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
Increasing Nitrates
- alan61979 (Alan)
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What I'm wondering is how high and how quickly should I go when increasing the Nitrate level?
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- ghart (Greg Hart)
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Regards,
Greg
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- alan61979 (Alan)
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I'll test my tap water now and see what the Nitrate reading is........
Edit, tap water Nitrate reading is also 0.
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- ghart (Greg Hart)
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I am looking to moving to a 500 Ltr tank soon to make more room for my Discus.
You say you are using a sump for the tank with tropical fish. I would be interested on seeing the tank setup. Can you post a photo. Include the sump setup if possible.
I was looking at going with a marine setup and sump but was working out too expensive.
I know I am not answering your query but your setup interests me.
Regards,
Greg
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- alan61979 (Alan)
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It's an Aquamedic Percula bow front.
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- ghart (Greg Hart)
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On the Plant side I recently introduced a CO2 Diffuser and have been amazed at the increase in plant growth and rich green foliage.I would recommend using one if you have not already done so.
regards,
greg
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Just a thought, btw, CO2 is definitely the only way to go, Easy carbo and Flourish excel are great but CO2 are the Elixir of Life.
Kev.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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- manius112 (Mariusz Kaminski)
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If thats right you have only 0,3 W/L also if NO3 is O plants wouldn't grow. You can try K (potassium) but plants need much more than K to grow.
To increase NO3 in ya tank you can use KNO3 or Ca(NO3)2.4(H2O) or you can add more fish or shrimps to tank and get natural NO3.
For plants you need NO3 - 10-20ppm but you cant forget about PO4, K, Ca, Mg, Fe and micro.
Visit this forum for more information and use Fertilator to see what you can use to increase NO3 etc and dry fertilizers you can use.
Read about Tom Barr Report. EI its great for plants.
If you can test other parameters of water.
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- alan61979 (Alan)
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Thanks for all the tips, here's a pic of the back of tank sump!

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The first compartment has the sponges, second has the bio balls under the while plastic grill. The third compartment has the auto top up system in it, it also doubles up as my nursery for my Endlers fry. I keep them there till there big enough for the main tank.
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- omen (Conor)
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