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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

is my filter strong enough to create oxygen

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12 Feb 2012 20:34 #1 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
I have recentely added fish to my cycled tank a was wondering was my e1500 filter strong enough to create enough oxygen for my 300l tank as i dont really want to add an air pump as they are too noisy ,one of my yellow labs seems to be bobbing up and down at the surface of the water, none of the other fish seem to be doing this there seems to be a good ripple on the surface ,i have just recentley stocked the tank and i dont want to loose any of them .

Water prameters are PH 7.6
AMONIA 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrait 10

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12 Feb 2012 21:03 #2 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
The filter itself will not add oxygen to the tank as such; in fact, the filter will remove oxygen from the tank.

If you have a spray bar above the water then that will do a number of things to help your fish if the water surface is agitated:
it will help increase oxygen to dissolve in the water; it will help remove carbon dioxide; and it will aid in removing ammonia gas.

If you have fish at the surface, then have watch closely: it could be due to lack of oxygen, but malawis often go to the surface if they are being bullied.

Gasping at the surface may be a sign of lack or oxygen or of early stages of ammonia poisoning (as the most common causes).

Other than that a 1500 l/h filter will be sufficient for the tank so long as the tank is not over-stocked.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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12 Feb 2012 21:14 #3 by ghart (Greg Hart)
I do not have one but I have been told that the following Eheim air pumps are silent running..
www.eheim.com/products/detail/Air-Pump

Other forum members will have tried these pumps and be able to confirm this or not.

Greg

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12 Feb 2012 21:20 #4 by wylam (Stuart Sexton)
If i were you i would definatly get an air pump or a spray bar.You can buy a very small air pump on amazon for next to nothing and it will run extremely quiet.I seen a tip on an old post here too which said to hang the air pump in a net under the tank , this will eliminate almost all of the vibration noises.

I read in one of my books that the air pump/stone itself does very little in the way of adding oxygen to the water. But what it will do is create an updraft of water, which will inturn circulate the oxygenated water at the surface around the tank.But I am open to correction on that one.

Cheers stuart.

Multi tasking: Screwing up more than one thing at a time.

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12 Feb 2012 21:21 #5 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
if i was to install a power head and get the water surface really moving would this help, the ammonia is reading 0 there is only 12 fish in 300l i may just be parnoide the rest of the fish dont seem to be acting the same as the lab

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12 Feb 2012 21:27 #6 by wylam (Stuart Sexton)
It could just be that fish.If it was recently added , the fish might not have been in good shape before hand. or may have suffered some trauma in transport or in the shop maybe.

Cheers stuart.

Multi tasking: Screwing up more than one thing at a time.

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12 Feb 2012 21:34 #7 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
the net idea sounds like a good one i might give that a go as i have a spair pump from another tank cheers for that

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12 Feb 2012 21:37 #8 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
You say your filter is an e1500 ..... is that the JBL e1500? If so then they come with a pretty good spray long bar. The power from them is extremely good if used just above the water level.
There are few standard air-pumps that can agitate the water as good as the JBL e1500 spray-bar. !!

Air-pumps do not add any noticeable oxygen to the water, but the agitation does the jobs I mentioned in my first reply.

Your tank sounds sparsely populated, so it may just be the Lab.
Get a clean plastic flower pot and throw it in......it may be that the lab needs a place to call its own.
Many malawi cichlids have a pecking order whereby the weakest fish has to take up residence towards the top of the tank.

Ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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13 Feb 2012 08:22 #9 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
Yes it is the JBL E1500 ill have a look for the spray bar to day ill try out the flower pot idea as well cheers for the reply

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13 Feb 2012 08:26 #10 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
The more i look at him the more i think he is being bullied igmillichip seems to be wright thanks for the reply will keep an eye on him .

Thanks Ross

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13 Feb 2012 10:51 #11 by igmillichip (ian millichip)

The more i look at him the more i think he is being bullied igmillichip seems to be wright thanks for the reply will keep an eye on him .

Thanks Ross


Well, let's hope he will be Ok.
Call me Ian......the igmillichip is just a username, I don't mind anyone using my proper name.

Ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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13 Feb 2012 16:46 #12 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)

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13 Feb 2012 19:37 #13 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
Cheers for all the ideas i installed a spray bar and added two new pieces of ocean rock and within minutes the lab took up residence in one of the new caves will keep an eye on him but all seams well.

Thanks :)

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13 Feb 2012 19:59 #14 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
cool.

So, now there is some of your problem worked upon....what other fish do you have in the tank?

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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13 Feb 2012 20:27 #15 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
I have 6 labs 4 fontosa who i hope to move to my other tank when ever i get a chance to change it over to Tanganyika from an oscar\silver doller\convicts tank i have two other fish i have not id yet one of them is metalic blue? and the other has gone very dark in colour due to the girl in the pet shop chasing him around the tank for a half an hour with a net. so twelve in all how many more could i fit in the tank (300L)

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13 Feb 2012 20:44 - 13 Feb 2012 20:49 #16 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
hear is some pictures they are not great as i have taking them with my iphone








Attachments:
Last edit: 13 Feb 2012 20:49 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless). Reason: Spelling

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13 Feb 2012 20:51 #17 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
Any ideas for decorating or ideas for new fish would be most welcome

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13 Feb 2012 21:26 #18 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
Quick question my PH is 7.6 should it be higher if so how do i get it up ,i am feeding flake food at the moment how often should i feed them and when should i move up to a more substantial food

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13 Feb 2012 21:57 #19 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
If you keep the water changes regular, and the pH is stable then leave it as is.

With that powerful filter attached though, you do need to watch the pH quite carefully as the nitric and nitrous acids produced within the filter will drop the pH unless the water is well buffered.

Some calcium carbonate rocks (or coral gravel) may help the buffering.
You could gently raise the pH by adding bicarbonate of soda, but that needs some care so as not to raise the pH too much at any one time....and care not to send it into dangerous buffering zone.

I would recommend getting a food specially formulated for rift valley cichlids.

Ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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13 Feb 2012 22:06 #20 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
all the gravel is coral i test the PH every 2 to 3 days always stays the same might just leave it as it is for the moment . How many more fish will my tank take without over crouding it

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13 Feb 2012 23:54 #21 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I rarely say how many fish a tank can take unless something is clearly overstocked.

So I'll let someone else put their neck on the block. :)

Often it is like asking how far does an elastic band stretch.....if you don't stretch it then it ain't an elastic band, if you stretch it too far it will break.

With the rift valley cichlids having too few fish can bring its own problems.....concentrated aggression.
Often, to help distribute aggression, rift valley cichlid tanks are quite heavily stocked. But...if you go too far then the system cannot cope.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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14 Feb 2012 16:09 #22 by lawlessr (Ross Lawless)
I might add about 8 more in i have an eye on a few others i would like to get cheers for the help

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