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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

Pond Soil as Aquarium

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01 Jun 2010 08:33 #1 by stretnik (stretnik)
Pond Soil as Aquarium was created by stretnik (stretnik)
Hi there,

I'm re doing my main Tank as a mainly Planted setup, has anyone any experience using shop bought Pond Soil as a base for the main substrate?

I used it years ago but I can't remember how well it went but I remember it was left in situ for a year or two.

Pond soil is used in Pond planters because it is low in Algae causing nutrients like Nitrogen. I just had the normal hard wearing Plants that are bullet proof so it is difficult to assess the suitability of it for more controlled situations.


Kev.

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01 Jun 2010 21:01 #2 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Pond Soil as Aquarium
Anyone?


Kev.

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01 Jun 2010 21:07 #3 by NosIreland (Andrius Kozeniauskas)
It was proven long ago that Nitrates and phosfates do not couse algae.
If you are looking for cheap option then cat liter or Akadama are your best options.
I have plants growing in both of them.

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01 Jun 2010 21:13 #4 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Pond Soil as Aquarium
Ah thanks, I've heard about the Cat Litter, obviously the granular hard stuff, I'm just visualising someone putting the clumping stuff in, doesn't bare thinking about.... Have you any idea what it's made of and if it affects hardness or ph?

Kev.

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01 Jun 2010 21:25 #5 by paulbohs (Paul Doyle)
NosIreland wrote:

It was proven long ago that Nitrates and phosfates do not couse algae.
If you are looking for cheap option then cat liter or Akadama are your best options.
I have plants growing in both of them.


where was it proven that nitrates and phosphates do not cause algae? I've always cured algae by reducing phosphates

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01 Jun 2010 21:55 #6 by NosIreland (Andrius Kozeniauskas)
stretnik wrote:

Ah thanks, I've heard about the Cat Litter, obviously the granular hard stuff, I'm just visualising someone putting the clumping stuff in, doesn't bare thinking about.... Have you any idea what it's made of and if it affects hardness or ph?

Kev.

I does not affect hardness or ph. I'm keeping CRS shrimps in one of the nano tanks with cat litter. The 400l is occupied by discus.
It is made of clay baked in high temperature it has high CEC.
Here is the tank that I have it in www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...ew/catid,6/id,65100/
Akadama is also nice, a bit bigger grain size and darker compared to cat litter.

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01 Jun 2010 22:09 #7 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Pond Soil as Aquarium
Cheers, I appreciate your help, I remember that vid, nice setup, is that the Cat litter in that setup?
I read that you can't be sure what clay was used because they use different types, what brand do you use?

Mental ! I can't believe I'm discussing Cat litter lol.

Kev.

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01 Jun 2010 22:21 #8 by NosIreland (Andrius Kozeniauskas)
paulbohs wrote:

NosIreland wrote:

It was proven long ago that Nitrates and phosfates do not couse algae.
If you are looking for cheap option then cat liter or Akadama are your best options.
I have plants growing in both of them.


where was it proven that nitrates and phosphates do not cause algae? I've always cured algae by reducing phosphates


Sorry most likely will not find the article, but if you have a read in a link that I've posted bellow you'll see waht I;m talking about.
The nutrients them self do not cause algae it's the lack of them that does. If you want to have algae free planted tank then you've to balance it, so that there were no limiting factors. In the tank you must have enough CO2, macro nutrients(NPK) and micro nutrients.
In planted tanks people have to add Phosfates, Nitrates and other nutrients to keep the palnts happy. Now I'm not saying that you have to add loads. Also you have to have plants in the tank to use those nutrients. There is no point adding any stuff if you have just couple of plants as the bio load from fish would provide more than enough.

The are many diferent dosing methods: EI, PPS, PMDD etc.
Zig has done good post regarding EI: www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...ew/catid,6/id,69143/

In my opinion the main causes of algae in planted tanks are lack CO2 and bad water circulation.

Have read about algae here:
www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/
mralgae.blogspot.com/2008/01/so-you-have...ed-weed-in-your.html
www.barrreport.com/forum.php

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01 Jun 2010 22:27 #9 by NosIreland (Andrius Kozeniauskas)
stretnik wrote:

Cheers, I appreciate your help, I remember that vid, nice setup, is that the Cat litter in that setup?
I read that you can't be sure what clay was used because they use different types, what brand do you use?

Mental ! I can't believe I'm discussing Cat litter lol.

Kev.


Yes, it is Tesco premium light weight cat litter in the video. 6Euro for 10l bag.
There is one problem with it though it is scented. You have to wash it properly.
I left it outside in the bucked for couple weeks in a rainy season and that did the trick.
I've read somewhere that Lidl has something similar which is not scented.

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02 Jun 2010 14:19 #10 by PabloGalway (Pawel Stiburski)

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