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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

DIY Background

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21 Feb 2008 21:49 - 21 Feb 2008 22:45 #1 by Avonmore (Pat Cullen)







Hi all, decided to have a go at making a background. What ya think? It still needs a lot of work.
Don't know why the pics came out small, Im an idiot when it comes to computers :unsure:

Pat :blush:
Last edit: 21 Feb 2008 22:45 by ().

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21 Feb 2008 22:02 - 21 Feb 2008 22:13 #2 by suckers (matt lait)
looking good pat. what did you seal it with eventually?
is it on anywhere like photobucket so we can have a better look! ok i need glasses aswell!!!!!!!!! :laugh:
matt
Last edit: 21 Feb 2008 22:13 by suckers (matt lait). Reason: forgot a '?'

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21 Feb 2008 22:30 - 21 Feb 2008 22:32 #3 by Avonmore (Pat Cullen)
Last edit: 21 Feb 2008 22:32 by Avonmore (Pat Cullen).

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21 Feb 2008 22:47 #4 by ()
Replied by () on topic Re:DIY Background
Hi Pat,

Made the pictures bigger.

When you select the Img button on the tool bar above the editor once you have highlighted your url link, it comes up with a standard image size of 150 (see in the prefix). You can adjust this to make the pics bigger. In this instance, I have changed the size to 500.

Kindest regards,

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21 Feb 2008 22:49 #5 by ()
Replied by () on topic Re:DIY Background
Pat,

By the way :blush: , your background is looking really well. The Heineken on the 1st photo was well deserved ! ;-)
Don't publicize too much how good you are at it, otherwise you'll get orders in from all over the place ! :laugh: :laugh:

Valerie

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21 Feb 2008 22:52 #6 by Avonmore (Pat Cullen)
Thanks for the help Valerie, Appreciate the help as always. Pat

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21 Feb 2008 23:13 #7 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Very good. You are a natural styro mason.
I would say it will look verry well in the tank.
What will you seal it with?

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21 Feb 2008 23:13 #8 by suckers (matt lait)
hey pat is that in one piece? there isnt a cross brace on your tank is there?:huh:
matt

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21 Feb 2008 23:42 #9 by Avonmore (Pat Cullen)
Platty, Thanks for the praise. Not sure what to seal it with yet. I'm making this up as I go along. Any suggestions?

Matt. There is a cross brace but I plan to cut the back in 2 maybe 3 along the stone joints and glue them back onne in the tank.

Pat

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22 Feb 2008 00:25 #10 by suckers (matt lait)
Avonmore wrote:

Platty, Thanks for the praise. Not sure what to seal it with yet. I'm making this up as I go along. Any suggestions?

just robbed this from a uk site :blush: 'Polyurethane varnish is safe and so is fibreglass resin if mixed properly.'
talking about backgrounds. dunno bout the varnish as ive not tried it (yet :unsure: )

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22 Feb 2008 18:03 #11 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
Looks great, I might give this a go sometimes, the shop backgrounds are so expensive I would rather spend the money on fish. Let's see a photo when you get it in the tank, Pat.

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22 Feb 2008 22:30 #12 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Since you will have to cut it because of the brace in the tank i would cut it and paint were it has been cut. Just in case the white of the joint is seen afterwords.
Polyurethane is safe for aquarium use. Just give it a couple of coats but not gloss or it will be to shiny and take the natural look of it.

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23 Feb 2008 00:10 #13 by Deeco (Deeco)
Replied by Deeco (Deeco) on topic Re:DIY Background
platty252 wrote:

Polyurethane is safe for aquarium use. Just give it a couple of coats but not gloss or it will be to shiny and take the natural look of it.


Is this the type of paint used?

You know yourself

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26 Feb 2008 00:22 #14 by Avonmore (Pat Cullen)
Will the concrete/floor tile glue affect the water quality even when coated with sealer. I remember when I built my garden pond 8 years ago that my LFS advised me not to put fish in till the conctete had a chance to wash away. So I'm a bit worried about not been able to get to all the nooks and cranneys with the sealer. Its going to be difficult to seal all the joints between the rocks. A bit worried about that. I've done a few trial runs on Polyurethane varnish. Looks Sh*t* IMO. Too glossy, so tried sprinkling different kind of sand on it while varnish was wet. It turned out better than I expected. It took the glossy look of the background and add colours but a bit worried about it staying putt. Not sure the type of sand but its very fine and used for paving/cobel loc and sand blasting. Can you get Polyurethane in a matt finish? Is so, maybe I'd try coating the sand with it to help it to stay putt. I should really know this as I'm a cabinet maker but I don't use Polyurethane, too long to dry...


Pat

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26 Feb 2008 09:28 #15 by suckers (matt lait)
Polyurethane varnish is available in matt finish. if your concerned about the background not all being sealed( esp as its gonna be cut in 3 ) put it into your tank, fill with water then add a strong salt solution for thr first few waterchages ( no fish ofcourse) do this for 3 days with no filter running then empty the lot refill with fresh water. btw IMO and experance for all water changes (lasting 3 weeks ( twice a day at times)) i just used water straight from the tap ( BTW i read somewhere that if the clorine(sp) isnt to bad a fine spray should help dispell it( no that i would do it) untill i decided the background had washed its self out enuf. you can leave the background without sealing it but then you have to battle with the very hard water untill everything has settled down.

matt

pm sent aswell

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14 Mar 2008 12:02 #16 by suckers (matt lait)
just got off the phone to ronseal (it does what is says etc etc!) and they told me their varnish called 'translac' is safe to be used inside a tank. the sand idea is a good one Pat gives added texture but just overcoat it with varnish again. IMO glass is shiny therefore if the background is....... any way there is our old friend algae which will take hold after a few weeks

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14 Mar 2008 13:47 #17 by zale (Mark carroll)
Guys, would the sand, cement & varnish effect a pleco grazing on algae.?

Just looking at my background and he has all the color scrapped off it.


Mark

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14 Mar 2008 14:01 #18 by suckers (matt lait)
i have 2 plecos and they dont seem to be bothered by my background which i coated with 3 layers of epoxy resin (just to be sure) . i have read somewhere the coloured plastic oned you can buy are not intended for tanks which contain algae eaters as they will eat the colouration. the quote states\" The painted background is designed to last years under normal aquarium conditions, but it has been found as with ALL 3D Backgrounds on the market that the constant action of sucker fish (algae eaters) sucking on a particular area can after a time remove the painted effect ,thus just leaving the neutral grey colour of the fibre glass, so with this in mind we can not recomend using 3D backgrounds in conjunction with these fish.\" (web addy cgi.ebay.ie/3D-Rock-Background-for-Aquar...sidZp1742.m153.l1262)
hope this helps a bit
matt

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14 Mar 2008 18:22 #19 by zale (Mark carroll)
Thanks matt,

I have a juwel 3D background and he has all the brown scraped off it most of it is black foam now :huh: Was just wondering cause I'm going to make a DIY cave for the big fecker.


Mark

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15 Mar 2008 21:31 #20 by suckers (matt lait)
zale wrote:

Thanks matt,

I have a juwel 3D background and he has all the brown scraped off it most of it is black foam now :huh: Was just wondering cause I'm going to make a DIY cave for the big fecker.

try a slate cave zale. pieces of slate siliconed together. black slate brown backgroung wouldnt look too bad. if its made and left outside in a bucket of rainwater for a few days the algae will start to grow as well.
matt

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