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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

filter maintenance

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07 Jan 2015 22:32 #1 by alan 64 (alan)
filter maintenance was created by alan 64 (alan)
OK guys got my tank 450 ltr, I have a JBL 1500 so just wondering whats the best media for the filter and the best maintenance regime for it

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07 Jan 2015 23:39 - 07 Jan 2015 23:42 #2 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Replied by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella) on topic filter maintenance
I'd go with the standard media used in externals. My filter has ceramic rings, bio balls, sponge, carbon and filter floss and has not caused a problem yet. As for maintenance I usually do mine when my flow drops to sixty-fifty percent compared to when it's cleaned. I've got only a couple fish in my tank so it doesn't need to be cleaned to often.
Location: Clogherboy Navan.
Last edit: 07 Jan 2015 23:42 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella).

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08 Jan 2015 00:40 #3 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic filter maintenance
the guy I got the tank off from discus.ie said clean the sponges every week but never clean the ceramics seems a bit strange to me but he said he has been keeping discus 14 yeaars

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08 Jan 2015 00:52 #4 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Replied by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella) on topic filter maintenance
Also got my tank off that guy. I haven't added discus yet and so far have no experience with them yet but I don't think I'd go through the bother of cleaning a filter weekly as I'm too lazy XD weekly changes of water has my heart broke as it is.

I do my filter every 2-3 months and it doesn't be too dirty.

Get in touch with miamiheat and see how often he does his I think he has several discus tanks running.

A friend has discus in small thanks with internal filters that get cleaned with tap water so i don't think they are as hard to keep as people make them out.
Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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08 Jan 2015 00:55 #5 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic filter maintenance
I have 3 discus in my 120 litre at the min but I will have to move them and I rarely touch that filter so I dunno I might mail Miami when I have it set up

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08 Jan 2015 15:49 #6 by Discus-Killester (Sinisa)
Replied by Discus-Killester (Sinisa) on topic filter maintenance
Hi Alen,

How many fish do you plan to keep in 450L tank?

Use usual media that comes with JBL 1500. I have 2 filters of that size (1501) on my 450L tank, but my tank is often overcrowded with fish :)

I clean them once a month, use water from the tank to rinse sponges & ceramics. Wash a filter and remove dirt from bottom (using worm tap water).

I thought that guy discus.ie closed his business? when did you get a tank, new or second hand, is it Diversa brand?

ps. Hope discus are doing well, everything OK?

Thanks

Sina

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08 Jan 2015 16:03 #7 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic filter maintenance
hi sina yea I got a second hand tank from him but its practiacally new he said hes opening a new premisis up here, its a diversa solid maybe not the best brand in town but I couldn't argue with the deal I got, would u use the p04 pads in the filter or just sponge and ceramic, the fish I got from u are growing fast but I have noticed a slight bit of peppering would that be because there in a small tank and there not in a decent size shoal, I think I will go for around 8-10 in my new tank

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08 Jan 2015 19:05 #8 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
Replied by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan) on topic filter maintenance
Hi Alan,
Like the lads say, clean your sponges with tank water,
It's up to you how often you do it,
But really depends on your bio load,
Your sponges are more for mechanical filtration as opposed to biological filtration,
Course, medium and fine in that order before it gets to your ceramic media,
It's important to have that free from heavy food and fecal matter.
Hope this helps.
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

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08 Jan 2015 21:00 #9 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic filter maintenance
So on the jbl externals the ceramic is on the bottom so with ur theory that dosnt sound like the best position for it do ye think

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08 Jan 2015 21:05 #10 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Replied by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella) on topic filter maintenance
My gfs tetra tec ex700 and my 1200 has the ceramic rings on the bottom then a sponge, bio balls, 3 sponges activated carbon and filter floss... My old all pond solutions filter had a similar set up without the bio balls.
Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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08 Jan 2015 21:50 #11 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
Replied by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan) on topic filter maintenance

So on the jbl externals the ceramic is on the bottom so with ur theory that dosnt sound like the best position for it do ye think


Not sure about the jbl as I never had one,
It really depends on how the filter takes the water in and pushes the water out,
I know some ehime externals has the intake at the bottom of the canister and the outflow at the top.
I had a tetratec that had tube connections built in to the media trays,
So when there all stacked up the filter would channel the water coming from the tank to the bottom of the canister and then the power head would push the filtered back into the tank,
So I had from the bottom up,
Course sponge, medium sponge, fine sponge,
For mechanical,
Then a tray of biological ceramics for my bio filtration.
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

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08 Jan 2015 22:07 #12 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic filter maintenance
I think the way the jbl works is the flow would fall down the edges of the filter through some sponges hit the ceramic in the bottom and then flow back up through the center through the center of the sponges

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08 Jan 2015 22:44 #13 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Replied by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers) on topic filter maintenance
Hi just to chime in here, you may be talking about 2 different ceramic media. Ceramic noodles, the cylinder type are offen put at bottom to catch larger dirt not really as biofilter. you could then have a sponge for more mechanical filtration and then some bio filtration and top with fine sponge or floss.

Just my tuppence
Q

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08 Jan 2015 22:58 #14 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Replied by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley) on topic filter maintenance
The one thing I know for sure is that the ceramic rings in a JBL filter are supposed to go at the bottom ie be the first thing the water hits. Not only are they a habitat for bacteria, but they're also supposed to disperse the water flow so you don't end up with only part of the following filter media getting any decent flow. After that, I think it's all much of a muchness. I only have one external running at the moment, on my cave tank. I cleaned it last Saturday for the first time since I set it up, 4-5 months ago. It was pretty clean, except for a bit of gunge in the base of it.
"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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08 Jan 2015 23:48 - 08 Jan 2015 23:48 #15 by swai (Simon)
Replied by swai (Simon) on topic filter maintenance
I've always went by the pond guru!



Although in my externals now all i run is floss in all baskets apart from 1 which has eheim substrat pro.
Marino, Dublin 9
Last edit: 08 Jan 2015 23:48 by swai (Simon).

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08 Jan 2015 23:49 #16 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic filter maintenance
Yea my ceramics in my jbl are usually surrounded bye gunge like u said so there are many different views on this its very interesting as I rem my fluvial set up had the ceramic just before the filter wool in the canister

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09 Jan 2015 00:04 #17 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Replied by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley) on topic filter maintenance
To be honest, I don't think there's any right or wrong way. There are just ways that work or ways that don't. In the four tanks I have running there's only one external (JBL) and some of the best results I'm getting are from other types of filter. Experiment and go with what works.
"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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