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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

filter cleaning

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13 Jul 2013 16:33 #1 by Shane (Shane Faulkner)
Hoe often should i clean my external filter at the min am doing it every week is this good or bad should i leave it longer

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13 Jul 2013 17:11 #2 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic filter cleaning
Shane,
The general advice (and I personally think it's pretty appropriate) is only to clean it when the outflow drops appreciably - say to around half what it was when fully clean.
I like this advice because no filter in any tank will be working the same, so to say 'one week', 'two weeks' etc doesn't take the variables into account, where the flow rate will be far more appropriate.

Any more suggestions for Shane?

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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13 Jul 2013 17:14 #3 by Homer (Kevin)
Replied by Homer (Kevin) on topic filter cleaning
You would have to have a very well stocked tank to warrant such frequent cleaning, the excessive removal of clips, clamps , hoses and what not will shorten the life of any equipment simply by the repeated flexing of parts etc, as John says, when the flow drops but not to the point where it stops, then clean it.

H.

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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13 Jul 2013 17:38 #4 by davey_c (dave clarke)
I do the same as the lads but I distinctively remember a similar thread where ian put up some very interesting advice. He said it wasn't necessarily a good idea to follow that rule of thumb because the gunk in the filter harbouring dead matter that still leach toxins into the tank... it was something to that affect although it was more interesting coming from him :lol:

I'd say a monthly clean would be fine.

Below tank is for sale

my plywood tank build.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768

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13 Jul 2013 17:57 #5 by Shane (Shane Faulkner)
Might be better pushing it out to monthly clean was not much dirt gunk when i was doing it weekly thanks for the info

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13 Jul 2013 18:45 #6 by JustinK (Justin Kelly)
If you were cleaning it weekly when there was little gunk to clear,
then you'd be most likely squeezing the goodness out of it.
You only need to remove the outer gunk, if it gets too deep into
the sponge then deep clean or replace one sponge on this occassion.
I find planted tank filters gunk up quicker in planted aquariums.
An external should make a month but an internal might make one or two weeks
before gunking up in this tank.

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13 Jul 2013 20:46 #7 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)

I find planted tank filters gunk up quicker in planted aquariums.


Planted filters? I'd be interested to know how that works :whistle:

"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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13 Jul 2013 21:14 #8 by Shane (Shane Faulkner)
No plants just sand rocks and shells and multis

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13 Jul 2013 23:43 #9 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)

I find planted tank filters gunk up quicker in planted aquariums.


Planted filters? I'd be interested to know how that works :whistle:


I ran a fry tank with a "Plant" filter. The hood housed the filter, and the plants were placed in the filter tray, in a bed of gravel.
The flip lid was left open. I used "spider" plants. Worked well, and the plants grew huge.
The attached image shows the filter type.
Attachments:

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15 Jul 2013 19:01 #10 by bmcg38 (Brian McGrath)
and with internal filters is it a case of a light cleaning if the flow is slowing ?

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