DAMN cold, I'm sure the Hydor's will handle it well and reliabley. Yeah it's true that 2 x 400w will cook the fish faster if they malfunction, but even 2 x 250w heaters would cook them pretty quick too. I mean once you get past 36-38 degrees the damage is done, I guess it comes down to luck if you catch it in time or not. IMO the less a heater has to work to keep the temp stable at 30c the less chance you have of it malfunctioning ... if that makes sense ?


Cheers,

Dee.

[jim]

Yeah,, you r rite...

it's just I have seen my friend's whole tank of fish got cooked.....TWICE...

Maybe it's because he use those cheap heaters...

[Dee]

Hi Jim,

Ouch that's gotta hurt, twice too ... that's real bad luck I'm a firm believer of "you get what you pay for". The Hydor 400w are $79 each, which I think is good value. Tronic 300w heaters go for around $75 and arn't as reliable as the Hydor's from my experience. The tronics temp setting knob just doesnt feel robust and feels like it could give out if you mess with it to much. Cheap heaters IMO are a big no no, I mean why risk a whole tank of expensive fish for a saving of $30 or so dollars ? I hope your friend has better luck in the future with his heaters

Cheers,

Dee

[Ben]

I agree with Dee!!! Why buy a heater that colud be risky in 6 months time!
I have good heaters in all my tanks except i have el cheapo heaters in my water aging barrels! If something gos wrong there i will either have cold water or 200 litres of water that i can poach eggs in!

One thing, those hydor external heaters are great!
Even and stable water temp and there is no heater visible within the tank.

Ben