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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

african cichlid tank build, video update

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13 Jan 2014 21:34 - 15 Jul 2014 11:55 #1 by alan 64 (alan)





this is my first attempt to build a 3d background for my new cichlid tank, steps so far 1 cut 23 styrafoam boards into shapes and layer on top of each other and do a test fit, happy with it so numbered the boards and applied a watery coat of cement, dry for a day and apply another coat, had another test fit while i wait for cement pigment dye to arrive in the post before i add my final 4 coats and thats where i am for now
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Last edit: 15 Jul 2014 11:55 by alan 64 (alan). Reason: vid

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13 Jan 2014 22:08 #2 by paulv (paul vickers)
Looks great so far, its almost finished. If you get a chance you should visit aquatic village and see the massive african reef tank ian has.

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13 Jan 2014 22:39 #3 by alan 64 (alan)
i must check that out

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20 Jan 2014 20:37 - 20 Jan 2014 20:40 #4 by alan 64 (alan)

background installed
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Last edit: 20 Jan 2014 20:40 by alan 64 (alan). Reason: spellin error

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20 Jan 2014 21:51 #5 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Looks great....
Well done, looks very professionally built

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20 Jan 2014 22:14 #6 by paulv (paul vickers)
Looks great but maybe softer LED lighting on the background would look more natural.

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21 Jan 2014 01:30 #7 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
Very nice I love the 3d background what size is your tank have u got any cichlids?

Something fishie going on here

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21 Jan 2014 02:23 #8 by alan 64 (alan)
thanks lads the tank is 275 litre i only have some german rams irish but i am planning some peacocks for this tank

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21 Jan 2014 14:36 #9 by alan 64 (alan)

coral sand in should be adding water by the weekend
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22 Jan 2014 11:15 #10 by dannyb (Daniel Byrne)
looks great really well done, +1 for a trip up to Ian his tank is the reason i got into cichlids

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22 Jan 2014 16:00 #11 by alan 64 (alan)

some rocks in now not sure when to fill the tank the last bit of cement when on sunday if u guys have any advice on this
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27 Jan 2014 16:08 #12 by alan 64 (alan)

pic with water in and lights ajusted
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27 Jan 2014 16:10 #13 by alan 64 (alan)
thanks hammie nearly there now

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28 Jan 2014 18:47 #14 by alan 64 (alan)
2 externals switched on today happy as larry

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28 Jan 2014 19:40 #15 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
looking good what cichlids are u going to keep ?

Something fishie going on here

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28 Jan 2014 21:06 #16 by alan 64 (alan)
gna try an all male peacock, i have seen some tanks on utube with all male and they look great

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29 Jan 2014 15:50 #17 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
Looks savage mate well done

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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30 Jan 2014 02:22 #18 by alan 64 (alan)
cheers jeff i am recieving conflicting info on weather i should have used a sealer on the cement well its in the tank now so no way of sealing it so il see when some stock is added if the cement causes any probs

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03 Feb 2014 23:26 #19 by alan 64 (alan)
any one know if i can get a t-5 bulb for this to replicate moonlight, there are 4 t-5 bulb units on the tank so i could run a single at night for that effect

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07 Feb 2014 17:16 #20 by ket (keith byrne)
I have seen a guy on YouTube build a background like yours, he filled and drained the tank a few times, as he said the cement raised the ph.(So it must be leaching something into the water) But if your keeping Malawi you should be ok, just keep an eye to be sure.

cheers jeff i am recieving conflicting info on weather i should have used a sealer on the cement well its in the tank now so no way of sealing it so il see when some stock is added if the cement causes any probs

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16 Feb 2014 15:22 #21 by alan 64 (alan)
yea thanks ket ph was high but the last week it has settled between 8.2 and 8.4 all is going well with the tank i have a red and yellow peacock and two tiawan reef cichlids in there the last two weeks and all seems to be good i might add a fish a week untill my filters have a good bacterial base built

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16 Feb 2014 16:13 #22 by Melander (Andreas Melander)
That looks very stylish and very diferent, in a good way.

Looking forward to see the fish in there.

Andreas

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16 Feb 2014 16:56 #23 by alan 64 (alan)
thanks alot i will post pics when the stock level is up im realy happy how it turned out

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19 Feb 2014 00:27 #24 by alan 64 (alan)
some life in the tank :)


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19 Feb 2014 00:29 #25 by alan 64 (alan)
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19 Feb 2014 00:29 #26 by alan 64 (alan)
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19 Feb 2014 02:32 #27 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
very nice setup love the background
are they two males or a rubin red male and female

Something fishie going on here

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19 Feb 2014 03:28 #28 by alan 64 (alan)
2 males mate one is a red peacock im not too sure about the other i was told it was a yellow peacock but im not sure abot that i will take more pics of him see what u think

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19 Feb 2014 18:08 #29 by alan 64 (alan)
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19 Feb 2014 18:09 #30 by alan 64 (alan)
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