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
new background
- suckers (matt lait)
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i got my new background into my tank with the only problem being connecting the pipework then getting the external filter to work but thats all sorted now.
here is what the background looked like outta water
and
now with the water in the tank the shine has gone and some of the colouring has gone(pity)
and b4 anyone says anything the cannon was a xmas gift (bl@$y father-in-laws!) it WILL go (when i get back on the other half's better side!)
so all give me your best and worst parts
btw there is no fish there yet(i know) i need the tank to cycle for a few more days yet, old media and sand was used but still i think i'll be better safe than sorry.
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Truly artistic.
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- suckers (matt lait)
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- Deeco (Deeco)
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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- suckers (matt lait)
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Didihno just hope my 2 plecos do venture out more in the day time. and looking at the background this morning its almost all grey the colour has disapeared for the time being
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- ChrisM (ChrisM)
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so all give me your best and worst parts
btw there is no fish there yet(i know) i need the tank to cycle for a few more days yet, old media and sand was used but still i think i'll be better safe than sorry.
What are you using as a source of ammonia to maintain the cycle.
I have always found that using media/bacteria from another fully established setup allows you to add fish (in moeeratrion) in straight away with absolutely no problems or spikes whatsoever.
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- suckers (matt lait)
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im just keeping the water moving at the moment to wash anything from the background and have put a little food in to breakdown aswell. im hoping the plants and such will help. you think i should put some of the old fish back straight away(tetras/guppies) and keep the corys and plecos till later?
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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Yes this works perfectly, I have set up three large tanks now doing this.I have always found that using media/bacteria from another fully established setup allows you to add fish (in moeeratrion) in straight away with absolutely no problems or spikes whatsoever.
Just go easy on adding fish at first.
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- suckers (matt lait)
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btw have you any idea or can you point me in the right direction as to why ALL the colouration has gone from the background and the whole thing is now grey/white.
ive done water changes 25% and 50% but there is no colouration in the water except its a little cloudy
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- Pauly (Paul Mulvaney)
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- suckers (matt lait)
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- StormCaseDotie (Andre Devereux)
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Do you have a water test kit?

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- suckers (matt lait)
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ph 6.8
KH 10
GH 7
NO2 trace
NO3 10
to start with i was having a few problems with higher levels but seem to have that sorted now. bwt im testing twice a day then once a day for 3 days just to be on the safe side. ive lost no fish and all are well ( no gasping for air etc)
here is pic from last night
it is alot better now
matt
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- Tom (Tom Brecknell)
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