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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

Serious algae build-up

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04 Jan 2008 20:42 #1 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
Hi All

The front pane of glass in my tank(rio 400) has been hit with an algae attack while i was away, the fish were all fed and all that but the algae is quite a think layer, the 2 plecs in there, each of about 3 or 4 inches clearly werent doing there job and i tried scrubbing it with my glass cleaner but it has no effect as its too stuck on there and quite thick....does any have any reccomendations as to get rid of it and then in the long run get my plecs to sort it out??? any help would be appreciated

Cheers

Mark

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew

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04 Jan 2008 21:28 #2 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I use the hand held glass cleners. They look like scouring pads that you'd use in a kitchen (in fact some people use those scouring pads but make sure they don't contain detergent or scratch glass). They are messier but far more effective than those magnetic things which are useless IMO.

Do you have plants in that tank? How long do you have the lights on? There are lots of things that will contribute to algae, but you'll always get some no matter how well maintained your tank is.

Regards,

Ken.

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04 Jan 2008 21:31 #3 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
no plants just purely gravel and rocks and the odd ornament, lights are on from 1pm till 10pm, sound ok?? i will try find me some scouring pads, any idea who sells them??

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew

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04 Jan 2008 21:36 #4 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Most of the LFS sell them. I know Petstop had them in the past.

9 hours is a lot of light for a tank with no plants. I have plants in my South American community tank and have them on from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.

I don't have plants in my African tank and only put the lights on when I'm in the room. They're usually on from about 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Plants need light, fish don't. You'll find that your algae problem will decrease significantly if you reduce the amount of time your lights are on.

Regards,

Ken.

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04 Jan 2008 21:41 #5 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
gonna go change the setting on the timer now....cheers

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew

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04 Jan 2008 22:16 #6 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods)
i use a utility blade scraper washed to remove any traces of oil i avoid any with names etc painted on them just be careful of the seals on the tank.

With regard to light, it is the most common source of the problem and add a missed water change =algae. Reducing light will be a big plus in the battle but certain fish will lose colour if there is not enough, its quantity not quality that is the phrase for fish. The other thing to consider as well, if the tank is getting direct sunlight it will become a problem again.

As for the plecs not doing the job, what food are you using because if there is an easy supply of readily available food, they will take it first then if they feel like it will attack the aglae.

Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods

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05 Jan 2008 00:09 #7 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Not all plecs will eat algae. I have a couple of bristlenose that do a good job. However, I've heard that they are less effective as they get older.

Regards,

Ken.

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05 Jan 2008 03:51 #8 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods)
I have two common plecs two bristlenose and two? one may be another common but time will tell one may be gold or albino common (hope not but they all do their job very well the problem is me forgetting to turn lights off or to many easy tablets available you should see the \"big fella\" 15inch common plec redecorate the tank to get to the aglee i but the bogwood in front of it. the small bristlenose has no choice as the fry chase him from the tablets if you don't want to reduce the time your lights are on then reduce watts but regardless if it has taken a strong hold then the only rel option is to manually remove it this gives the plec a level playing field don't feed then any plec type food for a few days they will soon start to do the job then slowly add the tablets you will quickly see were the balance is. don't want to starve them either!

the simplest explanation is a balance of light and food and water care

Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods

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