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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

Light

  • Vickers (Vickers)
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27 Apr 2007 03:19 #1 by Vickers (Vickers)
Light was created by Vickers (Vickers)
Hi just a quick question do fish need to have a certain amount of time with the light on in the tank , and if so how long should the tank be lit everyday ?
thanks Karl...

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27 Apr 2007 03:29 #2 by sparky (sparky)
Replied by sparky (sparky) on topic Re: Light
hey karl,

as far as i know, fish dont actually need light, its just plants that actually need it... you might want to double check this with some of the other guys tho! the lights on my tank are on for about 9 hours a day. you should invest in a timer for the light, as changing the time the lights go on and off at each day will stress the fish out!

Location: Dublin 24

"Make it idiot-proof, and someone will make a better idiot"

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27 Apr 2007 03:29 #3 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Replied by KenS (Ken Simpson) on topic Re: Light
Hi,

Fish don't need lights. However, plants do. If you don't have live plants, it would be fine to only have the lights on when you're around.

Having lights on for more than 10-12 hours a day will result in algae problems whether you have plants or not.

Regards,

Ken.

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  • Vickers (Vickers)
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27 Apr 2007 03:37 #4 by Vickers (Vickers)
Replied by Vickers (Vickers) on topic Re: Light
cheers guy's , no i don't have plants in the tank. i noticed the algea growing a lot as I was leaving the light on when I was in bed as the tank is in my room but I'd fall asleep and the light would be on all night , I think I'll get a timer so ..........

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27 Apr 2007 03:43 #5 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re: Light
I always believed, but am open to correction that equatorial places (where most of our fish and plants come from have almost equal times of day and night and hence the daylight hours are around twelve hours.

For plant growth this would appear to be the optimum amount of time, although I did read that plants seemed to benefit from an hour's 'rest' around half way through that cycle this also seemed to stnt the algae for some reason - which is never a bad thing!

Timer switches will, unfortunately, eventually burn out with Fluorescent lighting - I was asking an expert in Maplin Electronics and he explained it very technically (left me more confused than ever!) and he ended up selling me a relay switch which he assured me will solve that problem of timers burning out, when I get time to I will wire it up and see if it works!

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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27 Apr 2007 03:48 #6 by Vickers (Vickers)
Replied by Vickers (Vickers) on topic Re: Light
I was going to get a timer socket with a wheel that you push in the side where you want the clock to come on ,Dunno if this is the same thing youare on about

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27 Apr 2007 03:55 #7 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re: Light
Yes,
Those are the ones, but don't let me put you off getting one, some work without burning out it would seem, it's just that I've now had three burn out (they 'sieze' when the cycle comes around to the switching-on time) and if I remember rightly this has happened to Tanks a Lot as well. The instructions on mine clearly stated that they are not to be used with fluorescent lighting.

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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27 Apr 2007 03:57 #8 by monty (monty)
Replied by monty (monty) on topic Re: Light
I've been using the same timers for years without any problem - good old B&Q electronic ones which were not that expensive - around 5-6Euro if memory serves me right. Little LCD panel where you set the current time and then the on/off times.

I've used the ones with the wheel and you click the sides on and found them to be OK, but some of the clicky bits seemed to move over time.

Monty

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27 Apr 2007 04:07 #9 by Vickers (Vickers)
Replied by Vickers (Vickers) on topic Re: Light
The father works in an electrical shop so I'll ask him , I think the wheel would be a better one for me as i can just set it on for an hour when I'm going to bed ,

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27 Apr 2007 04:42 #10 by tanks_alot (Denis Coghlan)
Regarding the timers, I haven't had any problem with the analog "wheel" timers other than that they could be a bit noisy some times, this is why I changed over to digital. Since then though I am now down to one out of an original four (12.99 each) digital timers and have resorted back to the analog versions. There was no sign on the digital timers to say they couldn't be used with fluorescent lighting.

I would recommend "wheel" timers over digital as they are relatively inexpensive (3 for 12.99 in woodies) and are simple to use!

Lead me not into temptation, For I can find it myself!

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27 Apr 2007 04:56 #11 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Light
Used both and never had a problem. All electrical equipment will pack it in over time. I'm using the digital ones at present since there are easier to programme if you want your moonlight to come on when your normal lights go off.
Have a look at the new Arcadia slimeline lights. They have analog timers bulit into them. Analog timers also have advantage of working even when you had a powercut. OK, the times the lights come on will be delayed but at least your plants will have 10-12 hours of light whereas the digital timers just stay in the off position. Not good for plants especially if you are on holidays for a bit. That's why I switch back to analog (wheel types) when going on holiday. The moonlight stays off anyway when I'm out of the house

Holger

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