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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

Changing Substrate In An Established 190l Setup

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28 Aug 2011 17:34 #1 by Damien Conway (Damien Conway)
Hey guys, my tank is a malawi setup and I'm using a fine white gravel as substrate at the minute but I want to change this. I would welcome any advice you may have in assisting me to do this. Do I have to use a specialised sand or would the likes of silica sand be okay? Also this might sound daft but is it possible to do this with the fish in the tank? I'm on a shoe string budget so I hope to do it properly as cheaply as I can.

Thanks in advance,Damien

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28 Aug 2011 17:46 #2 by mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
Silica sand or coral sand is widely used in Malawi setups and is a bit heavier than the play sand that u have in there at the moment. The easiest way is too get big tubing and syphon the sand and water out of the tank over a few days to remove it all. To put the coral/silica sand back in wash it out well and get some big wavin pipe and pour the new sand down the pipe so as not to get the sand all over the tank. Hope this helps.

Follow me up to Carlow

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28 Aug 2011 18:28 #3 by Mike53 (Michael)
Is it ok to use play sand in a freshwater setup ?

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29 Aug 2011 08:34 #4 by smitas5 (Marius Smitas)

Is it ok to use play sand in a freshwater setup ?

It's perfectly fine.. have seen in many freshwater setups. Make sure its well washed.

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29 Aug 2011 09:27 #5 by Damien Conway (Damien Conway)
I can get my hands on both silica sand and playsan
d easily. Which one am I better off using?

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29 Aug 2011 09:35 #6 by mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
I would go with the 1mm silica but its down to personal preference dude.

Follow me up to Carlow

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29 Aug 2011 09:36 #7 by Acara (Dave Walters)
Silica sand,without a doubt. Been there,done that with the playsand thing,syphoned it all out and changed to silica. Especially in Rift Valley tanks.

always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!

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29 Aug 2011 12:59 #8 by Damien Conway (Damien Conway)
Silica sand it is so. How long should I soak it for before putting it into the tank?

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29 Aug 2011 13:14 #9 by mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
Some silica sand can be put straight into the tank without cleaning. Just to be safe pour some of the sand into a big container/bucket and add water and stir and then pour out scum that sits on top of the water. Keep doing this until u are happy that the sand in the container is clean and then pour into the tank. Hard work with all the cleaning and pouring but u will get there with a bit of elbow grease.

Follow me up to Carlow

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31 Aug 2011 11:26 #10 by Damien Conway (Damien Conway)
I've had a look at the silica sand and the colouring is too dark for my liking. Would coral sand be ok in a freshwater setup. I want sand but don't want it too dark either. In
trying to reach s happy medium.

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31 Aug 2011 12:06 #11 by fergusq (Fergus Q)
coral sand will push your ph up a bit but for a malawi set up that should be grand anyway

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31 Aug 2011 12:39 #12 by mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
I will have enough coral sand for a 190l leftover this weekend as i am removin some from the 6ft malawi setup i have. U can have it Damien. Based in carlow not too far away man.

Follow me up to Carlow

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