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
Another technique question
- dzbtrout (David Zarza)
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How do you heat water for water changes? Do you use mix of hot-cold tap water to the appropriate temp? Do you have a recipient that you fill with treated water and let it reach temp with heaters?
I have a coldwater tank but it is just out of curiosity.
Thanks,
David
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- adamireland (Adam Jackson)
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- PAULHARTE25 (PAUL HARTE)
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Paul
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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If you have a spare aquarium heater, you can use this too.
It is not recommended to use hot water from your tap. Most hot water tanks/pipes are made with copper and is very bad for fish ! so I was told.
I hope this helps...
Talking about water changes ... I better start now !!

Valerie
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- gardoyle27 (Gareth Doyle)
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- zale (Mark carroll)
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I also have a 200 litre drum outside painted black that I cover with black polythene to stop the wind cooling it. This never gets up to full temp but enough not to shock the fish (usually 19 - 22*).
If it's over cast or winter, I've an old 300w heater.
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- goldy (goldy .)
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- Mr Algae (mralgae mralgae)
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May your fish be with you:
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- goldy (goldy .)
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- niko001 (Noel Cutajar)
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- Mr Algae (mralgae mralgae)
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hi Mr Alge nice to see you back. I didnt know that older pipes were built up a layer. Are there any problems with qualplex or is it safe enough.
hi goldy, its hard to kill a bad thing

if you have your own hot water tank in you apt then your water will come from that so should be ok. even if it comes from a comunial hot tank if the units are more than 5ys old this shouldnt be a problem either.
although i have heard of no reports back but even using a good dechlorinator that also removes heavy metals should be fine. every thing has moved forward from yrs ago when a water change was just that water straight from the tap when back then water from the hot taps was dangerous to use.
May your fish be with you:
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- betdownbiddy (ciaran geraghty)
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Seamus
Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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