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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

Trigon 190 project begins..

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28 Sep 2007 13:10 #1 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Hi All..

Well basically as you can see i decided to jump from freshwater to saltwater and this is more or less what i have in mind...

List of equipment that im planning to use
-Juwel Trigon 190 (No sump)
-Red Sea Prizm Deluxe Skimmer
-RO Unit
-Fluval 305 (1000lph) External Canister filter
-Tunze nanostream 6025 (2500lph) - trying to get this in Ireland so let me know if someone stock this.
-Juwel 600lph powerhead

Basically I'm planning in use Argonite as substrate and about 20-25kg of live rock to start.

Lights wise, I'll begin with the juwel 2x20w T8's and i might add a 54w T5 later... basically the idea is keep low light softies like mushrooms, leathers and zoas... maybe an Urchin!

Fish... I'm planning the mandatory pair of clowns and i will like to get fish that are easy to feed and take dry and frozen food... I was thinking in a few Green Chromis also.

Let me know what you think? any suggestions are really appreciated!

Cheers
Pablo

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28 Sep 2007 13:20 #2 by buleetu (buleetu)
hi pablo

ur set up sounds great

i think u might wanna up grade ur lights in the future though so maybe u can have a look at this thread about modding ur tank brace before u put water in the tank

C:\Documents and Settings\david\Desktop\Reefs UK View topic - More cool Juwel mods.mht

i know if i had the chance i would have done it so maybe u might wanna have a go

kiss my fishy AS S

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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28 Sep 2007 13:22 #3 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re:Trigon 190 project begins..
Get some hard corals like Torch and frog spawn.
I only have t5`s and mine are thriving. I absolutely love
Torch Corals.

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28 Sep 2007 15:41 #4 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Hi Anthony,

How many T5's you have... I though hard corals needed a lot of light + a calcium reactor....

Cheers
Pablo

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28 Sep 2007 22:21 #5 by kieronr (kieronr)
Hi pablo,generally speaking hard corals do need strong lighting to thrive.Anto is a jammy fecker i reckon !.You might think about using T5's,if you have the space .What depth is the tank ? kieron

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29 Sep 2007 14:12 #6 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re:Trigon 190 project begins..
There are 3 t5s and one blue atinic.
My Torchs are thriving. I have 5 different ones in the tank.

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30 Sep 2007 14:24 #7 by buleetu (buleetu)
generally speaking ur probably better off getting the most light u can into ur tank from the start, especially if u have a juwel tank because the factory lights are usually cat

i would give u a couple of months having just softies in ur tank and then u will want to be more adventurous

ive read a fair bit on other forums about why people think t5s are actually much better metal halide lights, its just a matter of getting as much light in the hood as u can

i would say get as many t5s in the hood as u can fit and also some computer fans for cooling, t5s get hot,then u will be able to have torch corals and that too when ur ready to give them a go<br><br>Post edited by: buleetu, at: 2007/09/30 15:25

kiss my fishy AS S

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06 Oct 2007 18:11 #8 by gm*333 (gm*333)
Replied by gm*333 (gm*333) on topic Re:Trigon 190 project begins..
I would look into some different powerheads. The nanos from tunze have a tendency to break and getting a replacement part is hard right now. There is a new Korallia nano powerhead out on the market right now, I have not heard any reviews on them, but they are built just like the other models. I have the 4's and they work very well.

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08 Oct 2007 09:59 - 08 Oct 2007 10:02 #9 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Well... I filled the tank with the RO + salt mixture yesterday and introduce 20kg of Live rock... tank is starting to cycle now... I'll be measuring the ammonia this evening...

Tank is still a bit clowdy but is slowly clearing up...

Pablo

Last edit: 08 Oct 2007 10:02 by Pablo (Pablo -).

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09 Oct 2007 01:11 - 09 Oct 2007 01:11 #10 by buleetu (buleetu)
hi pablo

hows things

is the tank going good for u

its looking cool, fair play

u dont have the swing arm hydrometre still in the tank do ye??

its not a good idea, it will end up being unreliable after a while because u will have some peices of algae and such growing on it and that makes them dodgey

i would use it only when u want a result, then take it out and clean it off with a paper towel or something, i have read that there not very reliable at the best of times, so anything u can do to keep them up to scratch is a good thing ye??

kiss my fishy AS S
Last edit: 09 Oct 2007 01:11 by buleetu (buleetu). Reason: wasnt happy with the look of the post hahah

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09 Oct 2007 09:25 #11 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Hi Brian,

In the Hydrometer box sais that you should leave the hydrometer in the tank for 48 hours... thats why i left it inside... :huh:

I check Ammonia and Nitrates last night and, theres some of both so i think the tank is starting to cycle... also threw in some shrimps (dead ones :laugh:) in order to create some more ammonia and help the process :)

beside that i have a couple of powerheads on top of the rock to create enough current and circulation

So far so good... lights in the tank are off to prevent unnecesary algae as theres no cleaning crew in..

Pablo

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09 Oct 2007 10:09 #12 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re:Trigon 190 project begins..
Did you get that skimmer?
I think my mate has one going.

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09 Oct 2007 10:46 #13 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Yeah... i got the Red Sea one from Brian... Thanks a lot anyway! :)

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09 Oct 2007 14:11 #14 by lampeye (lampeye)
how much rock have u got pablo?

lampeye

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09 Oct 2007 16:13 #15 by Pablo (Pablo -)
around 21kgs... :)

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09 Oct 2007 21:25 #16 by kieronr (kieronr)
hi pablo,how much live rock are you going to in total ?.I would have been more inclined to add it all at the same time to save time in the long run maturing the tank.Every time you add more,you may have to wait for it to cycle again.If you are using cured this may not be a problem,but uncured will produce ammonia from die off.You can add some inert rock like ocean rock as base rock that will over time get covered in coralline algae and other critters etc.It won't add much in the way of denitification but will give you more scope for aquascaping your pride and joy !

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10 Oct 2007 01:26 #17 by buleetu (buleetu)
hi pablo

my name is david not brian haha

ye it would be best to add all ur rock together

if ur gonna use inert rock u could get some masonary drill bits and a drill and put a load of different size holes into it for all the creepy crawleys and that to live in, i have my dead rock in one tank or another for 2 years now and the bits that the light gets to are covered in coraline,looks cool

u should get all the live rock in now though because as keiron says u will have problems with mini cycles and possibly nh4 spikes and the like if u add more as u go,

but in saying that when i first started my tank i was on a budget so i didnt have the cash to buy it all together, so what i done was get as much as possible at the start and cycled the tank then i added 2-3 lbs at a time every 2 weeks or so, i didnt have any problems at all, but i think that was because when i bought the rock it was well matured in the holding tank at the lfs and i only had a drive of 10 minutes up the road, so there was very little die off of nitrifying bacteria

kiss my fishy AS S

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18 Oct 2007 11:20 - 18 Oct 2007 11:21 #18 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Well... Update,

nitrites and ammonia is 0 now.. and has been for at least 5 days... i threw in a few shrimps (dead ones :laugh:) to test and ammonia and nitrites are back to 0... so i think tanks is now cycled... ;)

Skimmer is in place and running... not much comming ot of it as theres nothing to skim (i guess) and i should be getting today a Hydor Koralia 2 (2300lph) for circulation... so pretty much everything is up and running..

I'm thinking in getting the cleaning crew during the weekend maybe a cleaning shrimp a few hermits and turbo snails... any thoughts?

SG is 1.021 but i'm thinking is pushing that to at lease 1.024 today... and i'll be going to the LFS with a water sample to test the SG with them too..

Pablo
Last edit: 18 Oct 2007 11:21 by Pablo (Pablo -).

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18 Oct 2007 11:20 - 18 Oct 2007 11:21 #19 by Pablo (Pablo -)
one of the skimmer
Last edit: 18 Oct 2007 11:21 by Pablo (Pablo -).

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19 Oct 2007 10:54 #20 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Replied by Pablo (Pablo -) on topic Trigon 190 project
Any thought on the cleanning crew??... would i be able to get a pair of clowns at the same time??

Cheers
Pablo

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19 Oct 2007 13:27 #21 by lampeye (lampeye)
hi pablo,
first bring your water to 1024-5. assuming your tank is cycled , and if you are patient i would only add the clean crew, 12 turbo snails and 6 reg legged hermits (the bigger the better) would be perfect (you could add more at a later date. then in a week or so add your first fish. leave a good 2 weeks inbetween adding each fish.

you should qt your fish to avoid any heartache.

when buying the fish be sure to watch them for a while and make sure they dont have whitespot or any other ailments (not too skinny etc). most lfs have a centalised filtraion or filtration in bays so if you see sick fish in the same tank or the one next to it (if i has the same filter) i wouldnt buy them.

hope this helps

lampeye

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26 Nov 2007 13:24 #22 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Well... update time

After going through the worst part of wierd algae problem that resulted to be fueled by low alkalinity, the tank is looking better now....

So here a few pictures...

Tank


Pearl Scale Angel


One of my two firefish


Clown and firefish


Pulsing Xenia


Another one of the Angel


opinions?

Pablo

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26 Nov 2007 13:47 #23 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re:Trigon 190 project
Beautiful Pablo.
The firefish is worthy of a competition entry IMO.
Best colours I've seen on one.

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26 Nov 2007 21:28 #24 by Seany (Sean Phelan)
Well done Pablo,

Its all looking very good. I hope my setup looks as good as yours in such a short time. I agree with Didihno. That firefish looks stunning. No problems with the Pearlscale Angel nipping the invert?
Kind regards
Seany

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27 Nov 2007 01:45 #25 by pierce (pierce)
Replied by pierce (pierce) on topic Re:Trigon 190 project
The tank is looking fab pablo congrats

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27 Nov 2007 10:48 #26 by Pablo (Pablo -)
[code:1]No problems with the Pearlscale Angel nipping the invert?
[/code:1]
No... haven't seen the pearlscale having a go at snails, crabs or the corals so pretty happy with him ;)

As you can see in the picture the firefish was missing the top fin when i bought him but is growing back nicely... I'll submit a picture of him when the fin is fully grow. :)

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27 Nov 2007 20:01 #27 by paulm (paulm)
Replied by paulm (paulm) on topic Re:Trigon 190 project begins..
Pablo that setup is a credit to ya , B) It looks stunning and how do you guys take such cracking photos. :S .ill have to go get lessons :dry: :laugh:

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27 Nov 2007 22:10 - 27 Nov 2007 22:10 #28 by lampeye (lampeye)
looking good pablo...i LOVE that angel, great pics too.
ps how much was the angel?

lampeye
Last edit: 27 Nov 2007 22:10 by lampeye (lampeye).

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28 Nov 2007 10:38 #29 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Thanks for the comments...

how do you guys take such cracking photos

I use an SLR Canon 350D... basically the camera do the job :laugh:

how much was the angel?

I think 45 from Aquatic Village... I really like him because is quite unusual... you don't see this fellas often on the shops :woohoo:

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30 Nov 2007 15:59 #30 by buleetu (buleetu)
well done pablo

looks deadly, love the angel and ur pictures are great too, i think ill have to bite the bullet and get an sLR camera too

kiss my fishy AS S

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