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
Organic Aqua
- apm (Andy McKenna)
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But the instructions on the box don't give much info , so looked on the OA site , not exactly a lot on there . Luckily I trawled through this forum , at length ,learned that OA does not do well at low PH levels , does not suit planted tanks , the plant fertilizer OA recomended to use on a forum discussion is not mentioned on their site.
While I'm sure some people find OA does well in certain situations I do feel the basic info on ph and plants should be on the instructions on the website , also the stockist I bought OA from gives only the info from the OA website , misleading .
am using the medication pack only, as that has good feedback,but still feel conned.
The lesson being read all info available on this forum first.
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- hammie (Neil Hammerton)
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I myself have used OA in 3 tanks at different times!!! Great results every time from my own experience!
But with everything you do have to do your own research before you go adding something to your tank!
I have friends that swear by certain process's and proceedures..... unfortunately when I replicated these, I had MAJOR issues in my tanks!
Unfortunately it seems that something that works for one wont necessarily work for All!!!!
Best of luck
Neil
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- Homer (Kevin)
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Kev.
The Glass is always greener on the other side.
It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!
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- apm (Andy McKenna)
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for the information I found on here which saved me a lot of problems ,luckily i did research OA before using it . Just feel conned that the manufacturers and distributors do not provide full info either with the product or online.
Anyway glad OA worked well for you , as a matter of interest do you have low ph. or lots of plants in your tanks ? These two issues seem to be the biggest problem.
best wishes,Andy
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- Homer (Kevin)
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Kev.
The Glass is always greener on the other side.
It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!
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- ger310 (Ger .)
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Surely testing was done on many tank conditions when they were inventing this stuff so why not have more info on there site?
Many people are saying it works for them,and i'm sure it does but i'll be needing a lot more info on it before i'll be using it.
Ger
What do you call a three legged Donkey?
A Wonkey....duh ha

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- hammie (Neil Hammerton)
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I read about the instability of low ph tanks but a friend who been using it for alot longer than I have kept fish assured me it was safe in his opinion! Only for that I might not have used it either to be honest
Neil
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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I agree the manufacturers give very little info on there products. They won't even give the distributors any decent info.
IMO regarding very soft water with a low ph (4-6) I would recommend changing water every 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks.
Once the ph is above 6 and kh+gh are above 2 changing water every 4 weeks is fine.
The harder the water and the higher the ph (to a point) the better it seems to work.
It can work in planted tanks but not with Co2. You need to much surface movement to keep Co2 in the water.
There own plant food IME is not great.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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I told the supplier here that the manufacturer's website is the biggest enemy to the product and that it needs to change.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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- JohnH (John)
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There is a very long and detailed tread about this on the forum somewhere.
I agree the manufacturers give very little info on there products. They won't even give the distributors any decent info.
IMO regarding very soft water with a low ph (4-6) I would recommend changing water every 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks.
Once the ph is above 6 and kh+gh are above 2 changing water every 4 weeks is fine.
The harder the water and the higher the ph (to a point) the better it seems to work.
It can work in planted tanks but not with Co2. You need to much surface movement to keep Co2 in the water.
There own plant food IME is not great.
Here's the thread - started by Derek way back.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php?optio...797&Itemid=200#39797
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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- alan 64 (alan)
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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I use it on my cichlid thank and it's great I've never had a sick fish but that's high ph, the only thing I found out a few months into use is that I wasn't getting the growth rate on the fish as the water changes were down to just once a month, so now I use carbon to remove the growth stunting hormone the fish release and syphon the gravel once a week to remove excess waste and this does no harm and the fish are growing better now, but it is not recommended for growing fish in and maybee that should of been pointed out on there site
To be honest, when you read the manufacturer's website, it does not come across like they know much about fish keeping nor water chemistry.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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one is JohnH's review of his start of using it (why did you forget this one John ?)
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php?optio...id=101898&Itemid=200
and here is one that looks at the possible workings and pros-n-cons of OA
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php?optio...id=101898&Itemid=200
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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