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
Need help guys????
- markoneill26 (Mark O'Neill)
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Need your advise as in new to marine.. My tank is up and running about 7 weeks.180 litre, Got 20kg of live rock , cleaning crew, (snails,hermits,shrimp) 1 damsel and 1 clownfish, my tank took 2 weeks to cycle and i have the livestock in around 3 weeks now, i bought the marine test kit care and i tested the PH, ammonia,nitrate and nitrite,and KH... All the results i went off a chart and they all seem fine, does this mean i can add more live stock now,,like tangs???
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- jonmac (Jon McNamee)
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what were your results?
'Its not the years honey, its the milage'
Dunshaughlin, Meath.
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- markoneill26 (Mark O'Neill)
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Kh was 2.9, PH was 8.0 , Nitrite was 0, ammonia was 0, the nitrate was 10, to 20 ..was hard to make out the colour of the water off the chart. But at 10 i say..
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- jonmac (Jon McNamee)
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Nitrates ok but you dont want any higher, also KH looks wrong, would do that test again.
when did you last do a water change?
Are you a fish only tank?
'Its not the years honey, its the milage'
Dunshaughlin, Meath.
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- markoneill26 (Mark O'Neill)
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- jonmac (Jon McNamee)
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Wouldnt clean the filter every week, your just throwing out good media, once a month or less even. And only clean it with old tank water.
How big is your tank? Have you skimmer, etc, set up?
'Its not the years honey, its the milage'
Dunshaughlin, Meath.
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- markoneill26 (Mark O'Neill)
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- jonmac (Jon McNamee)
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Post some pics!
'Its not the years honey, its the milage'
Dunshaughlin, Meath.
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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You need to do the tests again and take your time, let us know what they are and don't do tests after a wc do them before the wc and preferably in the morning
You should also get rid of all the sponges they are nitrate factories
Your lr is the filter for most things so you just need the floss to deal with the crap and keep the water clear you can add jbl micromec to keep the nitrates low you can also use carbon now and again in the filter but that's all you need in a filter
And you should get a skimmer asap tanks run much better with one
Tangs are not a good idea for that size tank they like lots of swimming space and lots of hiding places if this is not met they will get sick most likely ws from the stress
But on the other hand if you know ur upgrading in a year you could get a few small ones and slow growers
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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- markoneill26 (Mark O'Neill)
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yeah i done the test before the wc. The nitrate level is low to what it should be. Had my sister over and she should me the testing properly..shes a marine biologist..so handy for her advise lol.. thanks for the tip about the sponges..never knew that.. Just with the tangs... I was just going to get 1 tang..the yellow tang. The guys in seahorse said 1 yellow tang will be fine in that's size tank....you recommend not.. What good fish would you recommend?? 180 litre with some coral in the future. Thanks
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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If you research the yellow tang you will see that they need at least,at least 400ltrs. To keep the alive and healthy So I don't know who told yea that in sh
As for fish choice it's a personal thing you need to do research and look at all the options and see what will work for you That's all part of learning about marines no point me saying put this that and the other in and you knowing feck all about them, yea get me, I'm not being smart in anyway but you and only you should choose you fish and you will appreciate the hobby even more
As fir corals stick with softies for now see how you get on with them and also research about them Lighting position Growth ect.
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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- markoneill26 (Mark O'Neill)
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no your dead right in what you mean. I have been doing some research ok.. I kept tropical fish for years and now new to marine. Still learning about it..you know any useful websites that gives good details on fish?? Ah that's a shame about the tangs.. Love to have one but unfortunately i cant upgrade for while now

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- SSS (Sion S)
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This is a good website for researching fish, also a nice sized tang maybe for your tank. Maybe a little small but see if you like it first.
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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If I'm researching any fish I just type it in to googledy most time live aquaria is the first one to pop up and their spot on but I don't stop their I click the next one read then the next one and so on till I'm bored, not so much bored but I feel I know enough until a few days later and I do it again incase I missed something, I kinda understand now what my family are on about while I'm writing this haha but I love it
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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- jonmac (Jon McNamee)
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I have a 240L tank.
I have a 4" tang, big and fat which is thriving, they do need swimming space absolutely but the environment is important also.
Throw them in an empty tank and quickly bored and stressed, plenty of caves and interesting environment, you will have no problem.
I have seen them in much smaller tanks without issue.
'Its not the years honey, its the milage'
Dunshaughlin, Meath.
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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be like keeping a German shepherd in a big back garden looks like it has enough room to move around but not nearly enough for what it needs to stay sane and healthy
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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- markoneill26 (Mark O'Neill)
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www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display...15+43+345&pcatid=345
This is a good website for researching fish, also a nice sized tang maybe for your tank. Maybe a little small but see if you like it first.
thanks for that man.. Is seahorse aquariums the only place around now to get fish?? And can they order in fish for you if they dont have it in stock. Cheers
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- SSS (Sion S)
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