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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

hi, anyone with advice to a complete novice

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28 Nov 2010 17:14 #1 by curlysue (suzanne forlot)
Hi all,
I am currently in the proccess of cycling my first tropical freshwater aquariam. its a 200l tank and is currently home to 2 goldfish and 6 guppies. 4 weeks into the cycle, I am doing 25% water change every day - 2 days and all the tests are fairly ok for the last 3 days but the tank has hazed over for the last two days. Anyone any suggestions??:unsure:

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28 Nov 2010 18:28 #2 by DJK (David Kinsella)
Hi Curly and welcome to the Forum.

What you are most likely experiencing is bacterial bloom which is normal when a new aquarium is going through the initial break in its cycle. Don't panic and keep up your regular water changes but while doing so make sure you vacuum the substrate with your syphon to remove possible uneaten food which may be decaying unknown to you. On that note I'd suggest you only feed once a day to whatever they eat in 2 minutes for the time being. This issue should resolve itself after a few weeks when the bacterial colonies reach the required level.

Under no circumstances should you add any more fish (yet).

As regards mixing goldfish and guppies, I honestly don't know with their different diets etc. Maybe somebody else can advise.

Dave

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28 Nov 2010 19:25 #3 by curlysue (suzanne forlot)
hi dave
thanks for the advice, have recently added ph neutraliser, since my post I have contacted the shop and apparently this can cause the un explained haze in the water. Cycling the tank has been maybe the most patient act I have ever done(seriously) and I am really looking forward to getting a few tropical fish in the tank. :)

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29 Nov 2010 13:42 #4 by davcummo (david cummins)
hello

i wouldnt go adding any chemicals yet as your tank has not cycled yet..
it will stabbilise soon enough,how are your tests looking and whats your ph.
another thing is what temp is the tank at goldfish will not do well in warmer temps
and sooner or later become ill.plus goldfish are very messy and might overload a
filter that has not being matured yet.

this is the most important part of starting get your water parameters right and the rest will be easy

good luck

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29 Nov 2010 14:02 #5 by dar (darren curry)
right some will say bad mix, i wouldn't do it but goldies are kept in tropical climates and i know of a sponsor who keeps them in heated tanks, stop listening to people telling you to dump chemicals in the water, your getting a bacterial bloom which is very common. (mark is going o kill me but) stop changing so much water this is adding to it, depending on the size of goldies i'd do 30 possibly 40% a week

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29 Nov 2010 14:04 #6 by dar (darren curry)
oh and next time you do a test don't come back here mentioning its fairly ok, it's either bang on or its not there is no inbetween

my apologies if i come across as a grumpy ignorant git, but i am this early lol

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29 Nov 2010 20:12 #7 by curlysue (suzanne forlot)
thanks for advice lads

I think I should give Dar the exact results:laugh: , I have been keeping a record book since I set up the tank 4 weeks ago and for the last 4 days I have been getting results as follows:
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ph varying between 7/7.2.
However the ph was up to 7.8 and I was worried about the gold fish(added to speed up the biological proccess of the filter)so I added the ph neutralizer. hope I have nt done any damage to the procces.
the gold fish are going to be rehomed in our gold fish tank with our 9 and 7 year old goldies once I get some tropicals into the tank.

Sue

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29 Nov 2010 20:30 - 29 Nov 2010 20:31 #8 by dar (darren curry)
that ph tampering is gick it will kill your fish quicker than a stable ph, it will cause ph swings and you will be scammed into buying it every couple of weeks, your ph is not bad it is actually great, you want to lower it? leave it stand a day or two before adding it to the tank and add some bog wood to the tank if possible

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
Last edit: 29 Nov 2010 20:31 by dar (darren curry).

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29 Nov 2010 20:38 #9 by curlysue (suzanne forlot)
Dar,
I have already added two lumps of bog wood at the first stage of set up. tested the tap water today and its 7 so not sure where its getting its kick from. I had coral (stupidly) for first week or so but removed it and have done so many water changes since surely the high range ph would be well gone. Tank is still cloudy today but not as bad. How long does it take the ph to neutralise naturely??
I was hoping to add 2 angel fish next weekend now that the results are stable, opinion please??
I was warned that this can be the most frustrating part of fish-keeping, they were right.

Sue

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29 Nov 2010 23:17 #10 by dar (darren curry)
any stones in the tank? changing the water wont bring the ph down you'l be fighting a losing battle and ruining your filter, i kept fish at 8.2 for 4-5 years it's not ideal but they lived their life, wat i would have done for 7-7.8. wat substrate are you using? i changed from sand to gravel and lost 1 ph it's now 7.2.any shells in the tank?. leave a bottle of tap water out 2 days test before and after and see wat difference you get. also wat test kit are you using?

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29 Nov 2010 23:48 #11 by curlysue (suzanne forlot)
Have changed from the coral to gravel.
Added a ph 7.0 buffer and conditioner, that like my test kit is API.
i'll try testing the tap water and leaving it for 2 days and repeating.
Glad to hear the ph rise isn't such a big issue.
Thanks for advice

Sue

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30 Nov 2010 09:08 #12 by dar (darren curry)
it's not a big issue but it is a slight concern, wat i'd do is dump the ph buffer in the bin change 30% of the water twice a week to get rid of it from the tank testing daily (when testing always test everything ammonia,nitrite, nitrate and ph) then after your 3rd change leave it for a week and test it again, if you can leave your water sit by all means do, here i am preaching it but i never do it, i'm also thinking when i had sand a lot wound up in the filter (external) could crushed coral of made it's way in there? if your determined to lower it you can look into using peat, almond leafs etc.... here is a link from mark (who you could put a tap on his tanks and drink the water it's that clean) www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...mit,10/limitstart,0/

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06 Dec 2010 14:38 #13 by curlysue (suzanne forlot)
thanks Dar for the advice have removed all coral abd with persistance the ph levels are dropping. they are down to 7.4 now but all the other readings are gone through the roof. Ammonia .25 and nitrate is up not 5 but not too far off it. this is a frustrating hobby:(

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06 Dec 2010 14:46 #14 by dar (darren curry)
your tank is still a baby, we all had hiccups at the start, wait till it matures and see the joy it brings? and extra tanks

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06 Dec 2010 14:53 #15 by curlysue (suzanne forlot)
and possibly divorce papers:laugh:

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06 Dec 2010 14:57 #16 by dar (darren curry)
curlysue wrote:

and possibly divorce papers:laugh:


it will be worth it lol

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06 Dec 2010 15:01 #17 by curlysue (suzanne forlot)

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