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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

Given a filter and pump!

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13 Jul 2016 10:47 #1 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Hi Folks,

A friend of mine recently closed down his pond, gave me a load of plants with a pump and filter box, images attached.

Pump is a Laguna Power Jet Free Flo 4600 and the filter is a Petmate 237/8 with 25w UV.

Any one any experience with these? I can find very little on the googles!
The only thing I would like to do is blank one of the outlets on the filter as I only have one pipe returning to the pond or try and merge the two into one. Will this cause an issue?

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13 Jul 2016 11:20 #2 by robert (robert carter)
I haven't heard of this filter, but wonder is it similar to the fishmate which is green in colour , if so the second outlet is required as an overflow and I would be wary about modifying it in any way . a picture would be great . what size pond are you going to enstall it on ? Robert

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13 Jul 2016 11:49 #3 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Very similar indeed, infact I think it might be the first generation of those ones. It'll be going on my 2500l pond once this season is over...

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13 Jul 2016 11:55 #4 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Images won't attach

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13 Jul 2016 12:55 #5 by robert (robert carter)
Dug around a bit . the laguna pump has been replaced by the laguna power 4000 , the filter is now called a fishmate think the model is a 2500 GUV with 8 watt UV . this filter is suitable for mixed fish pond up to 2500litres or koi pond up to 650 litres . if this is the model you have its really to small for your pond . my koi pond of the same size has a three bay filter , 35 watt uv and I pump 8000 litres an hour through the system . any more details might help .Robert

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13 Jul 2016 13:00 #6 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
That's super, I don't know about the filter box as the one I was given is 25w UV so it might be able to handle slightly more.....

I don't keep koi as it's a raised pond and I never thought of insulating it so goldies only.....

Thanks for doing the digging on that!!

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13 Jul 2016 13:05 #7 by robert (robert carter)
They wernt a bad filter just not up to the capacity for keeping koi . Laguna pumps are good i think the new ones have a 3 year warrenty which is good

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13 Jul 2016 13:09 #8 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
www.gumtree.com/p/outdoor-settings-furni...-fountain/1154619251

It looks the same as this one in the link only it 25w...........

Don't know if it helps! Again like I'm currently doing, the pond will be doubly filtered using this and an internal Oase Filteral 5000.......nothing like a bit of redundancy in the event of a pump failure!!

Not going to make any changes until mid way through the winter

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13 Jul 2016 13:23 #9 by robert (robert carter)
The filter in the add is more like the fishmate 10000guv not the small one as i thought , the bigger will have no problem handling your pond , and running it with the other filter you should have a nice clean pond

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13 Jul 2016 21:21 #10 by paulv (paul vickers)
I don't know anything about these items but a 25w uv is really only good for up to 600l tanks. Good uv units will allow the water to pass over the bulb slowly.

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13 Jul 2016 21:42 #11 by robert (robert carter)
U vs on ponds seem to work with a much higher flow rate , mine on the pond is 36 watt with a flow rate of 8000 litres an hour . Put a new uv on a mates big pond last sunday week ,pond is approx 32000 litres uv is 50 watt and flow rate is 15000 litres an hour . In 10 days it has now almost cleared a totally green pond . I wonder is the fact that they are so much bigger than aquarium uvs

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13 Jul 2016 22:13 #12 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
qualitywaterexpert.com/

Handy little chart in the link above, would imagine I need the 20-40 watts.....

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13 Jul 2016 22:25 #13 by robert (robert carter)
The chart pretty much says it all

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14 Jul 2016 10:53 #14 by paulv (paul vickers)
Very interesting how he divides the uv into clarity and sterilizing, it's the sterilizing that I was thinking of.

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14 Jul 2016 22:22 #15 by Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
That little article had some great info in it. well worth the read :)

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02 Aug 2016 10:09 #16 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
So,

I got this all installed and while it seems to be doing the job (wait for it) but I think the pump is under powered for the filter box. The water comes into an overflow "shelf" in the box and then falls onto the media. Now, the water is only hitting about a third of the media. I'm hoping to get a sheet of perspex and drill it to allow water to be distributed from the overflow to all across the media, will this work? The shelf I mentioned looks like it designed to take a lot more water but that said I'm getting much more water flow then previous so I'd say with my perspex design filtering will be significantly improved!

Anyone know where I could get a tiny sheet of perspex, 3ft by 3 ft (to allow for "awh shit" errors) would do it!

Cheers!
Gav

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02 Aug 2016 13:02 #17 by robert (robert carter)
I think i have seen this in b and q liffey valley , not sure about size of sheets or thickness,

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02 Aug 2016 13:11 #18 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
Cheers, will have a look. Doesn't have to be the heaviest

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02 Aug 2016 14:55 #19 by robert (robert carter)
I know for a fact that they have sheets of twin wall polycarbonate in the builders section out the back , this would give you a bit more strenth . Just another point if the flow is only hitting the sponges in one place surely as that area get blocked the flow area will increase , if you know what i mean

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02 Aug 2016 15:00 #20 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
I know exactly where you are coming from, I have tried to keep the media out of the other filter in it so the pond doesn't go through too much of a cycle but at the same time the part of the media that isn't being hit is drying out thus cancelling my plan out, I don't want the pond to be going through a continuous cycle if you get me ......I'm we'll happy with the set up as it'll not clog and over flow as often!!
A nice even coverage is my aim

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09 Aug 2016 10:20 #21 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
I didn't get a chance to get perspex or similar due to work and for the small bit I needed I wasn't willing to fork out what Woodies wanted but as you predicted Robert the media has been blocking and water is now starting to spread over the top the way I wanted it to!

I have to take the box apart again as I want to put a tap on it to act as a drain and also for water changes and media rinsing

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09 Aug 2016 12:06 #22 by robert (robert carter)
Yes when i install the current three box filter i put drains on each box ,has been very useful

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09 Aug 2016 12:41 #23 by FR85 (Gavin O'Sullivan)
What taps did you use Robert? Just had a quick look on woodies and b&q online and I couldn't really see anything that would work

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09 Aug 2016 15:44 #24 by robert (robert carter)
Hi , i get my fitting from Chadwicks Plumb Centre on the Greenhills Rd at walkinstown roundabout , they are always very helpful and have a great range of stuff . Failing that ebay

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