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
HELP NEEDED FAST......
- cathaloc2 (cathaloc2)
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o'connor
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- cathaloc2 (cathaloc2)
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o'connor
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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Do another 50% change with tap water and add a carbon filther to your tank immediately. Do another change tomorrow.
Throw the carbo out after 3 days and add another filther.
Never use rain water unless you are storing it in a proper container and/or are filthering it through carbon/zeolite before adding it to the tank.
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- cathaloc2 (cathaloc2)
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o'connor
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- KenS (Ken Simpson)
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I use a standard black bin for my water changes, but the water is only in there about an hour. Long term storage is where you can get problems.
Regards,
Ken.
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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ok i already change the filter earlier but i got the water from a container so i dont no il keep it safe and use tape from now on cheers
What colour was the container.
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- cathaloc2 (cathaloc2)
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o'connor
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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That water has just run off your roof. Apart from bird crap/Moss/cement and probably Aspestos that water wil have run off lead from the valeys.
I can see myself strangling you now. :cry: :cry:
Where is me Shovel.

Are you sure you don`t connect it to a funnell. Burn that before you get the urge to use it again.
Make sure you do the water changes and keep adding the carbon.
Don`t think you are out of the woods yet.
Can anyone here give him a marine poly filther. I hope you don`t loose any more fish mate. Have you got another tank you can put your fish into while you empty that one. Hope you have got lucky and caugt it in time.
What ever you do, change the carbon in a few days and add some more.
Keep us posted.
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- cathaloc2 (cathaloc2)
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ye i hope its ok
pipe funnel same thing you get the point anyway
o'connor
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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- JohnH (John)
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Would not putting a fair percentage of Rain Water (presumably much sofer with lower pH) cause difficulties for them?
Just a thought.... :idea:
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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- cathaloc2 (cathaloc2)
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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There is nothing wrong with using rainwater. I did it for years when I was living in a hard water area. RO units weren't available at the time. But you have to tale precautions. Only collect water when it has been raining for a couple of days. Filter the rainwater through carbon for a couple of days. I wouldn't use rainwater if you have a fairly new roof since the undelay will contamínate the rainwater for a couple of years.
He used a contraption that collected rain from a drain pipe. Not the smartes thing if you ask me. We all do stupid thngs, please don`t take this remarkt he wrong way catoloc.
If your going to advice him to collect rain water Holger then at least give a safe example.
I did not know that it was a Venustus that died and maybe I missed something reading the posts( not been a great week for me and it keeps getting worse but thats my business) Had to be some sort of Toxin and not the pH that killed the fish.
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- cathaloc2 (cathaloc2)
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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not quite following you. What do you mean by positive example? I'm not Mr Motivator here, neither do I ever intend to be.
Didn't I state that rainwater should only be collected after it has been raining for a couple of days and to filter it through carbon?
Where else but the drainpipe would you collect it? Most of them are made from PVC and are food safe. You are hardly suggesting to collect water by putting containers on the roof?
Holger
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- russell (russell)
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What I use to do was to get a pair of tights. ccut off one leg and fill with floss/filter fibre, put some carbon on top and then another layer of floss , TIE it to the end of the downpipe, you find the water barrell free from any rubbish provided you keep a lid on it. Simple
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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@ Anthony,
not quite following you. What do you mean by positive example? I'm not Mr Motivator here, neither do I ever intend to be.
Didn't I state that rainwater should only be collected after it has been raining for a couple of days and to filter it through carbon?
Where else but the drainpipe would you collect it? Most of them are made from PVC and are food safe. You are hardly suggesting to collect water by putting containers on the roof?
Holger
You might as well collect it from the roof then. Is there not a proper funnel type thing you can use. I can`t see how collecting rain from a roof can be safe unless it was covered in a sheet of plactic.
Pardon my ignorance as I don`t have any experience with this sort of thing.
Ps. I just wanted to have a bit of a rant so sorry for taking it out on you. :roll:
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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If you have slate roof tiles there is no problem collecting water from the roof after the rain has washed all the dust and scum of it. That's why I said only to collect rainwater after a couple of days rain. After all slate is used in fish tanks because it is inert.
My in-laws are builders and many a roooftile has found it's way into my tanks...
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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You are on the game???
If you seen me last weekend you might have believed that.
Chris was trying to get the pics that my cousin sent the other half but I saved the day in time. Looked like the ugly sister from Shrek.

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