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
speed set up
- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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You could save yourself some time by skipping the RO and cycle. You could use an Organic Aqua starter pack and either keep using the Organic Aqua or just let it cycle through. they also do a plant fertilizer.
Regarding Co2 and quick setup's. I would go for low light plants and use a liquid carbon like easy-life easycarbo instead of injecting Co2 with high light plants.
A high light tank could probably take up to much of your time in the first 4-6 weeks. Not exactly the impression you are trying to give the missus.
A low light tank could be set up fairly quickly with little maintenance.
You can get plants like Anubias, ferns or mosses attached to wood or rocks that add an instant effect.
Just on a side note, Gavin in Wackers informed me today that Tropica plants have dropped there prices.
If you really want to go the Co2 route with lots of light and lots of fertz, i wouldn't add fish for a few weeks. You will only give yourself hassle trying to balance the tank.
Either way the puffers should be fine. They do fine in either setup.
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Basically you add this to the tank with tap water. You dont use any established bacteria from any other tank. The idea is to not allow the normal bacteria build up in the tank. Every month you do a water change and clean the filter in tap water to kill of any bacteria (nitrosomas & nitrobacters). You just need to keep the tank well aerated and keep the lid of the tank open slightly for air exchange. You could just open the lid at night when you go to bed.
The bit you may not like is dont test your water and dont change any water for the first month. Your test readings will be all over the place but the fish will be fine. You just have to trust the product.
If you dont want to keep using Organic Aqua just change some water after a month and dont clean the filter.
So fill and heat the tank. Go get the fish. When you are adding the fish add the Organic aqua and that's it for the first month. Less maintenance = more time with the missus.
The liquid carbon is not like activated carbon. It is not for absorption it is a carbon source for the plants. It is used instead of Co2 gas. You just add it to the tank along with some plant fertilizer.
Plants need carbon as a building block so they can photosynthesise and grow.
It is also worth mentioning low light tanks shouldn't get large water changes. 10% every 2 weeks is more than enough.
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Just one thing about the dwarf puffers. Mine will only take live food. Other people on here get away with feeding frozen food.
Either mine are spoilt or it is down to the individual puffers.
You should have no problem getting a frog fish. I have seen them in shops often enough.
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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thanks once again,
paddy
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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I have a small culture of whiteworms that they get occasionally. Mostly they are fed snails that are in the tank and some i culture in a tub. They also get live brine shrimp every second day.
They had some in Aquatic village Brittas recently. Send Serratus a PM.
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- peter (peter campbell)
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cause 10 pea puffers would get lost in a 400l tank
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- Mick0075 (Michael OSullivan)
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Really really want a marine setup, maybe someday !!
Mick
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- john gannon (john gannon)
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john
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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i had a go breeding them with the help of keelan from seahorse ireland. i had some sucess(hundreds/thousands of babies), one day i hope to buy a seahorse breeding tank but they are seriously expensive and it takes a serious amount of effort, which im unable to give due to work commitments. oh yeah out of the thousands of babies only a couple survived. im sure i could reach about 80percent if i had a specialised tank the smallest 1 i have seen costs €900
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- john gannon (john gannon)
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seriously well done onthe small success youve had!!!
you could always add a lunar wrasse to your preditor tank there serious hedbangers
john
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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John are you trying to fob off one of your headbanger fish again.

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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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I cant remember all the in's and out's off hand but i will have a think about it and get back to you.
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If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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hi sb87
iwas talking to him today, hes back into the marines. ive asked him to try and get his hands on the puffers for me, fingers crossed he will sort it out in time. are you from springfield i just had a look at your profile,reason i ask is if you do we are prob neighbours
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you??
we can get ya those pygmy's in for thursday if ya want there on the list
If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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ah just around the corner!
can't say i know the name
say hello next time your in!!

If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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they are funky lil fish im thinkin of settin up a lil tank for them myself
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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they will probably be juveniles that we get in so it wont be easy to sex when they get older you'll see a brownish line on the underside of the male and females generally are rounder!

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