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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

ADA Amazonia 2

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19 Mar 2009 09:25 #1 by russell (russell watson)
Just set up with ADA Amazonia 2 and here is an initial finding. Seems to do exactly what it says on the tin. with a few facts to watch for, on my 80 gallon tank
My initial Ph was 7.4 all other perams normal range. have been running in he filter for 3 weeks. After adding 1 bag of ADA recomended for 20-25 gallon my Ph fell to 6.6 and remains there to date. after day 3 had an Amonia spike 0.15 along with a rise in nitrate to 5ppm & nitrate 0.15. the water is crystal clear with no fines in the water column. in fact the water has a sparkle to it. Hoping to source some more ADA to use as a sump base.
Will keep updating. but so far the signs seem excellent.

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19 Mar 2009 18:30 #2 by Mick0075 (Michael OSullivan)
I wonder would it be possible to bag this soil in some way and put it into my external filter to bring my ph down a little ?
Sounds like interesting stuff

Mick

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19 Mar 2009 20:00 #3 by russell (russell watson)
Hi Mick
I doubt it as it compacts down, slowly releasing the nutrients.!!!!!!!

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19 Mar 2009 23:10 #4 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
ADA aqua soil works very well at lowering ph. Different types will lower the ph to different levels and leach different quantities of nutrients. The filter will deal with most of them and water changes can prevent the likes of phosphates building up in the aquarium.
Even though it reduces the KH to practically 0ppm i found the ph stays stable.
Have a read here to give you an idea of what substrate dose what.
www.aquajournal.net/na/notes/001/index.html

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20 Mar 2009 09:28 #5 by russell (russell watson)
A good link Platty, I suggest anyone interested should read this first. and decide which grade you need. as I found out it does give spikes in perams which result in a temp spike in ammonia!! but at the moment all seems to be going fine. also it does effect Kh/Gh
The life span is about 2 years so it makes sense to run some in a sump so you can if needed renew it without disturbing the plants.

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20 Mar 2009 10:08 #6 by curefan (Dave Massey)
I find the ordinary amazonia has my ph too low (6.0 approx), while my tap water is 7.0 !!

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20 Mar 2009 10:46 #7 by russell (russell watson)
What Ph do you want. there are 4 types of ADA. if your Ph is 7 out of tap what does it settle at after airation for 24 hours ? what fish areyou keeping?

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20 Mar 2009 17:56 #8 by curefan (Dave Massey)
russell wrote:

What Ph do you want. there are 4 types of ADA. if your Ph is 7 out of tap what does it settle at after airation for 24 hours ? what fish areyou keeping?



Id like a PH of 7 in my tank as 6 is a bit low for Red Cherry shrimp...even though they seem happy enough! Also it might be a bit low for Assassin snails (not good for their shell).
Ive never let tap water sit for hours and then test ? just test straight from tap.
As for the tank, after a water change it rises very slightly and within a day is back at 6. Tank is only set up about 6/7 weeks, so may increase a bit more with time/water changes ??

By the way im using ADA power sand special/amazionia/amazionia powder.

Cheers, Dave.

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20 Mar 2009 23:08 #9 by russell (russell watson)
Hi Curefan
I am a bit confused. you say your tapwater is 7Ph and that is where you would like it to stay at. yet you are using ADA Amazonia plus power sand. Power sand is a great filter media mainly pumice and will not effect the Ph. so that leaves the ADA. this will lower your Ph as you know possibly holding it at 6. BUT it can drastiacly lower your Kh/Dh it can drag it down to virtualy 0. this is a worry with a Ph of 6 as low alk/dh/kh can cause Ph crashes. you need to raise your kh etc to gi
ve the Ph a stability capacity.
What size tank do you run and also the filtration ? another factor could be not enough surface agitation as this will drive of any Co2 which lowers your Ph.
Please keep us informed
Russ

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