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
RO Water
Been a while since I posted. I feel this may be a stupid question but Im gonna ask anyway.
Im soon goin to be changing my set up from a tanganyikan cichlid setup to a community setup with Hatchets, Corys, Tetras, Guppies and a Pleco or 2. My tap water hass a pH of 7.2 which is a bit high for these guys. Can I use RO Water to cycle the tank and do all water changes? Should I use my own tap water and soften it somehow? Im asking as Ive talked to other keepers in the shops and they said they prefer tap water than RO.
Any help appreciated guys,
Thanks,
Wayne
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Just realised I put this in the marine section. If one of the mods could move it to the freshwater section that would be great.
Thanks,
Wayne
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pH 7.2 would be better than unstable water (which RO water is).
Ignoring the guppies for a moment, as they would prefer a slightly higher pH anyway, I would possibly assume that the other fish are captive bred and that the Hatchet is not a black winged hatchet (and if you have seen black winged for sale, then let me know
) then pH 7.2 will be fine if it stays around that mark.A good healthy stable water at pH 7.2 is much better than unstable water (irrespective of having the right pH at the time of testing the water).
As for cycling with RO water....getting the nitrifying bacteria to grow in unstable conditions is not going work. The bacteria prefer a good alkalinity and would also prefer a somewhat alkaline pH to go with that.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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Thats perfect. Im glad I asked now cos I was gettin a bit worried bout the pH levels. Hoping to get the setup changed soon. Havent seen the black winged hatchet but I most certainly have been looking
Thanks a lot anyway. Keep meaning to pop down and see your set ups. Thinking of heading down in the mornin! Might see you there 
Wayne
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