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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

Phosphate levels

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19 Oct 2016 20:26 #1 by robert (robert carter)
Hi , am having a bit of trouble with algae , green agae on plants and rocks in the tank , no green water or any algae onthe glass , just done a phosphate test and it instantly goes dark blue reading 10 . Whats happening that the reading is this high and is this the reason for the algae. Next question, how do i reduce the level to a normal level and finnally what is a normal level ? Thanks Robert

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19 Oct 2016 22:25 #2 by nomad (pat murphy)
Replied by nomad (pat murphy) on topic Phosphate levels
Hi Robert I have a problem only with green spot algae and was looking at this video from Seachem expert Daniel Griffin
where I think I recall said to get rid of it you had to have a 10 to 1 ratio phosphate to nitrate,maybe relevant to other algae I,m hot sure.

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20 Oct 2016 06:34 - 20 Oct 2016 06:34 #3 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
2 or below is whats aimed for with Phosphates...

If your tank is well stocked larger water changes will reduce Phosphates...
Gravel vaccing is important here too...

Dosing daily (in planted tanks only) with EasyLife EasyCarbo works well along with the above in combatting algae...

I would test NitrAtes as well...If they are above 20 you are just asking for trouble as regards algae...

Elevated Phosphates and NitrAtes are usually a result of overstocking, overfeeding and an insufficient water change regime (Skipping weekly water changes or not changing enough water will cause Phosphates and NitrAtes to rise quickly)

You can use an algae removing chemical but if you dont get to the heart of the problem its just gonna come back...
Last edit: 20 Oct 2016 06:34 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered).

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20 Oct 2016 06:41 #4 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Very interesting video Nomad...

Excellent info regarding the 10 to 1 ratio...

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20 Oct 2016 19:46 #5 by nomad (pat murphy)
Replied by nomad (pat murphy) on topic Phosphate levels
Yeah I thought it was very interesting when I heard him say dose phosphates, ive been told before on many occasions from others to dose phosphate remover in your aquarium to get rid of algae.
So its 1 phosphates - 10 nitrates would be an ideal balance I would understand then how you would have to dose phosphates especially when your growing fast growing stem plants that use up loads of nitrates.
Think I will give it a try,all I need now is phosphates and a phosphate test ......

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20 Oct 2016 19:57 #6 by robert (robert carter)
Gets a bit more complicated as one researches this

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