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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

Cycling an Aquarium Methods

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14 Jan 2014 12:51 #1 by alan61979 (Alan)
I'm an experienced fish keeper of many years. When maturing a new tank I've always used the 28 day method. I have no problem being patient and waiting for the cycle to complete and it's always worked for me.

But,

I'm about to set up a tank for a friend again. I did this for him a few years ago and he went against all my advice and it turned into a disaster for him.

I know he won't have the patience to wait 28 days and test his water, before adding fish, so I'm looking for alternative methods.

Is there a quick fix solution nowadays? I'm aware of the Organic Aqua, but I don't think it's suitable for my friend. He'll forget to add the solution every week and I can't see him being regimental when it comes to water changes. He'll do them but maybe not at the designated time.

I'm hoping there's a magic bottle of instant filter or something out there.

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14 Jan 2014 13:13 #2 by Ski (Alan McGee)
There is alright Alan. I've used this in the past and have just set up a new 60 liter tank with it - Nutrafin Cycle.

Has worked twice for me without any fish loss

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14 Jan 2014 13:15 #3 by Ski (Alan McGee)
You just dose the tank for the first three days

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14 Jan 2014 13:23 #4 by alan61979 (Alan)
You can then add fish, after 3 days?

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14 Jan 2014 13:31 #5 by Esoxluciouss (denis goulding)
i have used it on big tanks,, but cycling a nano at the moment the old way...

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14 Jan 2014 13:33 - 14 Jan 2014 13:36 #6 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Organic Aqua might be right up his street.... just make sure if he uses his phone alot you set a reminder in the phone to add the silution
Instant stocking is ok.

Just regular additives each week and a 25% monthly water change

I used it for my little fellows 190litre and its worked a treat..... no issues at all

Either that or take a squeeze of a mature filter and speed up his cycle big time.....

Ive also ran a filter in my matured tank, then taken water and filter out to setup a smaller tank that way??
Last edit: 14 Jan 2014 13:36 by hammie (Neil Hammerton).

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14 Jan 2014 13:36 #7 by alan61979 (Alan)

There is another product called Organic Aqua that might be right up his street....
Instant stocking is ok.

Just regular additives each week and a 25% monthly water change

I used it for my little fellows 190litre and its worked a treat..... no issues at all


Read the FULL opening post :laugh:

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14 Jan 2014 13:37 #8 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Sorry Alan....
I jumped the gun a little but then i edited my post

:whistle:

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14 Jan 2014 13:47 #9 by Ski (Alan McGee)
I've added fish on the first day using this. Have declorinated the water as well though

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14 Jan 2014 15:46 - 14 Jan 2014 15:59 #10 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Tetra "Safestart" (Not Aquasafe) works really well........You add it to the tank when you add your first fish(s)...I would only add about 6 small fish max at first though....After about 10 to 14 days (depending on water readings for Ammonia & NitrIte) you should be able to add more fish...

"Safestart" is good bacteria in a bottle...

Be very careful with feeding when establishing a tank this way...One little feed every other day is enough until the tank is established...
Last edit: 14 Jan 2014 15:59 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered).

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14 Jan 2014 15:47 #11 by paulv (paul vickers)
Pity you cant get your friend to use organic aqua, it is the least maintainance of all the systems and it does work. Failing this is any of the instant filter start up products work well once you slowly add your fish stock. As your an experienced keeper your friend is in good hands.

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14 Jan 2014 15:52 #12 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Hey Paul, managed to get my hands on some channa pleuro so these bad boys are in my new 60 liter grow out tank :)

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14 Jan 2014 16:06 #13 by Esoxluciouss (denis goulding)
jbl also do one...

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14 Jan 2014 17:08 #14 by paulv (paul vickers)

Hey Paul, managed to get my hands on some channa pleuro so these bad boys are in my new 60 liter grow out tank :)

well done, now im jelous, ive just looked them up online, if yours colour up like ive seen, they will be realy beautiful fish, if you ever wanna rehome 1 you know where I am :cool:

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14 Jan 2014 17:57 #15 by Ski (Alan McGee)

Hey Paul, managed to get my hands on some channa pleuro so these bad boys are in my new 60 liter grow out tank :)

well done, now im jelous, ive just looked them up online, if yours colour up like ive seen, they will be realy beautiful fish, if you ever wanna rehome 1 you know where I am :cool:


Yeah delighted with them now alright. Have been trying to get them for years

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14 Jan 2014 18:01 #16 by alan61979 (Alan)
Thanks for the suggestions.

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14 Jan 2014 18:15 #17 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
"Bacteria in a bottle (or a sachet)" is a good method. Different brands work better than others, but they work in general.

However, they do not protect against someone overfeeding during the initial period and they do not fully mature a tank either.
Hence, I would recommend a small amount of PolyFilter added to soak up that slight overloads (or an ammonia adsorbign zeolite can do the trick).

No matter which way you attempt to mature a tank, it won't be mature until quite a long time after fish are added.
The methods above are just a quick-fix emergency means.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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14 Jan 2014 18:29 #18 by alan61979 (Alan)
What about the suggestion of taking some filter media from my tank?

Is it as simple as that? I use bio balls in my filter. If I took a few of them and put them in his, would that give him a kick start and enable him to add a few small fish early on?

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14 Jan 2014 18:33 #19 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
The old filter squeezings and water from a mature (or maturer) tank works well.

The draw backs maybe that there is enough difference in water chemistry between the tanks that much of the transferred bacteria die, the source tank may have a disease (and a new tank is more likely to fall apart under a disease), and someone starting out may not find an easy source of a filter squeezing (now....I know that here the OP is offering a sample of filter, but that is not always available to all newbies).

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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