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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
my latest water test
- john kelly (John Kelly)
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ive just tested my cichlid juwel 450 tank
the first thes was the ph which was 7.8mg
the second was the amonia which was 0.50 mg
the third was nitrite which was 0.00mg
the fourth was nitrate which was 80mg per ltr omg
i did a 30% water change and that will have to do until i get somw nitrate remover tomorrow
or does anybody have any suggestions ?????
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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My only question is how long is the filter maturing as those readings seem a little odd..
Seamus
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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- john kelly (John Kelly)
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think some 1 has bein feeding them when i am at work excess feeding can cause a quick build up of nitrate
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- Trimax (Trimax)
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ive just tested my cichlid juwel 450 tank
the first thes was the ph which was 7.8mg
the second was the amonia which was 0.50 mg
the third was nitrite which was 0.00mg
the fourth was nitrate which was 80mg per ltr omg
i did a 30% water change and that will have to do until i get somw nitrate remover tomorrow
or does anybody have any suggestions ?????
Don't mean to be a pain in the proverbial ass but to correct your termanology it should read: PH 7.8 (Its not measured in mg)
The other results are measured in PPM or Parts per million, sorry Im analy retentive I know (No innuendo intended here folks!)
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- john kelly (John Kelly)
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if not then why bother posting ?????

















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- zale (Mark carroll)
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Now now ladies.
white tail what substrate are you using. Crush coral if your not using it will buffer the water & bring up ur ph.
The 30% water change should dilute your amonnia & nitrate, just check it again for the next few days & if there high just do another 30% water change.
No need to buy nitrate remover, water change will do.
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- john kelly (John Kelly)
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is there a need to buffer the water & bring up ur ph now ????
tested the water earlier its now 5.0PPM
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- zale (Mark carroll)
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whats 5.0PPM ?
Sorry for asking I may have missed an earlier post by you but what size tank is it and how many fish in it, also do you have any bog wood in the tank.
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- john kelly (John Kelly)
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1 PLECO
ITS A JUWEL 450
IVE NO BOG WOOD HAVE SEEN IT ALRIGHT BUT DONT THINK I NEED IT.DOES IT HAVE IMPORTANT USES????
5.0PPM IS THE LEVEL OF NITRATE
OR AS I WOULD SAY 5MG PER LTR
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- zale (Mark carroll)
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1. If the piece is big enough it will lower your ph
2. plecos need it for fibre (they munch on it)
3. it looks nice

Nice size tank & not overstocked, weekly water changes & a good cleaning of the filters once a month should do you fine. I clean my internal filters at the start of each month & the external then 2 weeks later.
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- john kelly (John Kelly)
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THERE IS A LINK TO THE TANK
THE 2 BARBS AND THE 2 CIGAAR SHARKS ARE GONE TO A BETTER HOME IN BRITTAS

ONLY HAVE AN EXTERNAL FUVAL 405 . DOONT NEED MUCH MORE AS I AM NOT OVER STOCKED

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF IT
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- zale (Mark carroll)
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Don't know if you heard it, but your fish were whispering & laughing..



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- john kelly (John Kelly)
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- my latest water test