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
Tips for doing water changes????
I've two tanks - a 300 l semi aggressive and and 550 aggressive
I syphon out two buckets out of the 300 and 4 buckets out of the 550 every sunday and then fill them up with 6 buckets that i've kept for the week at room temperature.
When filling the buckets after a water change i stick in a capful of the tap water stuff and bacteria stuff. Yes i'm very technical.
Only downside is that i've 6 buckets of water constantly sitting out beside the washing maching - doesn't bother me but the bird isn't impressed
I just chuck the buckets in on top of the fish cos they seem to like it. I don't have anything fragile like discus or anyting like that though.
I'm of the thinking, if it's not broke, don't fix it so i'm gonna continue what i'm doing and not try anything fancy
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If you bring your empty bottles of dechlorinator into Pete in Aquapaws in Galway, he'll fill them for half price. Cheaper and environmently friendly
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sean
Sean Crowe
ITFS Member
Location: Navan
Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
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As for the filter itself, I don't think filling the tank from a water source from the same level as the filter will do any harm. Just think that all the pumps located in sumps do this 24/7 and most of them are not so powerfull as an FX5.
@draco: My comment on the % was meant to be a joke, we all do mistakes and not all the time proof-read to spot them. I guess I forgot to add a smiley to my comment
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the last time i looked they where about 90 to 100 in the shops crazy price
thanks
sean
Sean Crowe
ITFS Member
Location: Navan
Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
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How can the treated water harm the bacteria in the filter when filling the tank through the filter? After all, when doing 50% W/C, the new water will go through the filter in matter of minutes if poured straight to the tank and the water is after all treated to get rid of all nastities from it.
As for the filter itself, I don't think filling the tank from a water source from the same level as the filter will do any harm. Just think that all the pumps located in sumps do this 24/7 and most of them are not so powerfull as an FX5.
@draco: My comment on the % was meant to be a joke, we all do mistakes and not all the time proof-read to spot them. I guess I forgot to add a smiley to my comment
The FX5 is siphon-in filter that does rely on gravity somewhat ie water movement into the canister is passive; the outflow is active.
In a sump, the water is gravity-in based (passive) and uses a pump to return the water upwards to the tank (active).
The canister of the FX5 is like a sump, and its pump is the return pump. You still need to get water into the canister....even though the fx5 has a fancy start system, it is still passive intake.
The water level of the source for the fx5 needs to be about at least one foot above the top of the canister.
On the bacteria...it depends on what species you have growing. The sudden shock of fresh water (even if treated) having quite different water parameters to what they have adapted to can be damaging to one extent or another. If you do a 50% water change, then the change in water within the canister is not necessarily a sudden all-for-one 50% change....it will be subtle (a bit like introducing a new fish into the tank with partial water changes in the bag or whatever).
One of the things that you don't to do is to have a mass kill-off of bacteria within the filter.....it is not that death of filter system is necessarily the biggest problem as that can be easily overcome; but the toxic compounds churned back into the tank may cause havoc.
The nitrosofying bacteria are tougher than the nitrifying bacteria though. That difference is quite important.
Ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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