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
Low maintenance setup
- Alex (Alex)
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I'm moving out and iv decided to try and keep the tank running in the gaff so im seriously reducing the stock in my 800L to reduce maintenance. The plan is to clean it every few months (Initially ill be away for 6 months).
The planned stock is...
10 blackskirt tetras
1 Anostomus
3 hoplo catfish
10 bronze Cory's
4 Siemese algae eaters
1 Betta
The tank is heavily planted... I plan on covering the bogwood with anubias and adding more swords and crypts to the front..
Iv havent used ferts in 2 years in the tank and I don't plan on adding any with the new stock. I'm hoping the plants can live off fish waste...
Here is a current pic so you can get an idea of the amount of plants and future plants in the foreground.
Do you think the plants will be able to handle the nitrates...?
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- Ma (mm mm)
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Will you have someone to do any maint at all while you are away 6 months? Say clean the filter and small water changes as the stock list is very small for a tank that size.
Mark
Location D.11
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- Alex (Alex)
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Yeah sum1 is in charge of feeding and topping up the tank every week (lots of evaporation from the sump)... No proper water changes though.. they cant.. too scared it will overflow

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- Ma (mm mm)
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I guess you would want to ensure feeding it strictly controlled during this period and followed properly as you know yourself overfeeding could mess everything up seeing as you are away for 6 months, I would work it out and make sure it is stuck to.
N a backup heater too
Mark
Location D.11
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- Alex (Alex)
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I'll see if I can get a flight home to do a water change

Thanks!
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- joey (joe watson)
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just an idea, but if you have someone to feed then if you mark on the sump the min and max levels they surely could top up water for you to the max level. just would you trust them to treat the water?
dunno how you could leave em so long, i hate being away for more than 2 days, and struggle to trust the step daughters BF (fellow fish keeper) to feed correctly if i'm away for a week or more
be careful how much you clean the sump you dont wat to lose too much bacteria even with such a lightly stocked tank for its size
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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- Alex (Alex)
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Joey i have a similar method for water changes.. I just use the garden hose instead.... Ill try convince her to give it a go. Last time she flooded the room so thats put her off doing it:laugh:.
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- joey (joe watson)
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explains everything

how did she manage that then? unless she switched the return pump off, or left the hose running....

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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- Alex (Alex)
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Sumhow the water overflowed out the top of the main tank.... Never happend b4 and iv no idea how it could happen:laugh:....
I'll just laminate a step by step water change guide....
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- joey (joe watson)
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just ring every week (day) to make sure its all going ok, and you can always put her in contact with a few people on here (especially if someone lives near you) just in case she's stuck or its a big emergency
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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I've left handwritten specific instructions, left individual measures in small plastic pill containers with strict instructions not to over feed, Left lights etc on Timers, done filter maintenance including placing bloody expensive polymer nitrate / ammonia stripping sheets and phosphate removing granules, thought of every possible scenario but always returned to fungused Fish, missing fish, Algae etc, the Fish just seem to need routine, maybe it's just me but I've been a long time keeping every type of fish and rarely do I return to a Tank as I left it & I'm only talking about 2-3 weeks. For 6 months I'd strip it and put into dry storage.
I know many here would say they have had no problem but not for 6 Months.
Kev.
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- Alex (Alex)
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She has looked after the tank before... Just never so long, 1 month being the longest. no deaths so far!
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- Ma (mm mm)
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800L 30% change is 240 litres, a large job for a non fish keeper if you aint got a butt and hosing\pumps, maybe more regular smaller changes. My 10L bucket has my back in bits.
MArk
Location D.11
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- joey (joe watson)
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My 10L bucket has my back in bits.
i've 20l cooking oil buckets i use to empty the water with, and mix & fill with 15l buckets. half crippled at this stage
what you could do is leave a mark on the main tank, she switches off pump, syphons off water from main tank (using hose maybe with powerhead??) down the bog/sink/garden until at that line (say, 20%) then just fills the tank with the hose until near the top, turns on pump and continues filling til your max on marker on sump
actually thats still a bit complicated for non fishy types...
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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- Ma (mm mm)
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Mark. wrote:
My 10L bucket has my back in bits.
i've 20l cooking oil buckets i use to empty the water with, and mix & fill with 15l buckets. half crippled at this stage
what you could do is leave a mark on the main tank, she switches off pump, syphons off water from main tank (using hose maybe with powerhead??) down the bog/sink/garden until at that line (say, 20%) then just fills the tank with the hose until near the top, turns on pump and continues filling til your max on marker on sump
actually thats still a bit complicated for non fishy types...
Water straight from hte tap into the tank? I wouldn't do that with Dublin tap mwater withoutntreating it first, that is why I would want a butt in the mix, so I can treat 180L at once and then pump from there.
Mark
Location D.11
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- joey (joe watson)
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Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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