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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

A tank and stand life expectancy

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25 Mar 2015 23:18 #1 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
So i have a tank that was made by sh about 2yr ago its 5x2x2 with a 4ft sump so its heavy lol and it has about 60kg of rock and its basically sitting on either a plywood or mdf melamine finish wood, not exactly bullet proof

it does freak me out a bit wondering how long can sit their without (CRACK) and i loose thousands of euros of live stock

to me all it takes is the stand to weaken a bit for it to collapse or the silicone somewhere that i cant see leaks and weakens the frame and (CRACK) Game Over

It may seem a bit over the top with Paranoia, but we all have to worry about something and this is my something

would love to hear tour thoughts

and any stories about how old of a tank you have seen

i have seen in the photo section the 30yr old tank Melander,s parents have, that's kinda reassuring for the tank but not for the stand as that one is not on wood

and i would also be extra paranoid that mine is a salt water tank, the power of salt is incredible :evil:

anyone else worry about this or am i mad in the head

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A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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25 Mar 2015 23:46 #2 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
simple answer buy new tank and stand and try upgrade to 7ft it put your mind at ease lol

Something fishie going on here

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26 Mar 2015 00:02 #3 by alan 64 (alan)
your not mad in the head mate iv often thought of this so its a very good question I always thought these cabinets should be built around a box steel frame

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26 Mar 2015 00:27 #4 by jeff (Jeff Scully)

simple answer buy new tank and stand and try upgrade to 7ft it put your mind at ease lol


lol, but when you have a nearly ten grand tank sitting their that may one day collapse, your not really in the position to ask the boss for something 'better' as i would be divorced for saying before i got this tank that, "this tank will be still their when im a granda, if she knew what i was thinking about this one id never hear the end of it until 'I collapsed into the unknown

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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26 Mar 2015 00:37 #5 by jeff (Jeff Scully)

your not mad in the head mate iv often thought of this so its a very good question I always thought these cabinets should be built around a box steel frame


cheers buddy

your right i think any tank over 3-4ft should deffo be on a steel frame thats the way it was done yrs ago

any carpenters on here that can back up this wood strucksure (but i probably wont be convinced in fairness) but id love to hear your thoughts

or anyone else got some theories on the topic

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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26 Mar 2015 02:10 #6 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
look down through my photos its simple enough to add some timber and give extra strength to your unit
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php?optio...132980&limitstart=30

Something fishie going on here

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26 Mar 2015 09:14 #7 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
I'm not the only one then... that is somewhat reassuring!
Let's however talk about the steel frame idea, personally this would also freak me out a bit due to salt water corrosion etc and the possibility it's rotting from the inside out (especially if it's treated to stop rust etc)

I suppose the less it gets moved and adjusted the more secure it is!
Obviously joints will weaken if moving the unit around!
We tend not to spill water (if we can avoid it) but if your like me and there is a woopsie, you make sure it's well dried up and cleaned up

It is a worry but I try not to get overly paranoid about it

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26 Mar 2015 10:57 #8 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
I think the real answer to the question is how many times have you heard of a tank catastrophically failing because the stand wimped out? In 12 years of fishkeeping I don't think I've ever heard of it. They've failed because of poor construction, old age, even a small screw poking up through the woodwork. But I don't think the stand has ever been the cause.
Juwel aquariums have an indented base sheet of glass. I've had a considerable weight of rock sitting in the tank exerting was is alot of weight (60kg) on a pretty small area. I think a stand would need to fail along alot of its length for the tank to fail too.

"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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26 Mar 2015 12:34 #9 by Ieva star (Ieva Fogta)
Blockwork base with 4inch heads spaning it life time job

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26 Mar 2015 13:52 #10 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Tanks can show signs such as warping/bowing or bubbles appearing in the silicone.But for stands I believe once the pressure is evenly spread out and no flaws in the design then its a solid structure.Houses are made from wooden frames and they dont just collaspse either.So while its a worry its very much a case of what if rather than the likely senario of nothing occuring etc. A way of at least identifying any flaws is to inspect the silicone seal for any bubbles within it and get a spirit level to ensure the tank is level.After that just keep spills to a minimum on the wood and dry if it occurs.Houses have wooden floors with furniture on them etc...wood is alot tougher than we think.

Gavin

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