×
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

planning permission granted

More
03 Jul 2016 19:30 #211 by alan 64 (alan)
I once did a test with oa and the readings were off the chart but the fish were grand

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
03 Jul 2016 21:01 #212 by robert (robert carter)
Think i am probaly going to stay on the oa till i get back from hols in middle of september at least that would give about 3 months for the media to cycle. Added the weekly dose of the oa liquid to the tank today

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
04 Jul 2016 01:23 #213 by paulv (paul vickers)
Using OA takes a big leap of faith, it goes against anything we know of natural cycling. Like I said in a previous post, watch the health and behaviour of your fish to judge the water quality. If your fish are feeding and happy swimming about the tank then the water is fine.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
08 Jul 2016 18:17 #214 by robert (robert carter)
the project started
Attachments:

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
08 Jul 2016 18:21 #215 by robert (robert carter)
the project ongoing
Attachments:

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
08 Jul 2016 18:22 #216 by paulv (paul vickers)
Typical fish keeper, once we have some floor space the only logical thing to fill it with is a fish tank B)

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
08 Jul 2016 18:25 #217 by robert (robert carter)
stage 1 of the project

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
08 Jul 2016 18:30 #218 by robert (robert carter)
stage 2 with a little help from the wife and granddaughter , the dog looks on

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
08 Jul 2016 18:33 #219 by robert (robert carter)
tank filled

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
08 Jul 2016 18:35 #220 by robert (robert carter)
looking good day one
Attachments:

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
09 Jul 2016 23:30 #221 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Looks deadly !

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
10 Jul 2016 21:26 #222 by paulv (paul vickers)
The excitement of filling a new tank for the first time, it's what makes us all do it over and over. Great photo story. Super looking fish.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
12 Jul 2016 18:15 #223 by robert (robert carter)
did a revamp on the tank a piece of bogwood and a few plants for colour , your views please
Attachments:

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
12 Jul 2016 18:17 #224 by robert (robert carter)
water a bit cloudy as working in the tank stirs things up a bit . even managed to post the pictures myself

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
15 Jul 2016 10:03 #225 by paulv (paul vickers)
Just my opinion Robert but I'd take the bog wood out. Fish look good, some lovely colours.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
15 Jul 2016 12:15 #226 by robert (robert carter)
I put the bog wood in because its a deep tank 24 inches and i thought it gave it a bit of structure, heightwise , hoping Gavin in Newlands
got some small koi , as looking to put the final 8 in to reach my stocking level , but now getting very picky on what goes in . So keep checking the webcam . For the moment i think iwill leave the bog wood in .

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
15 Jul 2016 17:59 - 15 Jul 2016 18:00 #227 by paulv (paul vickers)
As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Bog wood will lower the ph and make the water little brownish. I'd use something like tall java plants, even false ones to add height to the tank.
Is Gavin in newlands the small guy in his 40's, if so, then he knows his fish.
Last edit: 15 Jul 2016 18:00 by paulv (paul vickers).

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
15 Jul 2016 18:51 #228 by robert (robert carter)
The piece of bogwood came , out of one of newlands tanks hense it sinks and the tanning have already come out, i know it tends to lower PH which is not great as koi like about 7.5 but tomorrow is another day and i might have changed my mind by then . Plants are a bit of a hit and miss with koi as they dig like mad so at present their is a mix of real and artifical . Gavin is the guy you are taliking about ,use to have his own shop in Artane , very nice ,helpful and knowledgeable guy . I have my final 8 koi put aside for me in Newlands will collect on Sunday as thats the day i dose organic aqua

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
17 Jul 2016 16:19 #229 by robert (robert carter)
As you know i am running this tank on organic aqua, since the strip down three weeks , thankfully everthing is going well , so today i did a full range of water tests the results shocked me . PH 7.5 , Ammonia zero , Nitrite completly off the scale so more than 5.0 ppm, Nitrate completly off the scale so more than 160ppm . Really scary if you did realise than organic aqua does funny things ro your reading . I am rather surprised at the results , sooner i get back to normal filtrartion the better . At the above results my fish should all be dead

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
17 Jul 2016 20:50 #230 by paulv (paul vickers)
When I first used oa years ago and like you got off the chart readings for nitrite and nitrates I rushed to SH with a water sample and was told that oa won't give accurate test results. Now I just keep an eye on the fish. You said it yourself, with your test results all your fish should be dead, but their not. Your ph will be accurate.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
31 Jul 2016 16:33 #231 by robert (robert carter)
Just an update on this project , and for once can report that everything is going swimmingly if you get the pun . Five weeks today since restarting the tank , 25 small koi in it and not a single loss , its a busy tank but all good healthy fish . Running still on OA first maintaince dose added last week after a 25 % water change . Slowly converting the feed to the 62 % protien pellets i got in the north . Plan at this stage is to run with OA until returning from hols middle of september at which stage tank will be running 12 weeks then slowly come off OA and let the biohome look after things .

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
31 Jul 2016 19:56 #232 by paulv (paul vickers)
Good to hear your tank is doing well now after all the hassle it gave you. You may have to move it over to the traditional bio filtration as I'm finding if harder to get oa, seems the company can't get the manufacturing material any more.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
31 Jul 2016 20:44 - 31 Jul 2016 20:46 #233 by robert (robert carter)
seahorse seems to have plenty of OA when I was there last week , it would be my intendsion to go over to the biohome in the sump ,but will continue with OA till I return from hols. I would love to know whats it made up of, certainly seams a great product
Last edit: 31 Jul 2016 20:46 by robert (robert carter). Reason: added sentance

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
31 Jul 2016 22:07 #234 by paulv (paul vickers)
It was sh that told me of the supply problem. I usually get the 500 to 1000 l packs but it's not possible to get them any more. Once their stock is gone they may not get more. The oa online site still have the smaller packs available. I've just done the monthly maintenance last Friday. Hate the idea of weekly wc on my big tank, changing 300 l a week.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
31 Jul 2016 22:36 #235 by robert (robert carter)
In that case will go down to sh in the morning and get a couple of maintainance kits to do me until i get back from holidays. Just tried ebay they dont appear to have any listings for it

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
01 Aug 2016 03:18 #236 by paulv (paul vickers)
It's a good idea to stock up, I'm sure it has a fairly long shelf life. Try organic aqua Europe.com, it's their main site for online buying.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
01 Aug 2016 11:48 #237 by alan 64 (alan)
Sounds like there going ove buisness to me lads

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
01 Aug 2016 11:55 #238 by robert (robert carter)
I was down in sh this morning spoke to Darren certainly seem that there may be a problem in the future , he reckons that even if it stays on the market the price will increase by a lot . Anyway i pisked up 3 monthly maintainance kits which is more than enough to keep me going until i go back to the biohome media

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
01 Aug 2016 19:56 #239 by paulv (paul vickers)
It's also good to have one start up kit incase you need to set up a hospital tank in a hurry.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
02 Aug 2016 09:18 #240 by alan 64 (alan)
I used a maintenance kit before as a start up kit with no issues what so ever i believe there just the same ingredience inlarger quantity

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.101 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum