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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

My attempt at a native tank

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25 Aug 2013 16:22 #31 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
Yellowish colour my be due to traces of iodine in the water, common occurrence at this time of year,
A little carbon will sort that out. When the tank settles, pop some Purigen, and some Phosguard. That will keep things tip top.
Soon be time to go collecting little fishies. Was out today and loads of good stuff turning up

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25 Aug 2013 17:26 #32 by Joukeder (Jouke)
Water is from a bored well after iron and manganese filter.
Was thinking of adding carbon to one filter compartment temporarily.

Can't wait for the first fishies to go in. Might try to get some cleaners in there. We are all booked for the fishing expedition in September.

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25 Aug 2013 18:05 #33 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
I use natural seawater, make life so easy.
Yes September will be fun

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25 Aug 2013 18:05 #34 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
have to say, this is the only way I would ever go marine. for some reason tropical marines do nothing for me, but a native marine would be something i'd consider

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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25 Aug 2013 19:08 #35 by Melander (Andreas Melander)
Very interesting thread, looking forward to seeing some fishies in there.

Melander

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25 Aug 2013 19:09 #36 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
It's great fun, collecting, catching your own livestock, not the same as dropping into your LFS.
For me it's the ultimate fish keeping experience... Well almost...

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25 Aug 2013 19:25 - 25 Aug 2013 19:30 #37 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
[attachment=10102]image_2013-08-25.
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Last edit: 25 Aug 2013 19:30 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph). Reason: Add file

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25 Aug 2013 19:34 - 25 Aug 2013 19:36 #38 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
Attachments:
Last edit: 25 Aug 2013 19:36 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph). Reason: Add File

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25 Aug 2013 19:56 #39 by Melander (Andreas Melander)
Those looks great!

It's strange, it always comes as a chock to me how "extotic" and vibrant our native fauna looks.

Andreas

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25 Aug 2013 20:09 #40 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)

I use natural seawater, make life so easy.
Yes September will be fun


if you were using just bottling up seawater for a native aquarium, would water changes be as simple as for a freshwater tank?

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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25 Aug 2013 20:31 #41 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
Depends on the source of the water. But an un polluted lake/river should be good.
Phosphates would be one to look out for.
I use a 12 volt bilge pump on a long lead to pump water to my water drums. Makes life much easier.

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25 Aug 2013 20:34 #42 by Joukeder (Jouke)
How much do you transport in one go?

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25 Aug 2013 20:37 #43 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
Normally 150 litres, 6 x 25 litre drums, but sometimes 200 litres

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08 Sep 2013 15:36 #44 by Joukeder (Jouke)
Some news. Ammonia peaked and then Nitrite peaked. Nitrite below acceptable levels now. So yesterday we put some life into the tank. Four fish, ten shrimp, five snails. Two Red anemones and one long finger one. Have not identified the species. I suspect one of the fish is some kind of wrasse. Another a kind of goby. Anyway, enough life for the filter to grow. We fed them today with some water flees etc from our pond.
Any advice on feeding them with what and how is welcome.
Note that on of the small fishes looks rather worn at its fins. This was not the case when it went in yesterday. Any idea's whats causing this?

Ordered the controller in the UK. hopefully will arrive this week. Our builder is slow with the canopy. So we have temporary light with the arcadia unit.

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08 Sep 2013 16:27 #45 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
Its a Corkwing Wrasse, Symphodus melops

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08 Sep 2013 20:39 #46 by Rolly (Ruaidri Hegarty)
Loving this thread guys, doing a fantastic job Joukeder! And thanks for all the extra info Crusty..

Rolly

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10 Sep 2013 07:35 #47 by Joukeder (Jouke)
Two days after the first fish in the tank we couldn't resist and my wife and son went out to get some more species. They lifted some moorings in our small harbour here and came back with all sorts of wild life. A pipe fish, miniature Squat lobster (7 mm), Some mussels with plants and anemones growing on them, miniature Euroean crabs (5 mm), and flatworms who were promptly eaten by the scrimps.

The greenery brings some welcome colour variety to the tank.

/Volumes/media/Pictures/To E-Mail/IMG_3284.jpg

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10 Sep 2013 11:19 #48 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
once the bug sets in, you will be down at every low tide ......
leave some space so you can bring back some fish and inverts from Connamara......

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10 Sep 2013 22:42 - 10 Sep 2013 22:43 #49 by Joukeder (Jouke)
Last edit: 10 Sep 2013 22:43 by Joukeder (Jouke).

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10 Sep 2013 22:45 - 10 Sep 2013 22:46 #50 by Joukeder (Jouke)
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Last edit: 10 Sep 2013 22:46 by Joukeder (Jouke).

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10 Sep 2013 22:51 #51 by Joukeder (Jouke)
Indeed, Lya was out today again and came back with some new additions. There is now a full stop on new additions until September 22.

Can you comment on the pros and cons of plants and mussels in the tank? I know both are dangerous, but we find nice see weed attached to mussels and we think it is easier then putting see weed in the substrate as it is only 'sand'.

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10 Sep 2013 23:27 #52 by carlowchris (chris)
jesus looks absolutely fantastic

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11 Sep 2013 06:02 #53 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
The sea lettuce is ok and should grow well,
The kelp too, but keep an eye on it, if it goes transparent or white on
the edges, replace it.
The green string algae will slowly die off, it needs less salinity than the others,
It's usually found where a river or stream meets the sea.
Mussels are fine.
See you soon Jouke

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11 Sep 2013 09:07 #54 by Joukeder (Jouke)
Whats this species?

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11 Sep 2013 10:26 #55 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
Two-spotted goby (Gobiusculus flavescens)

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11 Sep 2013 12:42 - 11 Sep 2013 12:42 #56 by Joukeder (Jouke)
For all native species lovers, there is this great site about UK coastal life. Beautifull pictures!!

www.ukcoastalwildlife.co.uk
Last edit: 11 Sep 2013 12:42 by Joukeder (Jouke).

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11 Sep 2013 12:46 #57 by Joukeder (Jouke)

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11 Sep 2013 20:05 #58 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
Coming along very nice fair keep up the good work I'm thinking very strongly about one of these

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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12 Sep 2013 08:53 #59 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
great to see the local ocean indoors :) looks great :)

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15 Sep 2013 14:51 #60 by wylam (Stuart Sexton)
Looks fantastic well done.

Stuart.

Multi tasking: Screwing up more than one thing at a time.

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