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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

Build Plans - Advice will be needed -NOW INSTALLED

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16 Sep 2014 21:59 #181 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Looking good Stephen.

I would remove the Guppy with the growth. You don't want it spreading.

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16 Sep 2014 22:10 - 16 Sep 2014 22:12 #182 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
well spottted darren, and did that the other day when i saw him :P (wasnt a growth - one of the discus took a bite out of him )
I've been a bit busy over the last 2 days with trimming the repens. my god there is soo much to cut, trim, replant and clean.

And way, i trimmed about 30% of the repens and i ended up with this.
(to encourage the new born guppies to go near the discus for nibbles :evil:








Inza, yep they are all eating from my hands :cool:
Last edit: 16 Sep 2014 22:12 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh).

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20 Sep 2014 19:26 - 20 Sep 2014 19:29 #183 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
well, just got a thumbs up on the tank regarding water quality :cool:


laid in 2 sets, once in the morning 30 min after breakfast and once more in the evening 30 min after lunch.
I also noticed the male fertalize them all :cool:

estimiting about 400 eggs

Last edit: 20 Sep 2014 19:29 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh).

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21 Sep 2014 00:10 #184 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
I'm loving the arc with the S. repens. I was wondering when this side of the tank would see some plants :whistle: .

IME ADA Amazonia soil is great for creating ideal conditions for domestic Discus. Very soft and slightly acidic.
I suppose the proof is in the pudding. You got eggs. Good man and soon to be a busy man :laugh: .
Congratulations. Who bred with who?

A small lamp in the room or a small low wattage LED over the tank will help keep the night raiders away from the eggs and soon the fry. The parents wont be able to guard and protect the eggs/fry in the dark.
I would use something like a 1W LED lamp with its beam aimed towards the tree with the moss on it. Just an area of low light is all you need. For now.

Good luck and well done.

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21 Sep 2014 00:50 - 21 Sep 2014 01:25 #185 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Thanks Darren, plants are very expensive so I have to wait for the ones I have togr ow first.

I have alot more plans regarding planting but this can't be rushed :)

There is the sunset light that gives the whole tank a light red look in the dark think its 5 watts. Just checked there, they are still covering and brushing them.

It was the 2 blue/black ones, I have to be honest I don't know the names yet. Only got them last week.


edit


male was a Royal Blue Cross and female was Turquoise Discus
Last edit: 21 Sep 2014 01:25 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh).

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10 Nov 2014 10:23 #186 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
things are still going well,

new plants are in


Discus are doing well


shrimp are surviving


and neons still school every noe and then


(i dotn have a great camera ) :(

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12 Nov 2014 19:47 #187 by Inza (philippe launois)
my little guys seems to be in good form ! grats ! :)

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14 Nov 2014 13:53 - 14 Nov 2014 13:55 #188 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
thanks Inza :)

Yep, they love it, still laying eggs and fighting each other off every now and then.
The melon head, seems to prefer hunting his own food - live shrimp rather than being fed beef heart.

If you want that Co2 bottle that you won, just let me know.

I've started trying my hand with Easy Life - Easy Carbo.
Based on 750 litres at 2 ml per 50 litres. I'm putting in 15 ml per day

I hope to get more growth out of my repens, I lowered the light a while ago due to some algae - Algae stopped but so did the repens,
So now I've upped the light by another 7%-10% and started EI'ing.

Let see what happens.

O anyone do refill's on Easy Carbo? or bigger bottles than the 500ml?
Last edit: 14 Nov 2014 13:55 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh).

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14 Nov 2014 19:39 #189 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
You should ask the lfs where you buy the easy carbo from to order you a 5 l bottle, it will last you for a year.

Anthony

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14 Nov 2014 21:01 #190 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
PMed you Regarding Easy Carbo if LFS can't get 5L you could buy on-line.

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14 Nov 2014 21:55 #191 by Inza (philippe launois)
well i do not have any plans to go to galway so unless you are coming to dublin, give it to someone else ^^

5l of easy carbo could cost a lot no ? at 15€ for 500ml...

but if you get a good deal, please let us know !

thank you

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14 Nov 2014 23:33 - 14 Nov 2014 23:40 #192 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)


5l of easy carbo could cost a lot no ? at 15€ for 500ml...


Holy c#$* €15 for 500ml that's kinda expensive.

Have to buy mine on-line as LFS does not stock it
Last edit: 14 Nov 2014 23:40 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers).

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15 Nov 2014 08:04 #193 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
Yeah it is rwally expensive.
You pay between 50 and 60 euros for 5l in germany, add 15 euros for shipping you do the maths ;)

Anthony

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15 Nov 2014 09:53 #194 by baan (Fintan Breen)
Looking good Darkslice!

Yes, let us know if you get it at good value!

Also... are your calculations correct? I'm using 12ml for my 300L at 2ml per day...

750 litres / 50 litres = 15 x 2ml = 30 ml per day, no?

I'm also using injected CO2 + EI. I'm still playing with various parameters to get it right. Only starting back with Easycarbo two weeks ago but I think it's helping (I used to use it with profito before I went EI a few months ago).

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16 Nov 2014 15:05 #195 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Lol baan, you're dead right I need to put in 30ml.

Ended up getting 1liter for 25, get get me going. Just to see how I get on.

Thanks for all the advice, if anyone is importing 5liter in the future, let me know andiI'll split the shipping costs.

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16 Nov 2014 16:52 #196 by baan (Fintan Breen)
No bother... it jumped out at me cos I knew how much I was putting in, so I had to check that I was right!!

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17 Nov 2014 19:38 #197 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Anyone use auto dosing for this, might invest in one if I get one at a good price

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02 Dec 2014 17:17 #198 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
got my outo doseing unit


set up for 3 ml every hour the lights are on. So that's....

Mon to Fri the lights are on for 6 hours, => 18ml
Sat & Sun the lights are on for 13 hours => 39ml

Anyone see any issues with this setup?

O and if any one is interested, a 5kg Co2 Canister last 5 months on a 6ft tank with a sump and sump cover


On another note, my new addition



Sex is unconfirmed yet, but the odds in have a 3rd female is unlikely lol, :P
Already have female blue snakeskin
and female blue alenquer

so with any luck my pigeon blue or my new Red Turquoise will be male :)

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05 Dec 2014 00:04 #199 by alan 64 (alan)
How do u keep the tank so tidy mate when I had a.large planted tank with c02 I couldn't keep up with the growth ha ur tank looks great

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05 Dec 2014 08:27 #200 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
O I'm just as picky about the plants i use as I am about my fish.

The. Front plants (repens) won't goes bigger than about 10cm.

And the ones on the the back left will grow about a foot,

Back right will eventually break the water level.


In the last year I only trimmed and replanted the repens.

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07 Dec 2014 21:04 #201 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Think my carbon filter in the ro unit packed in :(

My youngest discus just passed away and the second youngest was resting sideways in the plants.....

All the other fish are fine. I've put in some declorinator and turned on the air pump in the sump.... Hope I caught it in time. And I hope that's what the issue is.

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08 Dec 2014 10:21 #202 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
something has gotten into the tank,
other fish are freaking out today...

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13 Dec 2014 01:57 #203 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Ok so mad week, last week all the discus where going nuts and my pigeon blood had stopped eating and was resting sideways - completely zoned out.

After replacing the carbon filter in the ro unit things started to improve, and I managed to get the pigeon blood to eat brime shrimp. Now he's back eating beef heart and not hiding in dark corners :)

On the plus side it looks like my new discus might be a male. :)

On the down side iI spotted. BGA under the soil by the glass so I quickly ripped it out - hours of up rooting plants and replanting. And anomina was 0 (thank god)

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13 Dec 2014 11:49 #204 by archibalts (Arvis)
Beautiful build!!!
I watched every single post, great skill!
Else - You have much more sense and experience then me, but year ago when was setting my little tank I was obsest with water quality and clarity. At one stage I had 2 filters for 65l tank. Then I had canister filter with polishers, carbon + U3 internal filter with carbon. My plants started to struggle, fish stressed, then I just left Fluval 306, took carbon out and magic - fishes happy, water perfectly clear.
When reading about carbon, you will often see, that if not changed in time - it is dangerous.
Now I'm in search for good deal for bigger tank, and I'm very sure - i wont use carbon again,

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15 Dec 2014 11:36 #205 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Thanks archibalts,

Carbon is great for me, never have to use de-chlorinator, but yes this is my first experience with it being full. and wow - nearly killed the tank!
Looking on line it should mange about 75k litres, but this dosent seem to be the case, 26k is more like it.

Maybe there is more chlorine in the water that normal?
Any way I'm keeping track of the date changes etc now.

And more bad news... lol
The about of water evaporating is crazy in this cold weather, I've noticed puddles and mold every where in the room (its in the sun room)
Its a major health hazard, so i've spoken to seahorse about getting a cover made, they will be getting back to me soon.

In the mean time I bought a dehumidifier yesterday and collected over a litre last night alone! (and still some - not alot- of water on the windows)


But ya, photos from the BGA removal
(only spotted a few spots- but I know that it can turn into!)

before



plants removed, soil sucked up,


glass cleaned and replanted

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15 Dec 2014 13:26 #206 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Maybe chlorine isn't the only toxin it's removing (and re-releasing).

I have 4 tanks in a very small room, none of them huge, 3 of them either without heaters or running very low AND all of them have some kind of cover. I still have to crack open a window to stop the moisture building up.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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15 Dec 2014 14:04 #207 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
maybe there is something else in the water ? you never know in ireland......

Seems we have a reactively new build house - its insulated very well - add that with a 800 litre tank that's at 30-31 Degrees the whole time :/

We've had mold building up big time on the walls in the bed rooms. never could put my figure on it until i found the mold in the sun room.
We've clean it off every 3-4 months, need to clean it again tonight :(

First time we noticed, we cleaned / bleached and now open the windows every day
Now its still coming back so where now blaming the tank
If it comes back again we're going to do cavity wall insulation


We think the warm air with the tank water is getting upstairs - hitting the cold wall in the bed room and boom - instant mold.

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15 Dec 2014 20:16 #208 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
I cant even imagine the amount of evaporation from your tank.
One of my tank is 100 L, water 22deg the room is usually at 17 from the heat of all the tanks and i loose nearly 10 liters a week

Anthony

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15 Dec 2014 23:25 #209 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Day 1 and 3 liters in the dehumidifier. So ya that's 21 liters a week.

That's a water change for my old tank! :ohmy:

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15 Dec 2014 23:56 - 15 Dec 2014 23:57 #210 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
do you have condensation trays? Id be interested in what peoples thoughts are on the evaporation and the effect on the room / Health of someone. Ive a 5ft in the sitting room running a sump system but have condensation trays on the tank itself and partially on the sump tank.Ive not had any mold thankfully on the room. Its a sitting room heating and fire is lit in the winter...summer has windows open at some point.Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on the evaporation issue.Are you running a 5x2x2 ?
Great thread by the way.
Gavin
Last edit: 15 Dec 2014 23:57 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner).

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