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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

Fish Room (one more try)

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30 Aug 2012 17:57 - 30 Aug 2012 18:03 #1 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
I made a previous attempt at a fish room - but due to lack of time, it fell into disuse, disrepair and disarray.

I've restarted - but as you can see, despite planning to be finished by now, its still a chaotic mess. This is it as of 6.30 pm today.






Every attempt to change or revive a piece of equipment has resulted in broken parts and endless trips to sponsor shops for replacements (and in some cases, resorting to online & couriers where necessary.)

The plan is for mostly large tanks with external filtration, going for hardwater / high ph - purely because that's what comes out of the well unfiltered and at little cost.

Tanks will be :
2 x 300l aqua ones
1 x 160l azoo
1 x 180l aquatlantis
1 x 240 or 260l Clearseal
2 x 50l and a 70l and 3 of about 25l

(There's a few other knocking around the rest of the house!)
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Last edit: 30 Aug 2012 18:03 by Jim (Jim Lawlor).

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30 Aug 2012 18:36 #2 by JohnH (John)
Jim,
I thought you had sneaked over here and taken snaps in my house!!!

Good luck with your (renewed) venture.
Keep the snaps coming.

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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30 Aug 2012 20:04 #3 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
best of luck with it and gym equipment for the fish as well nice ;)

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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30 Aug 2012 20:50 #4 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)

best of luck with it and gym equipment for the fish as well nice ;)


it's for me mussels ( groan :( )

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30 Aug 2012 21:05 #5 by ghart (Greg Hart)
Nice one Jim!
Wish I had a spare room to do this with :(

Nice to be able to do a workout while watching the fish :P

Greg

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30 Aug 2012 21:17 #6 by mech1 (pat bell)
Wow lucky you to have the space, could look great (already does to me).

Heat the room or the tanks?

Self changing water?

Best of luck with it,
Pat.

Knocklyon 2 min from J12 M50

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30 Aug 2012 21:54 #7 by antoblfc (Anthony Behan)
OOOO NO I fear this will be me some day...... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

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30 Aug 2012 22:05 #8 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)

OOOO NO I fear this will be me some day...... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


what do you mean OOOO NO, take notes it WILL be you soon

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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30 Aug 2012 22:39 #9 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)

Wow lucky you to have the space, could look great (already does to me).

Heat the room or the tanks?

Self changing water?

Best of luck with it,
Pat.


Thanks for the encouragement folks!

Dont know how long I'll have the space - I've a feeling once the kids become teenagers, I'll be handing it over.

Mix of both on the heating. The room is in an extension only built a few years ago - so its loaded with insulation. I've covered the windows with aeroboard as well, but can take down one section to run a hose in through the window. I put a heater in each tank anyway as supplementary heating, but the room stays at about 21c fairly easily. Also - most of the tanks already sit on aeroboard, so I was going to clad 3 sides with it as well.




Haven't managed to automate the water too much, but I put in a 140l water butt.




If I run air through it overnight, the temp will get up to 20 - 21c. If I'm fussy about exact temp, I have a heater it as well, that I can turn on to 24c. There's also a sump pump in it with enough hose to reach each tank in the room.

Hard water tanks will be on a different schedule to software water - so I can mix a batch of RO & well water when I need, or use pure well water the rest of the time.

Water changes go out the window to a drain, then I just pump from the waterbutt.
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30 Aug 2012 22:46 #10 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
looking sweet, and regarding the windows are they double glazed if so i dont think you'd need the aeroboard there, just use blinds to limit light if your worried about algae, but i find natural light cycles can encourage spawning in some species and for dark evenings as in winter times fitting a dimmer switch to the main room light can allow you to imitate evening to night time light by lowering it incrementally over a couple of hours

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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23 Oct 2012 11:22 #11 by CaptainSlow (Martin)
@ Jim
Any update on your fish room?

how long is your room?
I'd love to see there one huge aquarium from one room end to another. .. + all these small as well set on steel construction ( like in shops) .

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23 Oct 2012 11:39 #12 by davey_c (dave clarke)
haha jim, looks like my fishroom also.... dunno why but the other half see's the same room as a storage area :evil:
keep the updates coming and i'm sure you'll get there soon :cool:

Below tank is for sale

my plywood tank build.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768

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26 Oct 2012 22:35 #13 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Sorry I haven't been posting folks - been away a wee while and progress is slow. First tank setup had moor wood in it, which grew fungus that looked like Santas beard and smelled like a dead horse! Had to strip it down and scrub it and start again.

Will be doing a bit this weekend and will stick up a few pics.

@sheag35 - thanks for that - wasn't sure about the windows, so covered them just in case. Room gets an awful lot of light on summer mornings and causes algae hell in some tanks so I'm learning slowly to only use very limited amounts of natural light - but it's good to know it can be useful.

@CaptainSlow - room is 25 ft long (7.5m) x 10 ft (3m). Would love a tank that long, but that's a swimming pool !

@davey_c - yep, every time I clear it, it's a storage room by the next weekend, but I guess that's the price of "planning permission" for a fish room!

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24 Nov 2012 13:13 - 24 Nov 2012 13:17 #14 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Progress is slow - but getting there and hopefully have most of this weekend at it:

First tank is up and running - needs the glass cleaned and the plants planted (I'm not following the classic and correct way to scape a tank - too much to do at the same time....)Dirt on glass is just splashes from the substrate.




Got a couple of Eliiotis in there - colouring up superbly - many thanks to Darren in Seahorse for taking the time to fish these out for me!


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Last edit: 24 Nov 2012 13:17 by Jim (Jim Lawlor).

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24 Nov 2012 13:22 - 24 Nov 2012 13:23 #15 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Tank is a ClearSeal 2ft wide, 18ins front to back, 30in tall.

I added 2xT5s to the hood



Filter is an eheim:

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Last edit: 24 Nov 2012 13:23 by Jim (Jim Lawlor).

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24 Nov 2012 13:26 - 24 Nov 2012 13:29 #16 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Two more 300l to go:

These are the filters - so I'll know the answer to "which external filter?"




This one is nearly there - using this sand:








Room getting slightly cleaner !!





The base is covered in eggcrate (helicopter is just to hold the hose down!)


Last edit: 24 Nov 2012 13:29 by Jim (Jim Lawlor).

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24 Nov 2012 13:34 #17 by JohnH (John)
Steady progress Jim, at this rate you'll have your fish room ready before mine gets finished!

Thanks for all the pictures.

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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24 Nov 2012 18:19 #18 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Looking good

Looking forward to the filters review :)

Dec

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24 Nov 2012 19:48 #19 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
Very nice coming along nicely,

I like that clearseal tank they are to me the best tank around.

Fair play keep us posted as you go.

Sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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25 Nov 2012 04:22 #20 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
coming on well but i think the rocks would look better in the tank than on the floor ;)

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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25 Nov 2012 12:31 #21 by Melander (Andreas Melander)
Making good progress, and some nifty tips there too regarding the water butt and insulation etc.

I will be following this thread, good luck with your project!

Melander

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25 Nov 2012 19:58 - 25 Nov 2012 20:16 #22 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)

coming on well but i think the rocks would look better in the tank than on the floor ;)


True - but first things first . . .eggcrate:





thanks for al the positive comments folks - I'll keep the photos coming and if I learn anything I'll let you know!
(apart from what you probably already know - there's no feeling like picking up an old piece of tubing, that you know has been lying there for 3 years, and feeling that trickle of special water running up your sleeve!)
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Last edit: 25 Nov 2012 20:16 by Jim (Jim Lawlor).

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25 Nov 2012 20:18 #23 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
quick question where did you get the egg crate i have been looking for some

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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25 Nov 2012 20:21 #24 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Got this in Seahorse - I think about a year ago

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25 Nov 2012 20:41 #25 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)

quick question where did you get the egg crate i have been looking for some



Artane have it mate

Sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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28 Nov 2012 22:17 #26 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Doesn't help that the ellioti have decided to breed - now I have to start cutlivating live food . ..

(although the eggs look a bit white & unfertilised)


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28 Nov 2012 23:22 #27 by JohnH (John)
Don't write the eggs off yet Jim,
They aren't looking awfully white, when were they laid?
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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28 Nov 2012 23:48 #28 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
I think today - possibly late yesterday. There's only wood in the tank which is why they chose the glass. They're only babies themselves!

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28 Nov 2012 23:53 #29 by JohnH (John)
They obviously don't realise that (that they're only babies).
Chances are, as you will know, it often takes Central (and Southern) American Cichlids a few 'goes' before they get it right.
But you never know...
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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25 Mar 2013 17:52 #30 by Esoxluciouss (denis goulding)
any update on the fish room

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