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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

Tank Rebuild

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29 Oct 2008 20:46 - 04 Nov 2008 01:04 #1 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
I have been keeping tropical fish for about 2 years now, before that I kept some cold water, now its time for a change!

The sitting room needs redecorating and so dose the tank.

Here is my tank before I stripped it

Severum

Java moss tank

This was early days

I think this was my tank in full bloom

My java cave


And now i have a problem with my card reader :angry:
ill come back to this asap.
Last edit: 04 Nov 2008 01:04 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran). Reason: Change thread name

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29 Oct 2008 21:14 #2 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
wow those big green leafy plants really look effective ... the tank looked real well ..... heres hoping for the same if not a better result

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30 Oct 2008 02:52 #3 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
best of luck with the new project, if this is what we're to expect the pressures on
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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30 Oct 2008 10:28 #4 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods)
some great picks best of luck with it keep us posted

Mickey

Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods

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30 Oct 2008 22:26 #5 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
I found these when I took off the hood, the golden apple snails found a good place to lay eggs







I bet the clown loaches enjoyed them :(

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31 Oct 2008 00:02 - 31 Oct 2008 00:04 #6 by derek (Derek Doyle)
the apple snail was often used as a fish breeding aid in the past. for soft water species they had certain benefits such as lowering hardness (shells need calcium) and produced infusoria for smaller fry (tetras, barbs etc..)for cichlids such as haps the baby snails were snapped up as they dropped into the water (before the shell hardened.)
before the days of accurate test kits the condition of the adults shells were a guide to the water hardness or lack of. as the shells become pitted and stained without sufficient hardness. (esp. calcium)

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
Last edit: 31 Oct 2008 00:04 by derek (Derek Doyle). Reason: spelling

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02 Nov 2008 23:36 #7 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Ok so I thought long and hard about getting a stand that I liked for my 160L tank with the option to change to a bigger tank later, the more I thought about it the more I decided its a waste of money, now is the time to get a bigger tank. 300L 300 yoyo! so I did, my new tank is 300 liters I plan to run 2 external filters on it a hydro 30, and a fluvial 250, pressurized c02through a reactor, being picked up by a power head shooting it across the tank, plants substrate, and decor have yet to be decided as have the fish but all this should take me to 2009

A few picks

So here is my old 160L




And Here is my new 300L

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03 Nov 2008 19:13 #8 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
nice one, see you tomorrow and i'll bring that book along re dwarf cichlids
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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03 Nov 2008 19:24 #9 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
congrats and good luck with it buddy ...... by the way , disaster in my tank today ... got home from work and all the eggs are gone

guess i'll have to try again

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03 Nov 2008 21:35 #10 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Thanks lads

See you tomorrow Seamus
@ Martin at least your fish got a good feed they should go again in a few weeks hopefully

Donal

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05 Nov 2008 02:07 - 05 Nov 2008 02:16 #11 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Just put a background into my tank it’s a jewel background and it took 2.5 sheets to cover the back wall, I put silicone on it to hold it in place and for tonight I put everything I could find against it while the silicone sets.






Tomorrow I can start with substrate and pick up some rocks from 1 of the diy places and plan where everything goes.
Last edit: 05 Nov 2008 02:16 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran). Reason: Spelling

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05 Nov 2008 04:14 #12 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
Looking Good Donal, look forward to seeing how it turns out
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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05 Nov 2008 11:58 #13 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
ya got the background then .... lookin good so far buddy , best of luck from here on in .... p.s. i might be interested in your 160 ltr if its available ... if not , no problem

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05 Nov 2008 14:41 #14 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
I got some some work done today but not too sure of it :unsure: your thoughts please.





Donal

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05 Nov 2008 14:59 #15 by karlo (karlo kennedy)
coming along very nice i must say im very impressed
your doing some nice work

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05 Nov 2008 16:07 #16 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
lookin sweet buddy ... might have to take lessons in tank design from ya

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05 Nov 2008 19:55 #17 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Limerick,thats going to look nice man, sweet out.
What type of fish are you putting into it and also what is the white strip that you have that separates the gravel and sand?
Gavin

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05 Nov 2008 21:47 #18 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Thanks for the comments lads

@ fishowner the white strip is styrofoam its just in there to get the shape and will be removed before I start planting.

I will be going with dwarf cichlids as my main fish probably about 15 of them, im thinking of 20 rummy nose tetras and as it will be a heavily planted tank I will need some snail eaters and I love clown loaches so a nice group of 5 or 6 of them will also go in and possibly a hand full of shrimp so that’s the plan at the moment :)

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06 Nov 2008 00:12 #19 by Orca (Eoin Walsh)
Replied by Orca (Eoin Walsh) on topic Re:Tank Rebuild
Your new tank is looking great and your pics have helped me make my mind up on going for a rio 300.I am looking to set up a malawi mbuna tank and the rio 300 is just the right size for what i want.

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06 Nov 2008 20:02 #20 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Orca wrote:

Your new tank is looking great and your pics have helped me make my mind up on going for a rio 300.I am looking to set up a malawi mbuna tank and the rio 300 is just the right size for what i want.


I wanted to keep Malawi’s but I also wanted plants and the 2 don’t mix :blink:
The Rio 300 is a nice size tank I can just about get my hand down to the bottom of it so perfect size ;)

LB

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07 Nov 2008 18:47 #21 by auricle123 (Amanda Essen)
Its looking great.:woohoo: Does it take longer to cycle a bigger tank? What you thinking of putting in there?

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07 Nov 2008 20:32 - 07 Nov 2008 20:47 #22 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
auricle123 wrote:

Its looking great.:woohoo: Does it take longer to cycle a bigger tank? What you thinking of putting in there?


It shouldnt take any longer to cycle the tank, it is a large tank but so are the filters ;) I will be going with dwarf cichlids as my main fish probably about 15 of them, im thinking of 20 rummy nose tetras and as it will be a heavily planted tank I will need some snail eaters and I love clown loaches so a nice group of 5 or 6 of them will also go in and possibly a hand full of shrimp so that’s the plan at the moment

LB
Last edit: 07 Nov 2008 20:47 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran). Reason: replace link with fish list

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10 Nov 2008 22:37 #23 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
any recent pics with water on board ???

any sign of your plants yet ???

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10 Nov 2008 23:14 #24 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
duzzy1 wrote:

any recent pics with water on board ???

any sign of your plants yet ???


Nothing new m8, the tank is now cycling just about 60L of water in it, I have the fluval 205 running and I missed a parcel today that must be my new taps for the hydro filter so I should have that running tomorrow,

I need to replace a brace on the top of the tank that the last owner decided to remove:huh: , it was plastic but I will have to try and replace with 10mm glass.

My HC was posted from Germany today so I hope to have that in a couple of days ready to plant it before the weekend then I will have a few pics

I assembled the c02 today and should put it in about a week after the plants I don’t think they will need it for the first week.

Question for anyone that’s good on lighting should I have enough light with 2 42" 40w T8’s?

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10 Nov 2008 23:57 #25 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)


Question for anyone that’s good on lighting should I have enough light with 2 42" 40w T8’s?


this is yer man...
www.petfish.net/calculators/utankcalc.php

rgds

4

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11 Nov 2008 00:11 - 11 Nov 2008 00:14 #26 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
fourmations wrote:


Question for anyone that’s good on lighting should I have enough light with 2 42" 40w T8’s?


this is yer man...
www.petfish.net/calculators/utankcalc.php

rgds

4


This is what i got

The Ultimate Aquarium Calculator
Tropical Rectangular aquarium Length: 121 Centimetres Width: 51 Centimetres Depth: 62 Centimetres
Distance of light source from gravel: 82 Centimetres
Surface area: 6171 Centimetres2 Volume: 382.6 Litres Weight of water: 381.45 kgs
Max. units of fish: 202.46 Centimetres Heating required: 252.52 watts

Lighting requirements
Low light plants: 224.58 watts Low-medium light plants: 336.87 watts
Medium-bright light plants: 505.3 watts Bright light plants: 757.95 watts
The lighting is adjusted for plants - some fish prefer dark conditions, and obviously these should be kept with low-light plants. In marine waters, corals from shallow waters require a high lighting level, which may damage deep water species. These values may be taken as a guideline.



i made a mistake it looks like i need 336W :unsure: i also have a 150W metal halide light that i could give it a blast of during the day if it was needed?
Last edit: 11 Nov 2008 00:14 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran).

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14 Nov 2008 22:20 - 14 Nov 2008 23:22 #27 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Well a small update :)
Here is my tank this evening



I added some HC, what a ****** of a job obviously if I didn’t have 200L of water in the tank at the time it would have helped, but hey :laugh:



I will need c02 soon all ready to go (I think)

2KG bottle
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/LimerickBandit/IMG_9367.jpg?t=1226704029

Regulator


This is a solenoid & A non return valve
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/LimerickBandit/IMG_9383.jpg?t=1226704531
LB
Last edit: 14 Nov 2008 23:22 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran).

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14 Nov 2008 23:27 #28 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
So whats next?

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14 Nov 2008 23:31 #29 by karlo (karlo kennedy)
so whats next you ask.... more pics lol
so what fish are you planning on putting in

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14 Nov 2008 23:38 - 15 Nov 2008 13:51 #30 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Fish

apisto pandourini X 5

apisto cacatuoides X 5

royal farlowella sturisoma X 4

clown loach X 6

rummynose X 20

BEE SHRIMP X 10

What do ye think?
Last edit: 15 Nov 2008 13:51 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran).

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