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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

lower ph

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29 Aug 2011 23:01 #1 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
Will peat moss , bogwood and amone leaves bring ph down much in a tank.
I dont really want to go the chemical route but want to try and get my ph below 6 if at all possible.I have not messed around bring ph down before more up and that is easier i am reading .
Any tips and suggestions would be very helpful for me as i am trying to research as much as i can so i can get the conditions perfect for my new L107 fish.
Thanks in advance for any help people can give me :-)

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30 Aug 2011 00:02 #2 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
.....as pH is about chemicals, then you can't avoid the 'chemical route'; and, if you're going to use peat or bogwood etc then that IS going the chemical route.

Anyway, the effect on pH will depend on the alkalinity of the water (the degree to which the water will neutralise acids) and the strength of any bases (the opposite of acids) in the water.

The additions you say would tend to lower pH but it is not possible to say how much they will lower the pH without knowing exactly the conditions of your water and the acid-giving capabilities of the individual pieces of additions.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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30 Aug 2011 08:13 #3 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
Replied by ceech (Desmond Gaynor) on topic Re: lower ph
I suppose time will tell the water from my tap is around 7 ph.
Its a bit daunting to get it down i want to have low ph but more importantly i want it to be constant which i think is much better for the fish.

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30 Aug 2011 09:47 #4 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
The actual pH of your tap water is almost irrelevant when trying to drop the pH.
What is important is the alkalinity and buffering capacity.

I'll give an example.....if you had 1000 litres of absoluetly pure water at pH 7 and you had a spot of hydrochloric acid on your fingers when you place them in the water the pH would rocket down.
If, however, you had water at pH 7 but was buffered somewhat or had high alkalinity then a spot of hydrochloric acid woul probably do nothing.

To have stable acidic water of low pH you need to have a high alkalinity in the water. If not then the water could be susceptible to pH swings up and down like a yo yo.

Bogwood, peat, etc etc give plenty of weak acids....and they will act as buffers. If you use strong or mineral acids then they offer little buffering.

However, pH is not the be all and end all of why we strive for low pH with certain species.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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