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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

Fishless cycle of 5 gallon tank readings

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22 Jul 2013 15:12 - 22 Jul 2013 18:13 #1 by zuda (Zuda)
Hi I have a 5 gallon tank think that is about 18 litres and I set it up Saturday night. It has gravel and some Bacopa caroliniana (one lot)in a glass with gravel in the tank. I put stress coat in for the chlorine and followed a 3 day regieme using nutrafin cycle and also threw in a tiny bit of fish food.

I took readings about 10 minutes ago
Ph 7.6
High Ph 8.0
Ammonia 1.0ppm
Nitrites O.25ppm
Nitrate 20ppm

So going to LFS for thermometer, gravel and a few other bits but what should I feed the plant with and how often? Also is it ok to add java moss along the bottom during the cycle? How long before I can put a betta in the tank? Naturally not till all perfect but what levels am i looking for?

And another daft question after testing do ye just pour chemicals away and rinse out test tubes well or what do you do?

Thanks in advance :)

ETA oops sorry not sure if this should be here or in Nano section apologies
Last edit: 22 Jul 2013 18:13 by zuda (Zuda). Reason: correct measurements

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22 Jul 2013 17:46 #2 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
Hi I'm nearly sure the plants will aid the cycle
And may even use up some of those nitrates!
As far as feeding them,if you give the plants a couple of hours of
Light a day they should be fine.
As for the test tubes, always wash them with the tank water you
Want to test.

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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22 Jul 2013 17:46 #3 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Hi zuda

Are you missing any decimal points in your readings?

For ammonia and nitrite you need 0 readings and 40 is about the max for nitrates.

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22 Jul 2013 18:12 #4 by zuda (Zuda)
Thanks for your replies

Lights on in tank abut 10-12 hours a day turn it off when I am going to bed, so that should be enough then? Grand job so

Oops! thanks Q_Comets will correct it now :) Things are bad when i cant read my own writing

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22 Jul 2013 18:18 #5 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
The test tubes should be washed out (several rinses) with di-ionised or distilled water and dried.

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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22 Jul 2013 18:36 #6 by zuda (Zuda)
So now lets play spot the noob

Distilled water -from pharmacy?lfs or spend day capturing steam from kettle or..?

oh wait its me..I win!

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22 Jul 2013 18:49 #7 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
:D.....too expensive to distil your own.

The stuff for steam irons or for car batteries.

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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22 Jul 2013 19:05 #8 by zuda (Zuda)
Who knew you could buy distilled water for irons I just used from taps not just fish you're educating me on.

So I'd get it in a garage then?

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22 Jul 2013 21:38 #9 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Check out Tesco or a car parts shop (Halfords?) for de-ionised water.

If you wash the tubes out in normal water then everytime you use them you could be leaving residue in the tubes that eventually will be detected in the test (and false readings).

Normally, though a simple washing will up until a time.

It depends on how accurate you want the results to be.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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22 Jul 2013 22:38 #10 by ghart (Greg Hart)
Ian,
Would RO water do the same as distilled for cleaning the tubes

Greg

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22 Jul 2013 22:55 #11 by igmillichip (ian millichip)

Ian,
Would RO water do the same as distilled for cleaning the tubes

Greg


It's not perfect, but much much better than using tap water or tank water.
It would not be acceptable in a chemistry lab, but would be fine for fish test kits.

So....RO water would also be good.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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23 Jul 2013 11:39 - 23 Jul 2013 11:40 #12 by davey_c (dave clarke)
I'd imagine a good clatter of us wash our water test tubes in tap water or tank water whether we know different or not and for the purpose of our fish keeping have still gotten useable readings (or more specifically readings we use)... never posed any problem or threat to our fishkeeping.

Below tank is for sale

my plywood tank build.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
Last edit: 23 Jul 2013 11:40 by davey_c (dave clarke).

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23 Jul 2013 12:49 #13 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Quick note on the PH, I assume you have the API kit. The PH test will read 7.6 for any PH higher than that and the high PH will give 8.0 for anything less than 8.0. This it kinda annoying doing 2 PH tests every time if your PH is between 7.6 and 8. When you run out of PH test you should get one with a better range, I don't have an example but there are a few.

Regarding the readings, do these look like a good advert for nutrafin cycle or am I reading too much into the nitrate level?

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23 Jul 2013 20:51 #14 by zuda (Zuda)
time will tell Q as I will test tomorrow afternoon and post again

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23 Jul 2013 21:43 #15 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Cool we shall enjoy sharing your new tank buzz

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