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
First tank
- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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The next tank is coming with 6 T5 lights so i will probably see a noticeable difference. The guy im getting the tank off had LED's on the tank before and when he changed back he noticed a big difference within a few weeks.
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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What size is it?
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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Congrats man can't wait to see it running!
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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Congrats on the new tank
Why are you going to cycle it???
Your adding 50 kg good rock from existing tanks so that is more than enough to run the new tank
Use all ur water and absolutely none of ur current sand, top up with new water slowly and it's good to go
When I moved house 5mts ago my tank got a 100% water change with no probs at all, I had to acclimate all the fish and inverts like I just bought them, all was fine
Corals that were bagged were left in the sump to match temp and them placed where I wanted them.
No loss of anything
No joking the corals over 50 of them had more colour within a week, because of the fresh balanced water
If you want to add more live rock, add it over time bit by bit, or couple of kg at a time
Also my experience with sand in this size tank is to stay well clear of it, it run better with out it,
TRUST ME ON THIS
I've been their
Il get a pic of my tank up tomorrow with no sand, it doesn't some appealing at the start but when the bottom is mostly covered with corals you don't notice it
The main thing is it runs better (healthier) trust me Im telling everyone to do this, and 100% of people that have had nightmares with established tanks and can't find 'what' is now causing problems, have taken it out, they have been contacting me to tank me to say I was right the tank runs better, and in the long run it gets better not worse
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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- carlowchris (chris)
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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One of the reasons why im thinking of cycling is that in the smaller of my tanks i currently have alot of bristle worms so im going to try and remove them somehow. probably just let the rock sit out in RO water for a couple of days/ weeks till it cleans up.
Was already wanting to get rid of the Live Sand. I was thinking of going to crush coral base. would that cause as much of a problem?
Would be great to see some shots of your tank .
I think im going to stop with the softies in the new tank so i can get a couple of the more well behaved angels and triggers as i have always wanted some of the larger fish but could never have had them in the smaller tanks.
I have loads of Pom Pom Zenia if anyone of the forums would want some, have to peal a load of it off my back panel of my smaller tank and i wouldn't get much for it bringing it back to SH here in galway.
Lost my Wild Percula female as well Monday, went on a flying lesson out of the tank and didnt notice it for a while.
As for the tank guys, they are pics from when the guy im getting it off set it up a few months ago. looks abit more used now lol.
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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Aside from killing the worms you will kill most of your bacteria if not all plus whatever other inhabitants, this will mean you will have the rock covered with dead organic matter which will mean two things, first an ammonia spike soon after you put it in the tank and second a phosphate spike a few months later.
Just to let you know, I personally think is worth it (using dead rock), my tank has plenty of live rock that came of dead rock afte ra long cycling/curing process and has no warms or pests of any kind, except for a big crab who is the main suspect of my heilrichi's death, but things are cool between him and me... for now.
Anyway just be careful and, if you are gonna do it, make sure you run a phosphate reactor with something like Po4x4 from the beginning and keep running it for at least 6 months, maybe more!
I have crushed coral in one of my temp tanks where the Jawifish lives (mixed with some normal sand) and a Barebottom on my bigger one. I find that the crushed coral tank has an appealing look, unfortunately jawfish require some smaller size grain sand so I had to add some to the tank which was originally only crushed coral. Another problem was that snails (nassarius) dont like this type of sand.
The barebottom tank is doing fine, like jeff said they are easy to maintain and very clean, all you need is a powerhead blowing the bottom of the tank and that's it, however, the fact that you cannot put certain types of fish and inverts is a big no no for me, also, I like the way sand looks in a tank and it is extra filtration as well but it is really just up to you, most fish wont notice a different between having a sandbed or not.
In regards softies I will not be putting fast growing corals such as Xenias, star polyps etc in my tank as they grow way too quickly. They can literally take over your tank in month no matter the size, I rather keep more slower growing corals and fill the tank up with many different species
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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I was thinking of having a crushed coral bottom to the new tank, the larger and small types of crushed coral, mixed sand bed. I do have nassarius snails in my other tanks which i think are lovely when you see them come out to feed.
If you could give me some pointers of how to setup the tank it would be great. Im going to be given 2 reactors with the new tank, large skimmer return pump, auto top-up and a uv. ill post the names and everything once i know what im getting.
I would like to transfer all of the live rock from the larger tank i have, as some of the coral has encrusted, but most are just glued onto rock. I know i have a few small bristle worms, spaghetti worms 2 peanut worms and one (at least) small bobbit worm, which i love lol, been in the tank since day one. I also have a mystery worm which comes out only at night and is very difficult to picture. well think its a worm.
I would like to keep the natural look of my previous tanks so a bare bottom would not be the way in which i would like to go, would like to have some sort of sand bed.
I am also going to be getting 50+ kgs of dead rock that is currently in the tank im getting. mainly large plating pieces.
As for the Zenia and star polyps im thinking of still having them in the tank as i love the pom pom Zenia's movement and i do like the way clown fish will host in star polyps. ive never had an Anemone.
Any help you could give or if anyone else wants to jump in please do
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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I would run PO4x4 on one of the reactors but as you will only need small amounts of it the reactor might be too big and you might want to get a smaller one, they are only 50 euro or so, not a big investment, however, if you want to use one of the reactors I would make sure the sponge/filter inside is dense enough to stop PO4X4 particles from pouring through. Ask the previous owner if he was running PO4X4 on any of those reactors.
The other reactor I would put carbon in it, you can run it together using the same pump, like in a chain, very low flow.
I suppose once we know what you are getting it will be easy for us to advise you
The skimmer is a coral box, pretty decent one, I have the bigger version one so technically I can't really say how good it is! but I heard good things about it
Sorry one thing that caught my attention is that you said you have a bobbit worm in your tank????
You WANT to get it out of there ASAP man, they will get big and kill your fish!!! well maybe not all but potentially could
Another thing, how do you plan on introducing the 50 kg of rock?
Ideally you probably want to cure it first and wash it a bit... let me know, this process will take a while though so maybe you want to start it now before you get the aquarium? see if you can get the rock now, tell your man that you want to start curing it, let me know if you need advice on this
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- galwaylad (paul byrne)
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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I didnt know it was your tank.
I thought Shane said that he had 50 kg of dead rock but if it is inside your aquarium then it should be fine.
In regards the rest then you have your answer Shane, run rowaphos and PO4X4 in the same reactor from the beginning so that the phosphates levels will be always close to 0. Just make sure you keep testing for PO for the first few weeks every week or so and every 2 or so afterwards just to make sure levels dont rise again and if they do then add more PO4X4, that stuff i sgreat for removing phosphates.
The DD reactors can be daisy chain if you want so great news!
And the UV well, you might as well get a new one, in fact, I have a spare one if you want it?
I got it from fish-street but since I got the blau I wont be using it so let me know, its a 36w UV
Its this one
www.fish-street.com/jebo_36w_uv_steriziler
It has never been used
And I also have my older UV same brand but the 18 w version (I think is the 18 w version), it will need a new lamp though and I will have to look for it.
This last one (18 w) you can have it for free if you want. The other one I am not sure what I will do with it yet. Probably sell it for like 25 euro or something like that.
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- galwaylad (paul byrne)
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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Ill be running the rowaphos and PO4X4 so in the reactor it seams lol.
I might take you up on the offer for the UV, if i dont end up using it i know my dad is looking for one for his planted tank so it'll probably get some use.
The bobbit worm thats in my tank has stayed very very small the whole time its been in my tank, ill post a pic or two of him later for you to see. ill have to wait till im home.
As for the rock i dont know what im going to do really, I have bubble algae in my larger tank what i would prefer not to get into new tank as well as all them other pests so i dont know yet.
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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Upgrade works are in motion lol, got the tank over to my house last weekend and started during my paddys time off work to start cleaning down the tank and equipment. So far so good, tank is as clean as i think im going to get it, just used vinegar and good old fashion elbow grease (and some blades lol) and its look pretty good.
Waiting on parts from LFS to get my piping back together but have skimmer, reactors and return pump all ready to go
Aquascaping and sand going to be done during this week while im waiting on parts, around about 100kgs of live rock going into it from the get go.
Stocking wise, all of my fish from the M90 are going to go in when fully cycled which are 2 snowflake clowns, mated cardinals, purple wrasse, female mandarin (dont worry ill be putting lots of copepods in while tank is doing its thing) and for the time being im going putting in my chromis, but not sure about that.
Other stock im considering are, Kole tang, Yellow Tang, Powder Blue, blue tang, LO Foxface, and a couple of anthias that my misses has picked out.
Anyways ill be putting up pics of the new tank as soon as i get some pics after its together.
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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I personally dont like Chromis, they are way to territorial, one of them singly stressed out my new hippo (this was 2 years ago) to the point where he appear dead the next inside my elegance.
But that's just my opinion, I prefer shoaling fish such as anthias etc
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- carlowchris (chris)
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- hammie (Neil Hammerton)
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Was advised that it wasn't a good idea unless they where the last fish to go in (a bit like a 6 line wrasse or mystery wrasse)
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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Im planning on getting the piping fixed and all the sump sorted out this weekend so ill start posting pics of before and after cleaning when im done. Just gotta get new flexi piping from work to replace whats there lol.
other than that im really looking forward to starting to cycle the tank.
For the rock that is in my other tanks, i do have a good few pests, mainly large bristle worms in smaller tank and all rock is going to eventually be in new 5ft. Has anyone tried the salinity dip for removing pests before they go into a new tank???
If anyone has any other ideas to help make the new tank as pest free as possible im all ears.
Ill post a pic of the Bobbit as soon as i get him out, hes still very small
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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Personally I can only think of using dry rock (with all the hassle involved) and dipping smaller portions of coral in some sort of pest remover.
And even then it would be hard to kill everything!
Still can't believe you are keeping the bobbit... maybe the sump would be a better place?
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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Im going to try hunt out the bobbit out of the rock in the M90 tank, i know there are not many other pests in that tank as i was abit more careful. there are a few bristles and an unknown hitch hiker but i havent seen the later in a few days so he could be gone. (has been in the same rock coming outta the same hole since day one in the tank lol)
Other than that the LFS have said my piping peices wont be here now till friday, 3 weeks after i have asked for them, so getting annoyed lol. But my order from Fish Street still hasnt come which is for 2 RW20's so want to do piping and wiring properly before i start filling any water.
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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Out of curiosity, what piping are you looking for?
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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Hopefully i will have some luck getting some of the pests out, if not im just going to dry it out and cure it and add it to that tank at a later date, im actually in no mad rush to get this tank up and running, i want to do it right.
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- Bohrio (Alex Rodriguez)
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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Still havent gotten a chance to do anything else with that tank, girlfriends parents and sister were over visiting yesterday and they are coming again tomorrow so im hoping that Friday will be the day i wire everything and start doing some aquascaping.
Homemade pest traps are going in tomorrow night hopefully to see if i can get a few of the pests out of the tanks before i start to move everything. Going to try and keep the structure of the smaller tank rockwork and place it directly into the new tank once the initial live rock cures, there is alot of pom pom zenia growing out of the top of it so im wondering should i just take it off and place it into the new tank while the other rock is cycling, bringing back the 3 fish from that small tnak this weekend to LFS but if anyone wants a yellow watchman, red scooter blenny or a male percula clownfish let me know
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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I'd be interested in the watchman and the blenny
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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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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Galway City, i live about 5 mins away from SH on the headford road. Ill post a pic of them.
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- Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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You should have entered that pic in the competition it's cool
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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