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
What fish? **Water Readings Added**
I luuuuuuv looking at the tank! so timer it on from 16:00 till 23:00
I've printed off some light reading re the cycle for some bedtime reading.
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There are 5 sponges in it : 1 core sponge (blue), 2 finer sponges (blue), 1 nitrate removing sponge (green), 1 carbon sponge (black) as well as a white filter pad. The Juwel litterature recommends you change them quite often. In actual fact, you don't need to. When the flow is reduced or upon maintenance, you just rinse them in 'old' tank water. I might change the white pad every 2 or 3 months.
The carbon sponge is not really required either. You probably can remove it if you wish. It is said that they absorb nasties until a certain stage and then leech them back into the water. Carbon is really required if you want to remove medicine or tannin coloration from bog wood for example.
In any case, you don't need to clean your filter just now !
Valerie
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The Juwel nitrate removal sponge explains the difference between your tanks nitrate level of 10 and your tapwater nitrate level of 20 (which is high for tapwater!).
Nitrate is the end-product of the nitrogen cycle and over time causes stress in fish if allowed to build up; hence water changes. Your tapwater nitrate level is high at 20(mine is less than 5) but the Juwel filter sponge must be doing it's job if it's already down to 10.
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You must match the temperature of the water being added; I use a kettle of hot water & mix with cold water (treated as above) in a 2 gallon bucket until temp is almost the same.
Use a piece of hosepipe (dedicated) to siphon the water both in & out of the tank.
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When you 20% change is done (make sure you heater doesnt overheat or run dry & turn off the filter if you need to before the change), then you go and check your new water and make sure it matches the temperature within a degree or so of the tank water and just pour it in slowly. Change done,record it on you diary that I recommended you to use!! Dont test the water until the next day if you had water issues as the reading can take a few hours to read correctly
Simple but a pain in the as* when its every week,although for some strange reason I enjoy weekly water changes! In fact I must do them tonight!
Gavin
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I also quite enjoy doing water changes; makes me scrutinize the tank and I often see the fish physically enjoy the new water being added.
It's far easier to do a 15-20% water change weekly/bi-weekly than leaving it and trying to clean up after an algae outbreak. Never mind the stress to the fish the nitrate causes!
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