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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

Plant/cycle or cycle then plant?

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18 May 2013 10:22 #1 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Hi

As subject says how do you guys/gals start a planted tank? It would appear to make sense to plant before the tank is full but how do the plants effect the cycle process and how are the plants effected by having no fish providing food.

Thx
Dec

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18 May 2013 10:58 #2 by JohnH (John)
While hardly being considered anything like a 'plant person' I remember well, back in the 'good old days' we used to plant a tank and leave them to get established for a couple of weeks before a fish was introduced - and it worked fine...then, so my suggestion would be to plant first.
Nowadays, with plant nutrition etc the plants 'kind of' start a mini-cycle of their own. Indeed, I have kept smaller tanks running perfectly well with just plants - acting as biological filtration systems themselves.
This may not be acceptable now - but was fine then, albeit with smaller quantities of fish in them - it will be interesting to read observations from 'proper' planted tank keepers.
John

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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18 May 2013 11:34 #3 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
It makes little difference, but planting a tank before fish are added is the better option.

When the plants are planted, they contribute to the bioload by not providing nitrogenous waste from their breakdown of dead leaves and roots, but are also likely to innoculate the tank with some additional variations of the "beneficial" bacteria that could contribute to the maturation process in the tank.

With some groups of plant, you will expect some acclimatisation die-back of some leaves when first introduced: they will contribute to the nitrogenous waste, and better it done whilst fish are not in the tank to avoid an increased bioload whilst fish are present.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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18 May 2013 12:06 #4 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Thx lads I can get started on partial fill and planting, be nice to get water in it it has taken ages to get this far with not being able pick stuff up in LFSs.

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18 May 2013 12:08 #5 by JohnH (John)

Thx lads I can get started on partial fill and planting, be nice to get water in it it has taken ages to get this far with not being able pick stuff up in LFSs.


Be nice to see - in snapshots - how this progresses from 'dry' to a fully fledged planted tank (please).

John

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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18 May 2013 13:59 #6 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Yeah John I'll keep adding upside down pics to the other post. I had to cover up my silicone handy work before putting up any pics. DIY is so not my thing

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