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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

coconuts!

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25 Oct 2012 15:41 #1 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
I've seen a few shell in tanks around,
I have acquired a couple for my tank,
My question is this, how do I prepare it so its suitable for the tank and will help lower ph?
Cheers.

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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25 Oct 2012 15:51 #2 by fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
Replied by fishmama (Maria Kennedy) on topic coconuts!
Cut in half, scrape very well the inside, and boil the shells a few times changing water, till water stays clean, or very lightly tinged. Coconut shells contain tannins, and those need to be taken out by boiling, like tea! Cut then a small opening, eat the meat :)
That's all.....

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25 Oct 2012 16:50 #3 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
Cheers,would soaking them for a week or two do the same trick as boiling?

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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25 Oct 2012 17:17 #4 by fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
Replied by fishmama (Maria Kennedy) on topic coconuts!
May be. You could soak them a couple of weeks, change the water a few times and then boil them anyway at least once for 10-15 min, you'll need that also to remove all the slime from soaking them for sucha long time, and you should know if it works from the color of the water. Let me know if that system works (could save electricity!).

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25 Oct 2012 18:30 #5 by m4r10 (m4r10)
Replied by m4r10 (m4r10) on topic coconuts!
Boiling for too long will soften the fiber in the coconut. If you don't mind the slightly tanned water, just pour some boiling water on them and they're ready to be put in the tank. If on the other hand you want the water crystal clear, boil them but don't over do it.

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25 Oct 2012 19:08 #6 by fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
Replied by fishmama (Maria Kennedy) on topic coconuts!
Tannins can be a good addition to the water if you do not mind the yellowish (low level) or brownish (high level) tint in the water. I read somewhere that tannins could have calming effects on bettafish and may be others, inhibit the infections of internal parasites, and spawning could be enhanced.
On the other end, the darker the water the less photosynthesis for plants, but they do lower pH and hardness.
So if you are looking for not crystal clear, but acidic soft water, by all means, keep them in.
Boiling the coconut shell will not soften the fibers that much, they are quite resistant, and, whether or not you want to keep tannins in the tank, I would sterilize properly the coconut shell before adding it to my water, and this take not less than 10 minutes of boiling ;)

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26 Oct 2012 05:59 #7 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
Thanks again, il get cracking the weekend:-)

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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26 Oct 2012 22:31 #8 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
Replied by BlueRam (Sean Crowe) on topic coconuts!
All the lads said is dead on,

But i have being in a rush before to add these to a tank and i striped them and just added them without any issues would also boil or leave in water but just saying that i have done this without any issues.

Sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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