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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

WHICH SKIMMER

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22 Jun 2006 11:01 #1 by lampeye (lampeye)
hi everyone,
setting up a marine tank and was wondering which skimmer people use and think are the best/best value...external vs internal...(there will be no sump)...for a 240 litre.

lampeye

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22 Jun 2006 11:54 #2 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Replied by Pablo (Pablo -) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
I have always heard that Deltec are the best Skimmers but they are expensive, Internal MC500 and external HOB MCE600, one of the lads here in the forum was selling a MC500... look on the trade section.

Regards
Pablo

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22 Jun 2006 19:12 #3 by gm333 (gm333)
Replied by gm333 (gm333) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
Dont know exactly whats available over there, but I run an aqua-c ev-180 on my 135gal and the Coralife super skimmer on my 46gal. Both are excellent skimmers and produce adequate skimmate, but the superskimmer is a little touchy to get just right.

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01 Jul 2006 05:33 #4 by lampeye (lampeye)
Replied by lampeye (lampeye) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
went for a red sea prizm hang on skimmer in the end

lampeye

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17 Aug 2006 09:23 #5 by conor (conor)
Replied by conor (conor) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
Same as myself. I find them to be excellent, although they do stop once the water level drops through evaporatiuon.

However this is a good thing, as it means its time to change the carbon and gives me a reminder to add some top up RO :-0

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23 Sep 2006 19:05 #6 by newrossman (newrossman)
Replied by newrossman (newrossman) on topic Skimmer
I like the seaclone, simple and basic and works. remember the need a fews days to kick off so dont worry if yours seems dead for the 1st week.

Got mine at www.atlantisaquatics.co.uk/ the mail order to here and are quite fast compared to some.

Reef 55 Gallons

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15 Nov 2006 04:14 #7 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
Replied by Sean (Fr. Jack) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
Hi everyone,
I started using skimmers in the mid 80´s, I never saw a wipe out induces by not having a skimmer, if you are getting foam at the surface then you are doing something wrong, I have had one wipe out 4 years ago when the electic went off in the office and came in to see all the fish dead, but that was not from protein.
When I worked in Manila Aquatics in Tampa Florida, we had them on all the systems when they worked and I must stress when they worked it did take out some guck, but not enough to be worth installing, best to spend your money on an over sized wet dry filter, and make sure green algea grows in your tankif you get the red stuff you are over stocking.
regards
sean
ps if you want to make your own get the parts from bss abs placticssupplies off cork street in dublin and make a 5 footer, that will impress your friends!!!

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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15 Nov 2006 07:17 #8 by lampeye (lampeye)
Replied by lampeye (lampeye) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
ive read wet dry filters are nitrate factorys.....

lampeye

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15 Nov 2006 08:02 #9 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
Replied by Sean (Fr. Jack) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
Wer and dry, (trickle filter), are when there is a filter medium obove the water table of the tank or sump, a undergravel filter uses 80% of the available O2, so since they are out of water thet take the 02 form the air,
it is imposible not to make nitrate i.e NH3 changes to NO2 then NO3, the No3 can be removed with a de nitrating filter, slow flow of water through a sumerged filter, it needs a carbon source, which is available from the chemist as as methol gisorle suger based product, the nitrating filter reveres the drop in pH (opposite to a trickle filter which tends to take it from 8.3 down to 8.1), naturally you are adding carbon in directly to the tank every time you feed the fish. The best source to aquire these bacteria is to dig down in the beach sand till you get the black stuff you would have to transport it under water. Deep inside your volanic rock weither you like it or not this process happens naturally.

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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15 Nov 2006 11:49 #10 by lampeye (lampeye)
Replied by lampeye (lampeye) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
i went for a berlin system with live rock, good flow, and a deep sand bed....no filter except for the skimmer. i read that the live rock acts as the filter and turns the nitrate into nitrogen gas...obviously there will be nitrates in the tank but not high levels...what do u think of this system sean?

lampeye

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16 Nov 2006 02:03 #11 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
Replied by Sean (Fr. Jack) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
Hi Think live rock is great, I have collected all my own in Majorca, in shallow waters the rock can tolerate hi temps as it is in Aug here, you are introding a much more balance system, the only problem is if you get diease as most of the small inverts can not take copper, to treat the fish in the tank the only thing that would work in formalin, which is availabe from your local undertaker, if they ask why you want some just say you are doing a DIY balming on your late uncle to cut down on costs, if you feel bad about saying that then you need to go to Lennox chemicals off the nass road.

Getting back to the filter, lets say the living rocks are doing all the de nitating deep within the rock, thats good, and on the surface of the rock lets say its romoving a third of ammonia and nitrites using the Oxygen of the tank, again this is natural and we cannot do any thing about that, but the other 2 thirds is done by a oxygen eating sand filter, why should the tank filter have a right to 2 thirds the o2, and your fish one third when you can let it breath raised 2 inches above the water table of the tank, we the electric goes off for more than 4 hours your filter dies, as apossed to the trickle filter that does not, unless it dries out, but that is less of a problem.

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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22 Aug 2007 16:09 #12 by Ballabooyeah (Ballabooyeah)
Replied by Ballabooyeah (Ballabooyeah) on topic Re: WHICH SKIMMER
I have use many skimmer in the last few years and despite what everyone says - i find the Deltec the best out of them all. Mind you ai have Aquamedic and a home grown DIY 8Ft RK2 skimmer copy running as well.

Ease of use, cleaning and best gunk removal I have to give it up to my Deltec 702 -0 Same unit that Simon has running on his fish system in his store.
If I was cashed up and needed one for my home tank - I would go Deltec again.

On piece of advice I have taken and I am happy with - If you can take the feed from the main display and pipe this into the intake of the skimmer then you will get better skimate - Also one less pump running on your system - Will not help items going over the falls looking for life on the other side.

Andrew

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