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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

oh dear what have i done????

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27 May 2015 23:14 #181 by carlowchris (chris)
Flippling over flow boxes.......gave mine a good cleaning the other day and then dropped it braking the thing into 6 prices..got a new one from sh only to find a bit missing and the bit missing so got to go back sh again tommorrow....

The royal grammaa has been living happily in the sump for the last week but he must of been beaten up so bad as passed on today

And I seem to have a red algae growing in my tank...not cyano it's a red kind of hair algae......nitrates stlill between 2-5 and phosphates 0.16..the reactor still hasn't arrived from cleartides....going to chase that up tomorrow but the Milka will probly also pass before that comes and kicks in..

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28 May 2015 10:57 #182 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
Pitty about the fish chris. Are you still using sand in your tank ? I have use arognite and found it much better this time. I have to move my tank soon and wondering how to do it. I have about 5 meters max to move it so was thinking of getting 3 more people draining it down and then moving with rock inside and refilling. wil take out lps coral before i drain down just to be safe as i am not sure how they would be out of the water for 5 to 10 minutes.Cant wait to have it in the correct place. The tank is loaded with copepods now and Amphipods have more coming this weekend :-) Any pictures of your tank for us ?

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29 May 2015 11:37 #183 by carlowchris (chris)
Got thé overflow back in place last night and got my phone back this morning so I'll get some pics up tonight..

When ya drain the redSea make sure to drain the back compartment as well .....once it's drained its not as heavy as you'd think ....3 more people's a good idea though.....one person to help carry it.......one person to move cabinet at same time and person to make the tea for all the hard workers :)

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29 May 2015 16:11 #184 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
I am going to move all in 1 go. drain all the water out first and move coral and then move on the stand with rock and sand in the tank. I only have to move the tank around 4 meters so i should be good. If it is not working i will remove the lots will see.
Look forward to a few pictures. My lights are held up again wont have them until next week. Mind you i will have enough to do tomorrow lol. Just setup a pod tank today from live sand and rock from other tank. Got a buntch of chaeto also and will load with pods and photo tomorrow.

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31 May 2015 14:02 #185 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Looking forward to new pics Chris!

I was looking at a 650(display tank) litre the other day, 2 overflows and 2 separate inlets running massive lph with a huge sump. think the sump is 4 x 2 x 2 or very close

I was thinking this might be a good way to setup future tanks, but it's a bit of extra setup cost putting in 2 weirs and 2 pumps, but what you pay extra for there you might be able to spare in wave makers etc later (depending on the amount of flow required)

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31 May 2015 21:18 #186 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
Still waiting on these pictures buddy :-) i got all moved :-) went like a dream as i planned was done much faster than i expected :-) i guess all the moving of big ass tanks has helped this was pretty easy other than having to take all coral apart and reattach to rocks but they are doing good :-)

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31 May 2015 21:40 #187 by carlowchris (chris)
Good to hear cheech..

Jesus hammie that sump is same size as my tank ......

Got the new over flow in and one of the return pumps just wouldn't come back on...had to take the whole thing apart to get it back working again......every finger on my hand is cut now though.....New return pump now though just waiting on some bits that sh didn't have and that's the next to go in.....I have two over flows on my tank . And two return pumps.....wouldn't recommend anyone do it......a centre over flow and one return that can handle the flow needed is better I think.....well that's what's happening next anyway......


Pic up as soon as the little one gives me my phone back

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01 Jun 2015 10:58 #188 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
I am sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for these pictures to come any chnace of a video ?

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01 Jun 2015 18:13 #189 by carlowchris (chris)
As i said nothings really changed in the tank ...sand is still there...i know some people recomend you dont touch your sand and it will then act as some sort of nitrate filter but nitrates and phosphates never seen to change ...and gobies and starfish dont clean it ...so ive started hovering the sand...and dosing nopox just in case theres a spike...







Theres this red algea aswell and a small bit of cyano on the milka



Although i was given this toadstool causecjenny thought it was going to die..it opened well for a long time but you only ever see the polps ever now and again its not tge happiest



Which kind of makes you wonder why then are the lps then doing so well frogspawn even finds the energy to try and kill the zoas nextdoor




Going to do a water test later on and see where things are.

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01 Jun 2015 21:37 #190 by carlowchris (chris)
Pulsing xenia doing well





Richoria (spelt wrong...i know) too



And one mushroom has manged to find a new home


Attachments:

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01 Jun 2015 21:56 #191 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Looks great Chris

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01 Jun 2015 22:43 #192 by carlowchris (chris)
Still battleing kh ...

Mag high 1500
cal high 480
kh low 7

phos 0.16
nitrate between 2-5

Kh has my head done in.

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02 Jun 2015 00:24 #193 by carlowchris (chris)
Jesus dont ya just hate it when ya cant sleep and a thought pops into ya head..

i need to get a new kh test kit

ive absolutly no idea if im mesuring kh or alk...and the tropic marin box doesnt help me...if im actually mesuring alk and not kh..alk high aswell.....i could be dosing loads of stuff i shouldnt.

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02 Jun 2015 09:52 - 02 Jun 2015 09:54 #194 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
I used the red sea test kit and find it very good. My CA and MG are a bit high also at the minute. Kh is 10 and seems stable. Would be happy if it just stays like that for me now rather than swiging.Tank is looking really good nice to see a few pictures agin . Coral look good so they do :-)
I setup a new skimmer last night and was worried when going to sleep that it would be doing to wet a skim ruining my sg as i have the ATU on now lol always something to worry about :-)
Last edit: 02 Jun 2015 09:54 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor).

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02 Jun 2015 23:05 #195 by carlowchris (chris)
I used to use the red sea oh test kit and my kh was always 8 9 so finding out that test kit was wrong has really set me back and nothing new added to the tank untill I get this right...started using tropical Marin cause it's the test sh use and only half the price of the red sea one.....going to try a salifert one as well....at least I'll have something to double check this way

Can't understand though using a new salt(red sea coral pro) with higher levels in it.....cal s gone up.....mags gone up...salinity still the same at 1.024....but kh still low

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03 Jun 2015 01:08 #196 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Take a loan of my Kh test and see if it's giving same results as yours!
Also check the date on your kit

Give me a shout tomorrow sometime after 3 pm (I should be up then)

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03 Jun 2015 06:51 #197 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
Out of interest chris what is you PH level ? Also have you checked oxygen level in the tank ?

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03 Jun 2015 12:25 #198 by carlowchris (chris)
Ok this embarrassing......I don't have a ph test kit.....haven't had one for over a year. .was always told if kh is high ph would be high too.......so suppose I'll pick up a new one of those too.....so ph must be way low .. .I've nothing to check oxygen but I've good surface movement so can't see that being low..

Been doing a lot of digging around on line and various people on different forums with similar experiences....General advice seems to be stop dosing everything and just carry out water changes......I did suspect when I changed to the red sea pro it would be a while till I saw any good results but wondering if I did a few extra water changes..would I see results quicker.....how much more could I change ???currently doing 10% a week.....

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03 Jun 2015 15:26 #199 by carlowchris (chris)
Tropical Marin test kit is for kh and not alk...just tested again and kh is 9

What's causing everything to swing so much???

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04 Jun 2015 10:47 #200 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
I would for sure check your ph level as this will effect your other parameters.Also i would do 25 % water change and it would get the salt changed faster in your system. I am sure dosing could hinder u also as i have read it is a fine mix :-)

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04 Jun 2015 20:54 #201 by carlowchris (chris)
Ok didn't get a chance to pick up a ph test kit today...kind of still think if kh is up and down ph will be up and down too.....but better to get one and know for sure.

Also but late for making ro now ....only getting home ......might spread out a few more water changes over the next week..and see what happens

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05 Jun 2015 02:41 #202 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
I discussed this type of problem with a marine biologist recently who is also a marine keeper and he told me that when he comes accross these issues, he suggests 1 thing and 1 thing only!
Stop dosing completely anything!
Do a 2 or 3 good water changes the first week. And from there after just regular small changes!
If Kh is swinging alot he suggested that ph probably isn't stable either! You need to check your ph a couple of times a day for about 2 weeks to ensure the stability is right! If the ph isn't stable, find out why and fix it!
He also stated that while ph will effect Kh it's not the only source of Kh swings and was reluctant to start into all the reasons Kh can swing because we didn't have the 3 or 4 weeks for him to explain it in detail (and my tiny brain would have erupted into a gooey mess)

Hope ya get it figured out soon Chris
If you don't get a ph test tomorrow let me know and you can use mine!

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07 Jun 2015 19:33 - 07 Jun 2015 19:36 #203 by carlowchris (chris)
Was in sh yesterday and got more advice and to several people and turns out my thinking was correct....if kh is swinging..ph is swinging..was going to buy a ph test kit and was told it was a waste of money and was also left red faced after being asked did i read the instructions on the test kit.........the instructions are test once a week and dose daily......

NOT TEST 5 TIMES A WEEK AND GIVE OUT AFTERWARDS

Kh was 9 again today
no more tests no again til next sunday

Still going to up my water changes though..doing 10% tonight and i'll do another 10% on wednesday












Last edit: 07 Jun 2015 19:36 by carlowchris (chris).

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08 Jun 2015 13:17 #204 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
Nice pictures :-) i hope all settles down for you soon. Allot of waterchanges :-O i did one last night :-) i also had to take out my light on friday as i forgot to change to the 120 degree lens :crazy: but its done now and makes a great difference :-)

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09 Jun 2015 21:17 #205 by ck1 (chris)
They recommend that you don't use the coral pro salt if your dosing. The regular red sea salt is much more stable if you are dosing. I would try the red sea salt for a while on its own see what happens you haven't a lot of coral so it won't be taking too much elements from the water

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09 Jun 2015 21:24 #206 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
That what i was told that using normal red sea was best if i was going to dose anything and it would also help on my startup for the algae blooms. I am very happy with it and my levels are very stable.

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09 Jun 2015 21:48 #207 by ck1 (chris)
Kh of 7 isn't too bad once it's stable. I'd be more worried about the phosphate

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09 Jun 2015 21:55 #208 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
I have read allot of articles about levels in tanks that are tottally out of wack and all in the tank was good. The most important thing is stability they say.That is what i am aiming for.

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07 Jul 2015 20:18 #209 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
I use the pro salt find it brilliant I also dose Kh and Ca every day if I miss a day I just double the dose the next day
I test the water every two weeks and its always the same, the odd time the Ca is down from 440 to 430 but that's nothing it's a easy fix, it's happening cause I'm about a quarter gram out a day

You have much more corals now so everything is getting used quicker, hence why you must dose the correct amount daily (daily) to keep things stable

Also a Kh of 7 imo is way to low and dodgy if it does drop any lower, I keep mine at 10-10.5 as my corals grow I need to dose more to keep it at this, example I use to dose about 6g per day about a year ago now I'm dosing 10g per day nearly twice the amount as some corals are some twice the size now and using more

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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20 Sep 2015 23:35 #210 by carlowchris (chris)
Thought id get busy today and redone my electrial....total of 24 sockets now....12 switched...2 x 4 switched...and 4 permanent

plenty of sockets

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