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 2 tropical tanks
- dclifford (Derek Clifford)
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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Just look at that white sand! Beautiful!
I hope all the plants take off, are using a good liquid fertiliser or something?
Without fish to make nutrients they might suffer.
Also is that the floating pond weed from lidls there (in the older tank)?
I found that bruying it in sand killed the buried part.
They really do seem to prefer floating.
(I'm no expert on this BTW, ask the poster Zig about plants)
Just one more thing, personally, I despise fake stuff in tanks.
I mean please? spongebob?
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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- dclifford (Derek Clifford)
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The floating weed you mention is actually Elodea Densa. It is planted and in any image that I have seen. All plants have been purchased fromJava plants online.
@ Didihno. Is it just sponge bob, or all castles, sunken ships etc that you don't like?
I put in sponge bob at the start because it is very hard to explain the nitrogen cycle to a 3 year old. He was getting very upset because there was no fish in there.
Personally I don't like sponge bob in the tank and will be removing it. But I do like castles, ships etc. I have seen a crashed WW2 airplane that I really like the look of, but would need a big tank.
I plan on removing the ruin thing from the right in the second tank. I will be building a couple of caves in that area. That is provisionally booked for a pair of Kribs.
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- ChrisM (ChrisM)
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Wait till Sean Connoly (Father Jack No Googling) gets hold of you.He doesnt believe in clean tanks?

The tanks look great,are you free for a few hours a week to do mine?
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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I dislike pretty much all fakery!
Sometimes its necessary though, like I have had to use a cut section of ESB duct for my catfish and frontosa, they just got too big for any rock caves I could safely build.
I also use buried benecol bottles for hideouts for smaller cichlids.
I recently bought a couple of fake rocks from zooplus. I recommend them. Very authentic looking. I'll be getting more!!!
Great for stacking up on top of real rocks if you're paranoid (like me) about fish digging and causing landslides.
Sorry I wasn't critisising your personal choices, just expressing my opinion!
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- dclifford (Derek Clifford)
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What does a dirty tank look like? Is it Algae everywhere? I find the otos are amazing at clearing Algae. The sand is great because Algae does not grow on it because the corys keep it turned over.
I am using a liquid fertiliser but that is only added every few weeks. I was thinking about using CO2 on the second tank.
Chris I am not sure what the hourly rate is yet. But the call out few from maynooth would be very high.
Another story about the kid when I set up the tank. I had the light on a timer which switches off at 8 at night. One of the nights last week he was standing looking at the at the panda corys when the light went out. He got upset that he could not see them anymore. Trying to explain, I mentioned that the fish were going to bed. But as soon as he heard the word bed, he thought it implied it was time for him too, he burst into hysterics. Funny at the time.
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- Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
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If you are interested in going the C02 route i've got a Hydor Pressurised system i'm getting rid of.
It cost me €180- and then €40- for a solenoid valve about a year and a half ago. It needs a bottle of gas(about €25- a pop and they last for 2/3 months).
Yours for €120-, I know its a week before Christmas so if you are thinking C02 in the new year give me a shout, as it's sitting in a box in my spare room.
Smoke me a Kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.
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- dclifford (Derek Clifford)
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But I might give you a shout in the new year.
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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All I seem to do these days is hoover poo!
(seriously, welcome to come visit, I was the baldy lad sitting opposite you at the meeting)
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- adriano210 (adrian kraszewski)
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