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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

Hi All!

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03 Apr 2016 16:13 #1 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
My name is Gav, been keeping cold water fish about six years now! Have a 240l Jewel Rio, small 60l hospital tank and a 2500l pond!

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03 Apr 2016 22:05 #2 by robert (robert carter)
Replied by robert (robert carter) on topic Hi All!
Hi Gav ,welcome along ,you sound like a man with similar tastes as myself , am mad into the koi had ponds for 30 years , back into tropical tanks about 15th ago and am just starting a 350 litre project to grow on some high grade koi for the pond . Have been adviced to go with a sump on this tank ,what filtration do you have on your cold water tank and what's in it . Robert

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03 Apr 2016 22:36 #3 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
Hi Robert,
I have a JBL 900 and an Eheim Ecco 2236 on the 240l. I never looked into sumps due to plumbing and noise. I don't overly know how they work, always felt safest with canisters!
In the tank I have two dojo loaches, two shubunkins and a plec.
In the pond I've some shubunkins, yellow and common gold fish, one black goldfish the was born in there and a grey and yellow orfe. Can't keep koi as its a raised pond and I never looked at insulation on the walls. In there I have a Project Easy Pond filter and pump that was bought as a stop gap measure but I can't fault it along with an Oase Swim Skim 25 skimmer, I also have an Oase Filtral 5000 that I'll put in when the pond gets above 10 degrees!!!

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03 Apr 2016 23:33 #4 by ger310 (Ger .)
Replied by ger310 (Ger .) on topic Hi All!
Welcome along FR85.........i'll be building a pond myself hopefully in the next month or so and will be picking peoples brains,so your pre-warned ok ha

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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04 Apr 2016 06:55 #5 by robert (robert carter)
Replied by robert (robert carter) on topic Hi All!
Hi GAV , my present pond in only 1000 gallon I down sized from 5500 gallon 5 years ago for a number of reasons , the pond is raised and I have some big koi in it. It's not insulated but I do heat in the winter to 7 degrees just to keep the koi off the bottom for long periods . Present filtration is a 3 bay system and 36 watt uv using a hose lock 8000 litre an hour pump . Regarding the tank it's just one of the guys on this forum sudjested using a sump I like you don't know anything about them but am going to get Bart to come over to the house for some advise as I reckon he will build the tank for me .certainly the noise factor would be a big issue for me as the tank is going in the front room. Where are you based ?

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04 Apr 2016 13:49 #6 by Jonlate (Jon Late)
Replied by Jonlate (Jon Late) on topic Hi All!
Hi Gav,
It seems that ponds are they way to go this year.
What would you suggest the smallest pond should be?
What about the smallest above ground one, made with sleepers for instance?

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04 Apr 2016 17:20 #7 by robert (robert carter)
Replied by robert (robert carter) on topic Hi All!
Size depends on what you want to keep in it , for koi min 1000 gals min depth 3 ft but the bigger and deeper the better , for goldfish anything from 250 gallons

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04 Apr 2016 21:55 #8 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
When it comes to minimum sizes a lot of what is offered and advertised are not great but at the same time I feel it comes down to budgets and space available wise in gardens.

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04 Apr 2016 21:59 #9 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
Also, with railway sleepers which I looked into you'll need a serious drill or milling machine to put threaded bars through to hold the sleepers together, don't forget that when the liner is filled with water there will be a serious water pressure pushing outwards. Something to bear in mind!

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05 Apr 2016 08:53 #10 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Replied by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley) on topic Hi All!
Would something like these be a good way to do a raised pond? Then you could panel around it with sleepers/bricks etc. Just an idea.



"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."
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05 Apr 2016 10:19 #11 by robert (robert carter)
Replied by robert (robert carter) on topic Hi All!
Hi lemon jelly ,I used one like the blue tank for a quantine tank however found over time the bottom bellye and cracked but saying I am sure that if one went to the trouble of supporting the entire bottom of the tank not just the corners it could ok. I have seen this type of tank purpose built with a filter unit on it as koi display unit in some uk koi dealers . Just think it's a bit small as a permanent pond

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05 Apr 2016 10:26 #12 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Hi All!
Because this thread has rather passed through the 'Introduce Yourself' remit it has now been moved to 'Coldwater Fish' where it is probably more appropriate.

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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05 Apr 2016 12:59 #13 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
Thanks John for moving this and apologies if it all took off!!

I think those storage units might get brittle over time or crack in the frost. Also, for a sleeper build I would try and use something pre-formed as I wouldn't have the patience to use a liner and do all the corner folds and the allowing for settlement and stretching ect......

Mark Fisher in Kilkenny sold me my pond liner and he can be found at Lawcus Farm Guesthouse if you have a google of it, very knowledgeable gent who was full of great advise when it came to my build. I believe he has a brother out in the west somewhere who does the same thing!

I've attached an image of mine when it was completed, quite a simple affair that works given it's surroundings, I have some reed plants in it and the skimmer has also gone in since. Hopefully it will give you some ideas of what you can do at a reasonable cost with minimal headache!!!
Attachments:

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05 Apr 2016 13:26 #14 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Replied by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley) on topic Hi All!
The white liquid container might but I blue storage type one wouldn't get frost damaged. They're very heavy duty. They're often used in industrial type freezers and the only time I've ever seen one appreciably damaged was by impact from a forklift. They hold about 525L as far as I remember.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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05 Apr 2016 16:52 #15 by Jonlate (Jon Late)
Replied by Jonlate (Jon Late) on topic Hi All!
Hey Gavin,
You don't apologise, to that's the way things work around here. All you did is told us what you have, we took it off in another direction.
The only way you find out stuff is by asking, so welcome along, and ask away. I do?!?!
Your pond is made of what then? The walls don't look that thick and it looks like a good size pond.
Also liked the very discreet return, matches in well with the wooden top bit.
Where is your filtration? What's it it?

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05 Apr 2016 21:00 #16 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
Heya,

It's 2500l and it's made of heavy fibreglass, it was pre-molded and I built the frame around it.

The filter is a box type and its in behind the fence, it's not a super duper posh one but it keeps everything in check, water parameters are always optimal and at the minute I've blue course to fine pads along with bio balls. I have an Oase Filtral 5000 that will be going in also once the temp hits 10 and I'm feeding food again. The setup works for me although the main pump will need the ceramic shaft replaced soon and I'm buggered if I can find the impeller kit online! I see a lad on done deal selling the complete kits, I might see if he spares or just buy the same again for parts....

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05 Apr 2016 22:49 #17 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Replied by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers) on topic Hi All!
Welcome to the forum pond looks great

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05 Apr 2016 23:06 #18 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
Cheers, I'll try and add more pics as I find them!

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13 Apr 2016 08:55 #19 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
Another two pics attached
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13 Apr 2016 08:57 #20 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
And another small tub I use as a hospital pond, I normally flip the internal filter from the main pond into it as a stop gap
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13 Apr 2016 23:19 #21 by Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
Replied by Sukahn (Shane Doorley) on topic Hi All!
Very nice pond mate, some lovely colours in it.

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16 Apr 2016 12:06 #22 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Replied by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan) on topic Hi All!
Cheers, just waiting for the water to get above 10 so the feeding can start

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