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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

Ph worth worrying about?

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14 Jan 2010 13:58 #1 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi guys

just thinking about it...

I never ever test ph
is this a bad habit ive got into

i actually dont test for anything in either of my two tanks
unless i suspect something is wrong

anyway, how do you test ph in a co2 tank!?
will the dropchecker go crazy colours
if you have a spike!? i havent a clue about ph!

i have buckets of cherry shrimp, they are sensitive right?

rgds

4

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14 Jan 2010 22:22 #2 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Hi 4,

I know where your coming from, and it is easy to get lazy about it, especially when things are going well for a while :dry: . Its vital to test your ph and for ammonia every now and then because the two are closley linked when it comes to toxicity. The higher the ph the higher the concentration of toxic ammonia and vice versa. Also, testing for nitrites is important as spikes do occur in even the best cared for tanks. Nitrates are not nearly as harmful but can lead to illness in certain species like oscars where it is suspected of being a key factor in causing hole in the head diesease.


Jay

Location: Finglas, North Dublin.

Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.

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14 Jan 2010 22:39 #3 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi viper

i should have mentioned my tank
its heavily planted and i dose nitrates

my filter is a biological monster
and I have not had an ammonia spike
in the year its been set up
(i do check ammonia every month or so)

the ph questions come about as
I am looking into substrates and its coming up a lot
about ph, gh, swings,

i also have lots of cherry shrimp
and they are sensitive so i feel
its time to brush up on the whole issue,
i have the three kits involved,

rgds

4

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14 Jan 2010 23:15 - 14 Jan 2010 23:35 #4 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Cool :) . "Biological Monster" lmao :laugh: :laugh: loved that one.

Im unsure about the shrimp being sensitve as Ive never kept them. I know stretnik here keeps a lot of shrimp so he should be able to help you out there.


Jay

Location: Finglas, North Dublin.

Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
Last edit: 14 Jan 2010 23:35 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes).

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29 Jan 2010 16:58 #5 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi all

related topic...

i tested my gh/kh last night
as i am expecting a drop with a new substrate
i'll be trying soon

anyway its 8 & 8, (i will test again later to confirm)

tbh, i have not tested either for a year
but i remember it being the exact same last time

is this a bit hard for rasboras, cherries and otos?
i notice dimitri saying 8 is a bit much for a community tank
in a thread today and I met another forumite today
who suggested a small drop would be no harm.

its not something I necessarily want to get into
but will do if its good for my stock and plants

not sure if it matters but the tank is like so...
36 x 12 x 15, co2, medium-high light, ehiem 2327 (converted)
year old flourite sand under inert gravel,


any thoughts

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30 Jan 2010 00:14 #6 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
8&8? Is that 8 drops of each regent or dH?

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30 Jan 2010 00:22 #7 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi

assuming i tested properly...

kh is 8 degrees
gh is 8 degrees

cheers

4

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30 Jan 2010 00:43 #8 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
IMO that is fine for Oto's and your Rasboras.
Not sure about the shrimp but i would say it is fine since you have buckets of them.
That level of KH will keep the pH very stable.
If i use water with a KH of 2dH in a heavily stocked tank the pH will start to drop after 24-48 hours.
The KH will slowly drop but once water changes are kept up you shouldn't have swings in pH. Apart from slight one's.
That is not taking in to account Co2. The pH will swing according to the amount of Co2 you use.

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