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
Introducing myself
- Bazd99 (Barry Delaney)
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Just joined this group. Currently have a 120l cold-water setup, my 190l trigon tropical tank burst on me a few months ago

I'm getting the bug again and want to go bigger and better. Was looking at a 540l second hand tank, cheap enough but I'm wary about the glass thickness, only 5mm, not being able to hold the water and pressure. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks
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- Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
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Welcome
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- anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
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Qcomets is right, the glass is not thick enough for a tank that size
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- Bazd99 (Barry Delaney)
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- JohnH (John)
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www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php?optio...&catid=14&Itemid=128
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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- helix8008 (Tomas Novak)
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Yea 5mm is way too low for that tank size, it's probably custom made and someone did the calculation wrong

Tom
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- Bazd99 (Barry Delaney)
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Went and had a look at the tank. Someone got their measurements wrong

Glass was 12mm thick. Happy days

So now the decision-making begins. Tropical or cold water? Sump or a couple of external filters ? Head is spinning with alot of ideas. Going take my time and do it right even if it takes a couple months.
1st pic is what I currently have. 2nd pic is of the 540l tank I bought tonight

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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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Irish-zx10r
Something fishie going on here
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- carlowchris (chris)
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- Bazd99 (Barry Delaney)
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I'd say there's enough room for both. It's not already drilled. I've looked at a bigger version of the external filter I have now. It's suitable for tanks upto 1000l, 4 layers of filtration, uv bulb , 2000l/h. The filter on my 120l setup keeps the water crystal clear. My head is spinning trying to decide on everything, how many heaters do I need? , what type of fish?,
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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with no problems have you any idea of what fish you like or been to the local pet shop be careful they will
try anything to sell fish so make sure you do your research first before you buy anything. lots of fish keepers even myself
learnt the hard way and tried to much to soon and it ended up bad with losing some fish down to poor knowledge and advice from the pet shops .
Something fishie going on here
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- carlowchris (chris)
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fish wise?????me personnelly id love a large cold water set up.......ponds are great but its a whole different thing when ya look head on at your fish instead of down on
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- Bazd99 (Barry Delaney)
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James the tank measurements are 850mm high, 1300mm long and 500mm depth. I'm thinking going tropical freshwater.
I was out looking in the local pet shop. I love the colours of the cichlids but was told I couldn't mix them with any other fish, is that true? I would like to have a good mix of fish, at different levels of the tank.
What type and how many heaters do you have in your tank James?
What lighting are you using? I was pricing different l.e.d systems , the difference is crazy. What do ye think of the lights from China? Look similar to what I was pricing but at a fraction of the price.
Sorry for all the questions but I want to get it done properly from the beginning, as money is a bit tight. That's why I said earlier if it takes a couple of months to get done, I don't mind
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- JohnH (John)
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www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php?optio...80&Itemid=200#181367
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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- Bazd99 (Barry Delaney)
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What a fabulous light setup
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