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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

perspex for tank cover ?

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22 Sep 2014 20:05 #1 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
Hi guys
I was wondering if anyone used perspex as a tank cover instead of glass and if there are any drawbacks inusing it ?

Thanks
Anthony

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22 Sep 2014 20:12 - 22 Sep 2014 20:36 #2 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Yep - I find it has advantages over glass for cutting shapes to fit inlets etc so you can get tight fits, & its much cheaper & easier to cut it yourself (although it does melt into drill bits & jigsaw bits).

On the downside, I find if you're not using LEDs or simialr for lighting (i.e. if you're using tubes) the heat gradually deforms the perspex & it bends & doesn't fit so well anymore. Even really thick (10mm) perspex bends - so you need to keep the lights at a distance or ventilate/ cool really well.

The other things is the perspex gradually gets dull from cleaning & scratches much faster than glass.
Last edit: 22 Sep 2014 20:36 by Jim (Jim Lawlor).

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22 Sep 2014 20:33 #3 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
i was going to do this, but it would thow my lighing off - and i need that finely balanced.

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22 Sep 2014 20:42 #4 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
I've used it before and it's an okay temporary fix but, as has been said before, it dulls pretty easily and I found that once that happens algae seems to be able to get a good grip on it too.

"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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22 Sep 2014 20:47 #5 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
Thanks jim.
I will be using using leds so hoppefully it wont bend too much.
Glass is prohibitive especially if you ask a glazier to cut it to allow for cables etc.
What thickness would you recommend for tanks 2 ft long max ?

Anthony

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22 Sep 2014 20:52 #6 by Homer (Kevin)
Big sheet of 10mm here if you want it.

Kev.

The Glass is always greener on the other side.


It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!

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22 Sep 2014 21:39 #7 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
Thanks Kev but 10 mm is a bit too thick.

Anthony

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22 Sep 2014 22:16 #8 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
tbh - I'm using 12mm with two T5s 3 inches from the surface and it still bends.

As I'm not worried about growing any challenging plants, 12mm is OK and there's plenty of light penetrating.

I used 5mm on another tank, didn't find it any better/ different in terms of light but much worse in that it deforms just by looking at it. I'm actually going to replace it with non-tight fitting glass, and fill the gaps in the glass with plastic or polystyrene tile, just to keep down the evaporation.

i'd be inclined to give the 10mm a go!

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22 Sep 2014 23:49 #9 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
If its only for 2ft Tank i use glass tHe perspex can be hard to keep clean

Something fishie going on here

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23 Sep 2014 18:31 #10 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
I use perspex on all my tanks
The thin stuff from woodies,
Swear by it, I have light fitting s sitting on top with out any trouble,
And as far as keeping it clean,
Doesn't really pose any problems as I find looking through the glass in the front of the tank is better ;)

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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23 Sep 2014 18:43 #11 by Mr B (C B)
Replied by Mr B (C B) on topic perspex for tank cover ?
I checked perspex in Woodies and Homebase and you pay a fortune for it whereas if you can get to a builder providers such as Heiton Buckley you'll get a 6ft by 4ft sheet for about 60 quid which will do a lot of tanks, I think it was 6mm but I found that ample, you can even double up with that much perspex. Also there's different grades of perspex such as UV resistant which doesn't fade ! It's a bit more expensive but aren't all good things!

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23 Sep 2014 19:07 #12 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
Thanks for all the replies .
I will use glass for the fish tank in the kitchen (try to keep it nice for my wife).
The tanks in the shrimp rack will have plexiglass tops, i m the only one looking at them :( .

Anthony

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23 Sep 2014 20:18 #13 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)

The tanks in the shrimp rack will have plexiglass tops, i m the only one looking at them :( .

Anthony


Sounds like an invite to all call around for tea and shrimp tank appreciation ;)

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23 Sep 2014 20:40 #14 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
Your welcome to call down and have a cup of tea.
Hope you like the cork's flag colours because i only keep crs and prl :cool:

Anthony

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