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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

Changing rock

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28 Sep 2012 18:55 #1 by johnportman (John Clarke)
Hi folks.
I want to change the rock in my tank to river rock, I think it would look more natural.
I only have about 50kg of Holy rock in it at the minute.

The question I'm asking is, would I need to reinforce the stand if I was to put in around 150kg river rock.

Thanks
John

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28 Sep 2012 19:10 #2 by johnportman (John Clarke)
Sorry I should of said my tank is a clearseal 5x2x2.

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28 Sep 2012 22:29 #3 by BillG (Bill Gray)
Replied by BillG (Bill Gray) on topic Changing rock
Hi John,

if you could post a pic clearly showing the internal structure of your stand, would help in determining if you need ot re-inforce or not. It really depends on how the stand is set-up, wheter or not it is a stand that will accomodate a sump, or if it has full vertical pannels in the center.
You may not need to re-inforce for the extra 100kg.

Cheers,

Bill.

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28 Sep 2012 23:41 #4 by johnportman (John Clarke)
Cheers Bill,
I will upload pics tomorrow.
My cabinet houses a 4ft sump, but I just want to make sure it will hold the rocks I'm adding.
Could I add styrofoam in the bottom of the tank to help with the rocks in case they fall over cause Malawi move the sand around so much.

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29 Sep 2012 11:08 #5 by BillG (Bill Gray)
Replied by BillG (Bill Gray) on topic Changing rock
Hi John,

I know what you mean about the fish moving the sand about and you are right bo protect the base from the potential of falling rocks. Would be best to use egg crate if you can get your hands on any. Just that the polystyrene will create a dead area under it where you will get all sorts of anaerobic bacteria, ends up getting messy with gasses like hydrogen sulphide being released into the water. I know egg crate can be a pain in the ass to source, but it allows for some level of circulation due to its structure. Its what most of the marine keepers try to use under their liverock.

Cheers,

Bill.

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29 Sep 2012 11:31 #6 by stretnik (stretnik)

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30 Sep 2012 16:06 - 30 Sep 2012 16:09 #7 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
If you were to fill your tank to the brim with water nothing else,then put 150kgs of rock in it would expell 150 ltrs of water, I'm not saying you should do that but technically speaking I don't think it would make any difference. 1 ltr of water = 1kg

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN
Last edit: 30 Sep 2012 16:09 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan).

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01 Oct 2012 12:15 #8 by christyg (Chris Geraghty)
As said, eggcrate is the business, it keeps the rocks from contact with floor of tank. Place the rocks directly on the eggcrate, when all the rocks are in. then put in sand/substrate. The fish can dig all they want and it will not affect the rocks.

Also, the rocks are not as heavy in the tank as the water provides bouyancy. :)

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02 Oct 2012 09:49 #9 by BillG (Bill Gray)
Replied by BillG (Bill Gray) on topic Changing rock
Hi John,

Bear in mind the rock will obviously displace water equivalent to its own volume. I am not sure what kind of rock the river rock you plan to use is specifically. However if you use Basalt as the worst case, due to its density, it will give you the biggest weight added for the lowest displacement. Based on the density of Basalt being approximately 3 grams per cc, and a weight of 150kg as you said you are adding, here are the calculations for the worst case weight addition. Assuming the rock is not basalt, you will not be adding this much weight to the tank.
Density of rock (Basalt) – 3g/cc
150kg of rock equates to 50 litres of rock
50 litres of rock will displace 50 litres of water – 50kg
So total added weight is 100kg (take displaced water weight from the rock weight)

Here are calculations for sandstone and granite too.
Sandstone - the added weight is approx. 82kg based on sandstone density of approx. 2.2g/cc
Granite - the added weight is approx. 95kg based on sandstone density of approx. 2.7g/cc

Worst case, you are adding 100kg to the stand, so it may not require reinforcement, however it does depend on the support structure of the stand. So if you get a chance, please post the pics of the stands internals.

Cheers,

Bill.

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02 Oct 2012 12:46 - 02 Oct 2012 13:27 #10 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
Scratch that last post bill you are 100% right,my calculations were completely wrong,sorry about that. :blush:

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN
Last edit: 02 Oct 2012 13:27 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan). Reason: misinformation

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02 Oct 2012 19:22 #11 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
dont think you would need reinforcement, but i would suggest as others have eggcrate or my own cheater alternative which is some polystyrene ceiling tiles as the pressure and weight from that weight of rocks could cause pressure cracks where the rocks touch the base glass, remember safety first

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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