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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

Lighting

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20 Nov 2011 20:18 #1 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
Hi all I have a vision 260 with standard lights and I'm in the process of getting a co2 system for the tank and I just wondered does anyone know if the lights will be good enough for plant growth and while using co2 should I also use a ph controller. And also just want to add I'm not aqua scaping or anything I just want my plants to grow and last it's gonna be used for discus corys an cardinals

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20 Nov 2011 20:39 #2 by m4r10 (m4r10)
Replied by m4r10 (m4r10) on topic Re: Lighting
It really depends on the plants you're getting, as there are plants that do well in low light conditions. Anyway, every little helps with the plants, so adding CO2 won't harm them, but them you need to add fertilizers as the faster plant growth will demand it.
You can go as high as you want with the CO2 in a plants only set-up, when adding fish you need to be more careful as you can kill them. I have a JBL permanent CO2 test, but it's not very reliable, so I just stopped short of fish gasping for air. It is trickier to get the balance right, but your fish will be the best test of the amount of CO2 in the tank.

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20 Nov 2011 20:40 - 20 Nov 2011 20:41 #3 by ted30 (Damo Mac an Bhaird)
perfect setup for a low light planted tank. Use plenty of wood branches with ferns, mosses and anubis. U can have a stunning tank setup. I will add that adding co2 without a ph controller would only improve the growth of the plants. U could add smaller amounts of ferts if u wanted to also. But those plants would grow but at a slower rate. I did years ago and they can be as stunning as a high light tank.

Location: Carrickmacross, County Monaghan
Last edit: 20 Nov 2011 20:41 by ted30 (Damo Mac an Bhaird).

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20 Nov 2011 20:55 #4 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: Lighting
When you say standard Lighting, what do you mean? some come/came with T5 others with T8 Bulbs.
If you are using T5 High outputs and the Tank depth is around 18 Inches, you will have no problem growing the easier Plants.

Kev.

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21 Nov 2011 19:38 #5 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
Thanks for the replies lads now to figure out how to set the thing up I bought it second hand so no instructions :( ha

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21 Nov 2011 19:48 #6 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
Replied by ceech (Desmond Gaynor) on topic Re: Lighting
what type model CO2 ?
T5 Lighting works well as long as you have a good mixture of light CO2 AND air-

The CO2 is really setup easy.

Ask away what help you need.

Most of them are co2 tank,air bubbler valve,co2 diffuser and some connect to the external filter. with the diffuser.You could also buy a solenoid valve that will open and close on a timer for whenyou have bubbles per minute setup ;-),saves trying to mess with it each day.

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21 Nov 2011 22:10 #7 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
I have it up and running now on a timer with a solinoid valve one final question how many bubbles should I be getting at the minute it's just over a couple a second very very small bubbles

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21 Nov 2011 22:39 #8 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
Replied by BlueRam (Sean Crowe) on topic Re: Lighting
have u got live stock in the tank at the moment if not then it is the best time to crack up the CO2 ta wat the plant would love but the high levels off CO2 for not help the live stock as fer bubbles per sec start at 1 or 2 per sec and see how u get on and then work from there it is all about trail and error mate some lads dont really go by the bubble counters as they just see how the live stock is in the tank

sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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22 Nov 2011 18:59 #9 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
Sorry lads one lads question for yas but the gy I bought the co2 from was saying that I shouldn use a air pump while using a co2 system why is that?

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22 Nov 2011 20:00 #10 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: Lighting
I copied and pasted this because I'm too tired to type this evening. It is from Tropical Fishkeeping.com

The purpose in adding CO2 is to get more carbon dioxide into the water, presumably to increase plant growth or sometimes to lower the pH (it does this notwithstanding). Any device that causes surface disturbance or excessive water movement increases the exchange of gasses at the surface, by expelling CO2 faster and bringing oxygen in faster. So in this regard, the two systems are working at cross purposes.

Assuming your use of CO2 is for plant growth, this can only help during the daylight since plants do not photosynthesize during darkness. Therefore, CO2 diffusion is usually turned off during darkness, otherwise it is just wasted and may cause a serious depletion of oxygen. At the same time, those with heavily planted tanks sometimes suggest running an airstone at night to ensure sufficient oxygen. This is only necessary in tanks with CO2 diffusion during the day.

Byron.

Read more: www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-a...60018/#ixzz1eSxp9CVI

Kev.

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22 Nov 2011 20:35 #11 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
Couldnt have done it without yous lass thanks very much what do you guys use for plant weights because I'm not sure

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