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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

My New Setup

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01 Mar 2007 09:47 #1 by Darren (Darren)
My New Setup was created by Darren (Darren)




Switched from white sand to black sand. Took out coloured rocks and added holey rock. Also added plain black backdrop. Two new lights: triplus and blue moon.

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01 Mar 2007 10:07 #2 by steven (steven)
Replied by steven (steven) on topic Re: My New Setup
Excellent looking setup Darren love the black substrate really shows their colours off the rock is pretty cool looking to where did you pick it up if you don't mind me asking.

Treat every day like your last, some day it will be??

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01 Mar 2007 10:39 #3 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: My New Setup
The rock's nice, black sand not really my taste. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and not up for discussion. Just make sure its not black glass rather tzhan sand. Fish will cut themselves when digging.

Holger

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01 Mar 2007 12:10 #4 by Mr Algae (mralgae mralgae)
great looking set up. i have the black gravel also, it realy brings out the color in the fish, and sets off your new rock very well. the black backing aso brings out the color in the fish.

May your fish be with you:

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02 Mar 2007 05:38 #5 by arabesque (Mick Veale)
Also looking for black sand...

but read up that cichlids and plecs dont
really like the black glass gravel... it's
too sharp and scratches them.

Can you confirm.. is that sand? if so where did you get it?

Im after some Black Tathian Moon Sand
by CaribSea..

Anyone know where it's stocked?

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02 Mar 2007 10:29 #6 by Darren (Darren)
Replied by Darren (Darren) on topic Re: My New Setup
Got it all up in Aquatic Village. The black substrate is sand. It's not quite as fine as my previous white sand but it's not as sharp as other black substrate they had up there when I was getting it. It was placed over the white substrate and the maingano have been happily digging away in it which has mixed some of the white sand through the black sand so its not entirely black now. It actually looks quite nice with the black and white sand mixed together now

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02 Mar 2007 10:45 #7 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: My New Setup

Got it all up in Aquatic Village. The black substrate is sand. It's not quite as fine as my previous white sand but it's not as sharp as other black substrate they had up there when I was getting it. It was placed over the white substrate and the maingano have been happily digging away in it which has mixed some of the white sand through the black sand so its not entirely black now. It actually looks quite nice with the black and white sand mixed together now


Never mix substrates.
I did it once with Coral gravel.Put it over standard pea gravel. After a few water changes It looked crap as it was all mixed together. :cry:

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02 Mar 2007 10:54 #8 by Darren (Darren)
Replied by Darren (Darren) on topic Re: My New Setup
Both substrates are similar sand though and it doesnt look too bad. It's still mostly black but with white sand speckled throughout. I'm quite happy with it

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02 Mar 2007 13:26 #9 by Dave (Dave Fallon)
Replied by Dave (Dave Fallon) on topic Re: My New Setup
Looks good, say goodbye to your pristine Ocean rock in about 6 weeks.

How are you buffering pH..

Qui Vivra Verra.

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02 Mar 2007 18:26 #10 by Darren (Darren)
Replied by Darren (Darren) on topic Re: My New Setup
The sand is buffering the ph. What happens to the Ocean Rock over time?

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02 Mar 2007 18:31 #11 by Darren (Darren)
Replied by Darren (Darren) on topic Re: My New Setup
Just did a quick check and pH is about 8.5

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02 Mar 2007 19:22 #12 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: My New Setup

Both substrates are similar sand though and it doesnt look too bad. It's still mostly black but with white sand speckled throughout. I'm quite happy with it


Not trying to be smart but you have way too much substrate in the tank.
I only keep it at half inch where the rocks are and a couple of mm at the front.
You could end up with a very dirty tank with sick fish.

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03 Mar 2007 07:32 #13 by Darren (Darren)
Replied by Darren (Darren) on topic Re: My New Setup
No worries mate I'm still learning so any suggestions are most welcome. Should I take some out? How does it affect the fish?

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03 Mar 2007 09:31 #14 by steven (steven)
Replied by steven (steven) on topic Re: My New Setup
Anthony is spot on when i first set my trigon up about 2 years ago i had about 2 inches of coral sand substrate all the way around the base of the tank before i knew what was happening water quality was deteoriating very fast nitrate and nitrates were through the roof and my south americans which are hardy enough started to drop like flys i lost a breeding pair of jds 6 mature firemouths 2 convict 6 jewel cichlids and my prized green terror that i got breeding all in the space of 3 months so an expensive mistake but we all start somewhere got it sorted and haven't had a hitch since :wink:

Treat every day like your last, some day it will be??

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03 Mar 2007 15:52 #15 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
Replied by Sean (Fr. Jack) on topic Re: My New Setup
Coloured or black gravel is a personal taste, its a bit like having black bed sheets for a middle age couple would be a bit kinky unless your were Peter Stringfellow, so its your taste if you can leave with it then its O.K, why is the gravel so thick? if you are not growing any plants there is no benefit, in fact with in 2 years you will have to strip the tanks as it will break down, its better to just have a sprinkling. I dont know much about ocean rock its it porous like volcanic rock? (for de nitrating capacities with in the rock) if it not would, you would of been better getting for free the nice stuff out of Blessington lakes assuming the ITFS has not left the lake barren?

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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03 Mar 2007 16:10 #16 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: My New Setup
I will be out with my speed camera around Blessington lake and doing car and cavity searches.

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04 Mar 2007 07:11 #17 by Darren (Darren)
Replied by Darren (Darren) on topic Re: My New Setup

Anthony is spot on when i first set my trigon up about 2 years ago i had about 2 inches of coral sand substrate all the way around the base of the tank before i knew what was happening water quality was deteoriating very fast nitrate and nitrates were through the roof and my south americans which are hardy enough started to drop like flys i lost a breeding pair of jds 6 mature firemouths 2 convict 6 jewel cichlids and my prized green terror that i got breeding all in the space of 3 months so an expensive mistake but we all start somewhere got it sorted and haven't had a hitch since :wink:


That sucks. Sorry to hear it. Cheers for the advice lads. I'll start hosing it out next week with my weekly water change. So around an inch is plenty?

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04 Mar 2007 07:41 #18 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
Replied by Sean (Fr. Jack) on topic Re: My New Setup

I will be doing cavity searches.


Is that for male drivers or just for female drivers?

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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04 Mar 2007 07:44 #19 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
Replied by Sean (Fr. Jack) on topic Re: My New Setup
That sucks. Sorry to hear it. Cheers for the advice lads. I'll start hosing it out next week with my weekly water change. So around an inch is plenty?[/quote]


end of quote


3mm at the front and thicker under the weight bearing bits under heavy rocks at the back 10mm although if its like volcanic rock the weight is virtually nothing especially we you also take the bouncy effect of being submerged into consideration.

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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04 Mar 2007 09:36 #20 by Darren (Darren)
Replied by Darren (Darren) on topic Re: My New Setup
Yeah I've added some heavy rocks yesterday so I'll make sure there's still a good bit of sand under those. Actually, anyone know where to pick up some of that plastic grate stuff to put in the bottom of tanks to disperse the weight of the rocks and prevent falling rocks from cracking the glass?

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08 Mar 2007 12:36 #21 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
where did you get the holy rocks from?? pricey?? lovely set up

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew

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10 Mar 2007 18:55 #22 by Darren (Darren)
Replied by Darren (Darren) on topic Re: My New Setup
The ocean rock wasnt too expensive. Got it up in Aquatic Village in brittas

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