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
First attempt at a planted tank
So after a few months of cycling (and struggling to get a low/stable pH, damn not dublin water!) my tank finally has some occupants.
This is my first attempt at a planted tank and it has been very exciting so far. At the minute there are 10 "Espei" Harlequins and 3 Otocinclus. I introduced them one week ago and they all seem to be settling in fine.
Attached a few pics below
Ian
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for a first attempt, its a damn good one
as John said, its nice to see the development of the plants through the series of pics. Would be good for other plant novices if you could give some additional details on the substrate, anything specific you did for the plants and your general experiences with a planted tank.Cheers,
Bill.
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I used JBL Manado as a base substrate with some gravel on top. The Manado is only really in the back corners. I left the front and the strip along the middle free as I wanted to leave these areas clear.
All the plants are tropica and are marked as "easy" on their catologue, as it was my first time I thought I'd stick to these.
I've got a disposable CO2 system running and recently I started using Easycarbo which has definitely greened up all the plants.
The Lights come on for 10 hours every day (T8s) and I've been doing a 10% water change most weeks.
I did have a problem with a high pH and KH in the tank, thanks to the lovely water I have in North Dublin! So I've been using RO water from my LFS, as well as adding peat pellets to the filter to keep the pH stable.
I had the tank cycling for 3 Months: starting the process off with some food flakes, before I added livestock, by this time the plants were well established in the tank.
I also have been taking clippings from the plants and replanting them in new locations in the tank with great success.
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Well done Ian
Mark
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I have Limnophila aquatica on the left, Rotala rotundifolia on both sides, Hygrophila corymbosa behind the root and on the very left and Lilaeopsis brasiliensis boardering all the plants in the foreground.
Thanks So much for the compliments!
Thanks Kev really reaping the rewards now that the plants are getting to size
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Although my Missus is now not your biggest fan
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