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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

Sand

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12 Jun 2007 06:22 #1 by zig (zig)
Sand was created by zig (zig)
Sorry guys I know this has been covered before, I did a search through what I thought were the relevant sections but couldnt find what I was looking for.

Where do you guys get sand thats safe for use in a tank, sand that wont mess with the KH of the water, I am looking for a few kilos of nice bright sand but any suggestions are welcome, would ordinary playsand be ok to use?

Sorry for the repitition, will pay attention next time :oops:

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12 Jun 2007 06:37 #2 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Sand
Playsand is Ok depending what brand you use. The Glenview stuff is too fine and your tank will be cloudy for weeks. I used to use B&Q own brand but some people had problems with it. They probably get it from different scources.
I just redid my 600l tank and used Westland playsand. By far the best I have used. Comes in 25kg bags and my local DIY store charges 6.99€ a bag. So does Supervalue.
I think Russell uses sand that is used in swimming pool filtration systems and is quite happy with it. No idea where to get it though.
Qurzsand is best but I haven't sourced it in Ireland yet. Ok, not quite the truth, let's just say not at a price I am willing to pay.

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12 Jun 2007 09:33 #3 by ricko10 (jamie)
Replied by ricko10 (jamie) on topic Re: Sand
i too use playsand. i agree with holger that the b and q stuff is good, and i have also used the sand from argos which was also fine and at 3.79 for 15 kilos i thought was pretty good. but i did find the argos sand took more cleaning to start with. i use a big black plastic bin with the hose pipe put in and leave to rinse for about 2 hours, but to mix it around a bit every 15 min or so.

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12 Jun 2007 14:59 #4 by Acara (Dave Walters)
Replied by Acara (Dave Walters) on topic Re: Sand
I use playsand from atlantic homecare,I think its the westland stuff Holger mentioned.I put 3-4inches in a 10ltr bucket,run hose into it,stirring it with hand vigourously,pouring off the water,do about 4 or 5 times til it runs clear. Dont do it in november like I did,couldnt hold anything with that hand for sometime!

always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!

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13 Jun 2007 03:06 #5 by arabesque (Mick Veale)
Replied by arabesque (Mick Veale) on topic Re: Sand
ive got a spare bag of sand (from aquatic village)
not opened or used.. cost me 25 euro.
yours for 20!

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13 Jun 2007 04:11 #6 by zig (zig)
Replied by zig (zig) on topic Re: Sand
Ok folks thanks very much for the replys, looks like Westland is the clear favorite and thats the one I will probably go for, I need to buy this today, any idea on the colour of this sand, is it a more beach yellow sand or a more whiteish coloured sand, any ideas there would be appreciated.

arabesque whats different about the sand from Aquatic village for €20 than the stuff I will probably buy for €5? if I thought it was worth it I would probably buy it but it would need to be very good, I can buy ADA bright sand for €20 it just isnt in stock atm, I might just chance the cheap stuff for the moment and if that does not suit will give you a shout.

Thanks everyone.

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13 Jun 2007 05:33 #7 by arabesque (Mick Veale)
Replied by arabesque (Mick Veale) on topic Re: Sand
it says aquarium sand on it.
i was a bit nervous to buy play sand
as some seemed good, others dirty.

so i went for an aquarium brand of sand,
it's light coloured, nearly white
can be seen in the photos here.
picasaweb.google.com/micksmedia/Nigripinnis

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13 Jun 2007 06:17 #8 by zig (zig)
Replied by zig (zig) on topic Re: Sand
Mick I have a messenger picking me up a bag of the cheapie stuff as I type, thanks for posting the link to the pics anyway.

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13 Jun 2007 06:20 #9 by arabesque (Mick Veale)
Replied by arabesque (Mick Veale) on topic Re: Sand
no bother.

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13 Jun 2007 08:50 #10 by zig (zig)
Replied by zig (zig) on topic Re: Sand

no bother.


Mick sent pm to ya

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13 Jun 2007 10:45 #11 by Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
just a quick note to say that i got B&Q playsand and it almost drove me to smashing up my new tank. Maybe i got a bad bag... i dont know, but I must have spent about 10 hours cleaning it and it still was muck.
He been advised my Anto not to use it... should have listened.
Anto kindly gave me some proper sand which he got from Kinsealy Pet Shop.

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13 Jun 2007 15:20 #12 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: sand

just a quick note to say that i got B&Q playsand and it almost drove me to smashing up my new tank. Maybe i got a bad bag... i dont know, but I must have spent about 10 hours cleaning it and it still was muck.
He been advised my Anto not to use it... should have listened.
Anto kindly gave me some proper sand which he got from Kinsealy Pet Shop.

The play sand is proper sand.
Real sand, like you used to get on Dollymount beach.
I found that washing the play sand took about 6-7 washes each batch to get it clean enough. (batch = large tupperware tub)
So you get what you pay for, play sand + hard work €8.
Pet shop rip off sand €45.
For the record I have both in different tanks, and the dull look of the playsand is only perfect for my tetra tank, whereas the coral sand looks fab in the cichlid tank.

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13 Jun 2007 19:35 #13 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: sand

just a quick note to say that i got B&Q playsand and it almost drove me to smashing up my new tank. Maybe i got a bad bag... i dont know, but I must have spent about 10 hours cleaning it and it still was muck.
He been advised my Anto not to use it... should have listened.
Anto kindly gave me some proper sand which he got from Kinsealy Pet Shop.

The play sand is proper sand.
Real sand, like you used to get on Dollymount beach, well when you could get sand without growing a second head or two*****. (now that would be cool!)
I found that washing the play sand took about 6-7 washes each batch to get it clean enough. (batch = large tupperware tub)
So you get what you pay for, play sand + hard work €8.
Pet shop rip off sand €45.
For the record I have both in different tanks, and the dull look of the playsand is only perfect for my tetra tank, whereas the coral sand looks fab in the cichlid tank.


xxxxxx

You are not allowed to use these sort of words here. Another warning for the man from Balbriggan. :lol: :lol:

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