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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

How to increase PH

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09 Nov 2011 19:31 #1 by lindseys06 (lindsey)
Hi everyone,

I'm having a problem with my PH it's very low around 6.4. I've tested it at this straight from the tap. I put in some baking soda until tomorrow when I get something better, any ideas on the best product.

My tank is set up 3months I have had some problems with cloudiness and sick fish, all seems ok at the moment.

Nitrate/nitrites are fine, ammonia is at 0.

PH,GH and KH are low but PH are extremely low, I've had some fish die this week.

I currently have 1 schubunkin small, 5 cloud minnows (those guys NEVER get sick really hardy for such a small fish)
My tank is 44litres,

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10 Nov 2011 10:00 #2 by christyg (Chris Geraghty)
With ph that low, it's going to be difficult to raise and maintain it (you could use limestone, coral sand etc) but it depends on how high you want to go. The fish you have are probably not suitable for ph that low. I would suggest you match fish to your water rather than trying to match the water to the fish :)

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10 Nov 2011 10:24 #3 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
theres lads i know that would kill for ph that low its mad seen someone tryin to get it up :L

as christyg said limestone and coral sand and see how u get on wat u planning to put into it ?

sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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10 Nov 2011 10:45 #4 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I'm curious as to why you feel the low pH is THE problem? Are the fish showing signs of acidosis?
Now, goldfish do prefer alkaline conditions, but a more important thing is the buffering the pH of the water.
If your hardness is low, as you say, then the chances are that that needs to be addressed as a priority.

Bicarb of soda may increase pH (the amount will depend on what exactly is causing the low pH in the first place).
Bicarb of soda will also increase alkalinity, and increase the KH reading (but will not actually increase the hardness of the water).
Bicarb of soda is good stuff, and not a bad option to use.

But when adding anything to adjust pH you have to very careful.

As the posters above said, a bit of coral gravel may help. That will help buffer the pH and increase hardness and conductivity (the latter being the more important thing with goldfish).

Epsom salts would also be a good additive as that will increase the hardness, TDS, and conductivity. But it won't really affect the pH (unless you add too much).

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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10 Nov 2011 17:25 #5 by lindseys06 (lindsey)
OK thanks for the info everyone. I got an API powder to raise the API to 7.0. Time will tell if that works.

Main reason I wanted to raise the PH is that I have a snail that was suffering from erosion.

Now a question on the snail. My snail regularly sleeps a day or two at a time so when I didn't see him around for the last few days I thought he was asleep. I got worried this morning day 3and not seeing him around and went through the tank looking. He was nowhere to be seen. I found the snail on the FLOOR behind the tank must of been there for two days, he's still alive miraculously. Didn't think he would try to leave, and certainly not through the gap that's there.

Will he survive long term?
Is it normal for snails to leave the water?

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