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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

Greetings from Kerry & Power Failure Question

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25 Jan 2009 14:17 - 25 Jan 2009 14:18 #1 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hello Everyone.
My name is Tony Daly living in Kerry.Nice to be a part of this group & looking forward to learning about the right way to keep Tropical fish from my fellow group members.
My partner & I have just got our first fish tank. It is glass & holds about 200lts. We also have with it an Aqua One External filter & a 300watt glass heater. We set up the tank according to the instructions we were given at the pet store & after a week took a sample of water back for testing. Everything was fine so we got 2 Swordtails & 2 catfish to start with. That was abouy 2 weeks ago & so far touch wood no problems. One thing that worries me though is what happens if there is a power outage.
I can operate the pump/filter with a power inverter form a car battery but what about the heater. I was thinking off an Uninterrupted Power Supply like which is used for computers. Has anyone used one of these for their tanks or does anyone have other ideas?
Regards.
Tony.
Last edit: 25 Jan 2009 14:18 by amdaley (Tony Daly).

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25 Jan 2009 14:25 #2 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Tony,
Welcome along to the forum and congrats on your new fish!! It wont take long for you to get addicted to the hobby now! Im sure you will get loads of advise on here and remember no question is stupid, better to ask a question than to see a fish die from something that could of been avoided. There are loads of people on here that will give you years and years of experienced advice, and indeed sometimes the advise you get from people who are new will also be invaluable (theyve been there and have asked the same questions! I know I have)!

Anyhow in relation to the power outtage issue. Well here is a similar type discussion not too long back. My own personal advise would be that you print of this piece of info as and if the ESB does go off you will have the answers to the problem at your side !

www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...mit,10/limitstart,0/


Gavin

Ps: As a Corkman, its good to see another munster man on here, too bad your from Kerry!!! Up the rebels!

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25 Jan 2009 15:31 #3 by keitho (keith o reilly)
welcome to the forum tony you get all the info you need here not from me as i am still a novice but you will get it from all experts

Dublin 24

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25 Jan 2009 16:57 #4 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hi Gavin.
As they say "Never judge a book by it's cover" I'm not from Kerry at all. I just happen to live there.
In fact i'm from Cork.lol.
Thanks for the link.
Regards.Tony.

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25 Jan 2009 22:54 #5 by JohnH (John)
Hello Tony,
you're most welcome.

Don't be worrying unduly about power cuts, unless Kerry ones are longer lived that those we get up here in North Tipp.
The most important issue is that which you can control anyway with your Inverter.
As long as you can keep the aeration/filtration going you shouldn't lose the beneficial bacteria, it is reckoned that these start to die off after around three hours so if you're able to sustain these then more than 90% of your worries are over.

Water - especially large quantities takes ages to heat and almost as long to cool down again, you could wrap a duvet/sleeping bag around your tank, this will make the heat loss ever slower and you could fill bottles with almost boiling water if you have a gas hob and submerge these into the tank water (after properly sealing them, of course).

Most Tropical Fish will take a gradual drop in temperature in their stride anyway and not be too affected, it might just bring on a small case of White Spot, but this is easily dealt with these days.

So don't let the thought of a power cut make you lose sleep. Settle back and enjoy your new-found companions.

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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25 Jan 2009 23:12 #6 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hello John.
Thank you for that.
Regards.
Tony.

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26 Jan 2009 10:21 #7 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Hi Tony

Welcome to the forum :)
Any pic's of your tank?

LB

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26 Jan 2009 10:50 - 26 Jan 2009 10:55 #8 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hi LB.
Hope this works.
Regards.
Tony.
Attachments:
Last edit: 26 Jan 2009 10:55 by amdaley (Tony Daly). Reason: wrong picture

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26 Jan 2009 11:05 - 26 Jan 2009 11:14 #9 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hi LB.
2nd go at posting a photo. Sorry but looks like I got it right first time.
Regards.
Tony.
Attachments:
Last edit: 26 Jan 2009 11:14 by amdaley (Tony Daly).

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26 Jan 2009 11:45 #10 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Nice tank Tony
Have you read about cycling your tank?
I would suggest not adding anymore fish for a few weeks to allow your filter to mature and take another water sample to your lfs to be tasted to make sure everything is ok

LB

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26 Jan 2009 12:50 #11 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hi LB.

I read about cycling the tank.We don't propose to get any more fish for at least another 2 weeks. We got a testing kit so will be testing the water before we get any more.We will build up our stock over time. We are in no paticular hurry.

Regards.
Tony.

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26 Jan 2009 13:13 #12 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Fair play Tony thats the way to do it ;)

LB

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26 Jan 2009 19:07 #13 by Puggy (Fergus Cooke)
amdaley wrote:

One thing that worries me though is what happens if there is a power outage.
I can operate the pump/filter with a power inverter form a car battery but what about the heater. I was thinking off an Uninterrupted Power Supply like which is used for computers. Has anyone used one of these for their tanks or does anyone have other ideas?


Tony, power inverters and ups that would run your tank for a day or two are expensive. A small portable generator like this one www.wolf.ie/product.asp?id=001765 might be more practical. Though you would need somewhere to run it, got to be real careful of the exhaust, which is lethal. You would need a vented shed or canopy. You also got to keep some petrol and oil, again store these in proper containers.

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26 Jan 2009 19:56 #14 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Thanks. I've seen the Wolf items. Was thinking along those lines.Has anyone bought anything from this company ?
The reason I was looking at the UPS was because it would kick in if I was out.

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26 Jan 2009 22:57 #15 by Puggy (Fergus Cooke)
What, u go out and you only got fish:)

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27 Jan 2009 00:49 #16 by JohnH (John)
amdaley wrote:

Thanks. I've seen the Wolf items. Was thinking along those lines.Has anyone bought anything from this company ?
The reason I was looking at the UPS was because it would kick in if I was out.


I just had a look and can tell you the Wolf generator is the one I have - well, mine is the 800 - and that is exactly the same as the one B&Q were selling last winter in their store in Athlone.

I only used mine a couple of times when maintenance work was going on locally meaning power would be off for around ten hours. Even that one, with an output of under 800 watts was fine. I ran all my power filters, air pumps and even my hi-fi and PC for the whole of the time the outages occurred and each time it didn't use even a whole tankful of 2-stroke mix.
I was pretty impressed, although there was rather a lot of what I can only describe as carbon dust, presumably from the brushes, on the outside of the casing - maybe it needs new brushes.

I didn't mention this option in my initial post as they are pretty noisy - even more so than the four stroke generators...fine for me with no immediate neighbours but in a rural setting perhaps you wouldn't end up being too popular with those close by!!!

Sorry, I have no experience with the UPS, although - if one was to work and do the job - it might be the best solution all round?

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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27 Jan 2009 11:04 #17 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hi John.
Thank you for the information. I have ordered a 1300va UPS from Maplin and expect it to arrive this week.I will let everyone know how I get on when I have had a chance to test it.
Regards.
Tony.

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27 Jan 2009 12:42 #18 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Tony

Do you have the spec of the ups unit you ordered?
Or a link to it?

LB

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27 Jan 2009 16:09 #19 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hi LB.
It's on the Maplins UK site at
www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222106
They will get it in from the UK if they don't have it in stock here. I find that Maplins here charge way over the top in comparison to the UK site. It seems to happen in a lot of UK shops who have branches here.
Regards.
Tony.

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27 Jan 2009 16:16 #20 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Hi Tony

Product details show
Up to 70 minutes of back-up time to save important data or to prevent damaged hardware

Faq

Q) Have a 125 L fish tank that is heated via an internal heater of less than 100 W. In the event of a power cut, how long would this UPS keep it running? - D Allen

A) Roughly 8 hours.

When you add your filter to this it might not last too long?

LB

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27 Jan 2009 16:34 #21 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hi LB.
What you say about the time it will last is true but it's the only thing I can come up with which will operate when you are not at home. The filter/pump is only about 35watts total, it's the heater which sucks up the power.
The only other alternative is a generator which will cut in when the power fails but you are talking huge money, €2500 for petrol inc vat & €3500 for diesel ex vat and that doesn’t include someone to wire it up. These generators are electric start & are powerful enough to run your house but then again they will only run until the fuel in the tank runs out, 8 to 10 hours at most. You can of course get generators which will run on LPG.
Regards.
Tony.

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27 Jan 2009 20:36 #22 by q547 (Joseph King)
Tony, where abouts are you? Are power outages that big of an issue?
In my own experience of keeping fish a power outage isn't that big of a deal. As long as the house isn't overly cold you should be fine. Pumps/filters should be fine without power for a day or two.

I've kept tropical tanks before without heaters or filters with no issues. I reckon the only issue you might possibly have is in an extended power cut(+ 2 days) the bacteria could die off and cause problems, but that about your only worry.

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27 Jan 2009 21:51 #23 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
I'm in Kerry. How about yourself ?
My partner had fish years ago and decided that she would like to keep them again so the tank really belongs to her.They go well with my four cats !
The cats think they're at the cinema.:laugh:
Regards.
Tony.

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27 Jan 2009 22:48 #24 by q547 (Joseph King)
well last ime i was in Kerry it seemed pretty ok, I suppose you might only have to worry about power failures if you in somewhere like ballyferriter or balinaskelligs and miles from anywhere (which has a certain charm i suppose)

I'm in dublin, no pwer failures likely here. I hope.

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28 Jan 2009 00:40 - 28 Jan 2009 00:40 #25 by tm2204 (Thomas Maguire)

Pumps/filters should be fine without power for a day or two.



This is not correct. Your filter bacteria will start dying off in a couple of hours. Within a day or two you will be back to a fully recycling tank if your fish are still alive.

Tanks can be kept warm by adding hot water in a plastic bottle(s) and covering the tank with a duvet or aeroboard/insulation board.

To get past the filter problem you need a power inverter or a petrol/diesel generator.
Last edit: 28 Jan 2009 00:40 by tm2204 (Thomas Maguire).

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28 Jan 2009 14:01 #26 by q547 (Joseph King)
from my own experience I'd disagree with that.

I've lost power before for a few days with no adverse effect to either bacteria in filters or to fish. If your tank stays at room temperature or there abouts you'll probably be fine.

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28 Jan 2009 22:14 #27 by paulbohs (Paul Doyle)

The only other alternative is a generator which will cut in when the power fails but you are talking huge money, €2500 for petrol inc vat & €3500 for diesel ex vat and that doesn’t include someone to wire it up.


3500 for a generator :o please can i come see your swimming pool. An 850 watt generator is being sold in aldi this week for 100. Can be picked up for close to this anyway. This will power a heater and your filter. all you need really. Keep a bit of diesel handy and some 2 stroke oil and you can power them for weeks.

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28 Jan 2009 23:20 #28 by amdaley (Tony Daly)
Hello.
The €3500 was for a diesel gererator which would be wired into the house wiring & would cut in automatically when there was a power cut. I didn't say I was going to get one.
I could build my own power station for that kind of money.:lol:

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28 Jan 2009 23:47 #29 by tm2204 (Thomas Maguire)
q547 wrote:

from my own experience I'd disagree with that.

I've lost power before for a few days with no adverse effect to either bacteria in filters or to fish. If your tank stays at room temperature or there abouts you'll probably be fine.


You may wish to think this but i'd advise anyone who experiences a prolonged power failure to ensure their biological filter gets oxygen or they will experience problems.

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28 Jan 2009 23:52 #30 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)


You may wish to think this but i'd advise anyone who experiences a prolonged power failure to ensure their biological filter gets oxygen or they will experience problems.


Agreed ;)

LB

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