I never unplug or switch off anything when I do water changes. Canister intakes are just below half way down the tanks so that I can do 50% changes. Internals are stuck to the glass and I just move them lower by sliding them. Believe it or not, HOB filters have never caught on in the UK. Thereās hardly a shop here that sells them, or an aquarist that uses them. I can literally count on one hand the number Iāve seen in 51 years of fishkeeping.
Heater/stats are almost horizontal, in the lower half, so they donāt need to be switched off. Iāll never have one vertical because then the heat goes straight to the stat, which switches them on and off more than is necessary, shortening the life of the stat (imo).
Cichlid is pronounced sick-lid.
Iāve heard them allā¦ Chick-lid, Chillid, Beta (a very common misspelling and mispronunciation), Chara-sin (itās Kara-sin), Gwar-mee, Plate-ee, Goop-ee, Bircher (Itās spelt Bicher, and itās pronounced Bish-er). And many others I canāt think of right nowā¦