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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

gravel cleaners

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30 Mar 2008 15:57 #1 by nomad (pat murphy)
My nitrates were high the other day even though i have plenty of plants in the tank and did an immediate part change.The substrate im using is a product called Aqua Grit which i find good for plants establishing roots etc but is much lighter in weight than gravel so am wondering what type of gravel cleaner would be suitable.
Also i feed the bottom feeders JMC catfish pellets but not long after being put in the tank i find with the fish feeding on them they turn into a powder form and and i think this could be a problem re. my nitrate situation.Any imput on JMC pellets and gravel cleaners in question appreciated.......

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30 Mar 2008 19:54 #2 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I have the same problem with coral sand in my Malawi tanks. I just squeeze the hose from the siphon which restricts the water flow and stops the siphon lifting the sand. If I used the siphon at full blast, I'd end up with bucket full of water and sand.

Regards,

Ken.

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30 Mar 2008 21:04 #3 by tonycfc (Tony O Connor)
have you tried the battery powered vacum cleaner some people dont like these but i love it

i got 6ft*2ft*2ft tank with sand and is super for cleaning up
and dirt on the top of the sand,theres an attachment to stir up the sand or gravel while siphoning into small bag attached to the vacum or you can connect a small hose directly into a bucket,i have mine about 2 months and should have got one a year ago when i first saw these, i think mine was about 30 odd euros but well worth the investment,and is actually very good on batteries,i clean my sand every week twice a week and still have the original batteries i put in

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30 Mar 2008 21:20 #4 by nomad (pat murphy)
Thanks for the replies lads,found some Practical fishkeeping mags earlier in the house that i was lookintg for and one of them as luck would have it was to do with gravel cleanersThere was a mains operated one and a battery powered one that was called an Eheim automatic gravel cleaner that costs nearly 50 sterling,it said that fine sands were sucked up and effected the impeller and stopped it working.What make is yours Ken and where can you buy them?Also anyone use the JMC catfish pellets and have the same problem i.e turning to into a fine powder when put into the tank,thanks..........

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30 Mar 2008 23:04 #5 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I just use a marina siphon gravel cleaner. It's not battery operated. I find it does the job just fine once I pinch the hose to control the suction power.

Bought a battery operated one recently, but haven't tried it yet.

Regards,

Ken.

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31 Mar 2008 09:41 - 31 Mar 2008 09:43 #6 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods)
As it happened just bought a new gravity feed one it sound. stay away from those with concertina type connections useless they trap air. sorry i have a link on my other PC which tells ya how to built a phyton type but its sick at the moment.

As for that jmc crap its only for dirtying water i tried it twice ended up feeding it to a friends big gold fish which would eat it so quick it didn't get time to dirty the water.

if i remember when i get my other PC back i will pm link

Mickey

Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods
Last edit: 31 Mar 2008 09:43 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods). Reason: spelling

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31 Mar 2008 10:58 #7 by nomad (pat murphy)
Ken,be interested to hear how you get on when you try out your battery powered one,what make is it and was it pricey? and Tonycfc you said yours worked fine so was wondering what make yours is?Thanks for your reply Mickey,JMC junk on way to the bin asap,thought the price was a bit cheap for an 850 gram tub,thanks.......

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31 Mar 2008 11:22 #8 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re:gravel cleaners
I use the JMC Catfish pellets and find it good food - however, don't feed it daily as it's rather high in protein for most Corys and the likes for an everyday food source, just use it as an occasional 'supplement/treat'.

I found the best way to stop the 'crumblings' of this and other pelletted foods (especially Tetra Tabimin) was to put an earthenware 'saucer' - the sort of thing you stand flowerpots in) - onto the gravel and drop the pellets into that. As they 'crumbled' the residue would be contained within the saucer...mostly, fish can be no respectors of what they're supposed to do...
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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02 Apr 2008 11:29 #9 by tonycfc (Tony O Connor)
hi nomad sorry wasnt on the last couple of days to answer you,
my gravel cleaner mmm i cant remember the name of it theres no brand name on it,but i got it in aquatic village they had two in stock at the time of purchase and was the dearest of the two
maybe if you pm serratus(Drew)he might know of hand the make,
id definetly recomend it to anyone and havnt had any trouble
with the propellor getting jammed and even if it did it would take 1 minute to clean so well worth the effort if youve got clean bed in aquarium

the cleaner comes with 3 attachments to
1 like vacum cleaner head
1 like long siphon
1 like a claw to disturb the bottom

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02 Apr 2008 13:13 #10 by suckers (matt lait)
i use an aqua vac by superfish
battery opperated comes with
hanging arm
connection filter bag
adjustable hight and
gravel cleaner attachment

i must admit i had to fiddle with it and it now runs off a goodmans 6v transformer. no need to replace batterys!!
ive coral sand and as long as the gravel cleaner is just off bottom it cleans well with out too much coral being picked up (which is washed then returned)
matt

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02 Apr 2008 14:30 #11 by nomad (pat murphy)
Thanks everyone for your info,laymans tried and tested point of view rather than manufacturers,with regard to the JMC pellets being placed on a saucer on the tank bottom well i find because of the current in the tank from the internal and external filter i,m feeding them instead of the fish.....

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