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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

replacing substrate?

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02 Apr 2012 20:37 #1 by woodstock500 (Robert Glascott)
I'm researching setting up a small 38l tank and already I'm looking for advice! I had an interesting chat with Darren from seahorse about amazonia substrate. He warned me about the initial ammonia spike and also that the substrate lasts about 6 months before needing to be replaced... It wasn't till I got home that the obvious question of how the hell you replace a soil that you've spent ages getting plants to root n spread in without starting the whole process over again? Am I missing something simple and it can be done easily enough? I'm hoping to go fairly low tech, so no Co2, but hoped to use a good soil to make up for it instead. Any suggestions??
:blink:
Rob

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02 Apr 2012 20:40 #2 by joemc (joe mc)
you can siphon it out of the tank the same way you siphon out water at a water change, just make sure the internal diameter of the hose is large enough not to get blocked by the substrate you are removing

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02 Apr 2012 20:50 #3 by Pat (Pat Coogan)
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/fforu...-community-tank-pics
Have a look at the above post.
they did it without emptying the tank.

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02 Apr 2012 21:11 #4 by woodstock500 (Robert Glascott)
Thanks guys, I'd already read the post but my concern is changing the soil AFTER I've (hopefully!) grown a carpet of plants across the foreground, six ish months into the project. I may be getting ahead of myself but I'm just concerned about re-scaping every time the soil needs to be replaced.

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03 Apr 2012 15:33 - 03 Apr 2012 15:35 #5 by BillG (Bill Gray)
Hi Woodstock,

First up, you will find the ADA aqua soil will last a lot longer than 6 months. Take a look at the detail on the aquatic garden village website, they are a listed sponsor. If memory serves correctly, they have a planted tank set up with an ADA substrate that is running for 5 years now. The 6 months timeframe I think assumes that you are adding no additional nutrients to the tank.
Whether or not you actually add specific fertilisers, plant foods etc, your fish are constantly adding nutrients to the tank.
Would not get too hung up on ADA specifically, there are other alternatives out there too suck as Oliver Knott. A lot of people on the forum use OK with great success. You can also mix something like JBL Manado with the substrate, the Manado is designed to absorb surplus nutrients and release to the plants as required, so it acts as a reservoir for nutrients. You will find the porous granular plant substrates such as OK do the same. You can also add ferts to the tank in the form of liquid additives, dry powders etc. which also slows down the depletion of nutrients from the substrate.
If you are planning a carpeted planted set-up, you will never actually see the substrate, so its appearance is academic.

If you decide to change the substrate in an established tank, then the only option is to take all plants and substrate out and start again. There is no real alternative I am afraid.
Last edit: 03 Apr 2012 15:35 by BillG (Bill Gray). Reason: adding detail

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03 Apr 2012 16:47 - 03 Apr 2012 16:49 #6 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: replacing substrate?
Call Darren again, you may have picked him up wrong, possibly what he meant to say was around that time you'd need to start adding nutrients of sorts, 6 Months sounds very soon to be replacing a Substrate, maybe I'm wrong but it really sounds a very short period of time.

Kev.
Last edit: 03 Apr 2012 16:49 by stretnik (stretnik).

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03 Apr 2012 20:58 #7 by woodstock500 (Robert Glascott)
Thanks BillG, spot on! I think I was focused on Ada amazonia for its pH reducing effect as was thinking of stocking with a few green neons and shrimp but as only 38l, might go with shrimp only. Thanks for clearing that up as I thought that was too complicated for every 6 months!
A lot more reading up to be done before set up- I'll try to take photos all along the way but with a new baby in the house it may be next year before I get to post em!

Cheers, Rob

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03 Apr 2012 21:48 #8 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)

Call Darren again, you may have picked him up wrong, possibly what he meant to say was around that time you'd need to start adding nutrients of sorts, 6 Months sounds very soon to be replacing a Substrate, maybe I'm wrong but it really sounds a very short period of time.

Kev.


+1

Sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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04 Apr 2012 11:20 - 04 Apr 2012 11:22 #9 by CruelCoin (Roy Rentes)

Thanks guys, I'd already read the post but my concern is changing the soil AFTER I've (hopefully!) grown a carpet of plants across the foreground, six ish months into the project. I may be getting ahead of myself but I'm just concerned about re-scaping every time the soil needs to be replaced.


If this is a worry for you, then maybe find some aquarium suitable fertiliser tablets/pills/etc, break them up into small pieces, and push them into the substrate using a long pair of tweezers.

Nutrient boost, without having to dig anything up.

Then just repeat this every now and then.

Also, try using some liquid fertiliser. This will seep into the subtrate and give a boost aslo.

Once your substrate goes down and gets grown on, there really is no reason to ever take it back up again, if you just give it a boost from time to time.
Last edit: 04 Apr 2012 11:22 by CruelCoin (Roy Rentes).

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04 Apr 2012 11:38 #10 by joey (joe watson)
as above, once set up and running, if you see growth start to slow then there is plenty of choice to add to it. tablet fertilisers or jbl 7 balls are quite good imo especially if you have carpet plants or plants that need a good kick of ferts as its right at their roots

one thing i will say, is as you are not running co2 so if i were you i'd be careful about the amount or nutrients and the lighting, as good plant growth and subsequent slow algae growth are a result of a fine balance of nutrients, lights and co2. one thing missing or too prominent and it all goes tits up

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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04 Apr 2012 20:41 #11 by woodstock500 (Robert Glascott)
Call Darren again, you may have picked him up wrong, possibly what he meant to say was around that time you'd need to start adding nutrients of sorts, 6 Months sounds very soon to be replacing a Substrate, maybe I'm wrong but it really sounds a very short period of time.

Will do- new baby and lack of sleep means that's well possible!

Cheers

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