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
without a filter for 3-5 days
- faolteam (keith mac)
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should i be doing anything with tank in mean time as i have no other filtration except my large air stone in tank any advice appreciated please
faolteam
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- JohnH (John)
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Unfortunately - after 4-5 days most, if not all, of the beneficial bacteria will have died, so it will be a case of 'starting over' with the nitrogen cycle, even though it shouldn't be such a long-winded affair.
You might want to do a small water change daily while the filtration isn't running too.
Perhaps others would like to comment further.
John
Edit,
It might be possible to get the loan of a working filter from someone close to you to tide you over this trying time, any offers?
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- nomad (pat murphy)
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- faolteam (keith mac)
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ireland doesnt seem to carry parts
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- faolteam (keith mac)
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- gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
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Your bacteria colony will NOT survive unless there is water and oxygen constantly flowing through it....
Sitting it in the bottom of the tank without any water or oxygen flowing through it wont do anything...The good bacteria will just die...
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- robert (robert carter)
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- nomad (pat murphy)
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A STRONG AIRSTONE POSITIONED NEAR THE BOTTOM OF MY TANK SO CARBON DIOXIDE BEING RELEASED AND RAISING THE OXYGEN LEVELS,BACTERIA COATS EVERYTHING IN THE TANK SO THE AIRSTONE A MAJOR HELP TO KEEP THEM GOING.,
LOADS OF RAPID GROWING PLANTS FEEDING OFF AMMONIA AND NITRATE ANOTHER BIG HELP.
As I have said my external was out for 5 days and fish were fed as normal because of not realising my mistake,agree though if you get a filter packing in then definatly no feeding ...
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- Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
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If the bacteria in your filter die off it can cause problems when you start the filter back up, it can introduce toxins into the tank.
Maybe someone near you can help out
Hope it goes ok for you
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- faolteam (keith mac)
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- faolteam (keith mac)
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is the o ring seal a big job
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- faolteam (keith mac)
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This hassle with external filters was one of the things that made me go for a sump on the cold water tank Bart is building for me , and I will of course purchase a spare return pump. Having said that I find the jbl crystal range good , 4 year warranty and seahorse have a full range of spares
i rang them today im still waiting for them to come back
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- robert (robert carter)
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- faolteam (keith mac)
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I am a mercanic ,you can buy an o ring kit from a decent motor factors that consist of various size o rings and a length of o ring rubber that you cut to the required size and glue with the glue that comes with the kit to make the o ring the required size. , it should do the job for you . I suppose the moral of the story is that any of us that have externals should get a o ring kit to fit our filters to have as a spare , can't be very costly and certainly cheaper than lost fish or a replacement carpet . Am going to get one next weekend when in seahorse
i have the o ring but for the life of me were do i put the ring ????
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- nomad (pat murphy)
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Think they call it an o ring but more like a long piece of quarter inch spaghetti that is joined end to end.
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- faolteam (keith mac)
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I was referring to the rubber seal that you have with the pieces I gave you, as far as I remember when you take the whole motor head unit off you will see the rubber seal that is inset going right around the underside of the motor head to make the seal when it sits around and down the top edge of the filter unit below..
Think they call it an o ring but more like a long piece of quarter inch spaghetti that is joined end to end.
yea tried it but no differnence

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