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
Reducing ph level?
- barr (declan)
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What would ye recommend to do this safely. I did a test tonite and it seems at the high end of the scale.
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- lestat (Stuie)
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you could add some bogwood to help soften the water but steep it for a day or two first,or you could try the ph powder stuff(not sure of the name),i haven used it myself but heard a shopworker saying he swears by it for his discus tank,what fish are you keeping and what is the ph result ??
Stuie
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- pkearney (Phil Kearney)
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phil
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- barr (declan)
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Does it have to be treated before adding to the tank ?
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- Patrick888 (Patrick Drummey)
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Patrick
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- cardinal (Lar Savage)
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Does it have to be treated before adding to the tank ?
Hi barr
At the very least it would need to be filtered thru Filter wool and then passed over some carbon ...it really depends on where in the country you are located ....Remember any rainwater you collect has to run off a roof and down drainpipes before it collects in your bin....where you could have the likes of Mosquitoes ect breeding so it pays to be careful......Better to be safe than sorry.......

Lar
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- KenS (Ken Simpson)
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Tap water generally tends to fluctuate in terms of pH.
Regards,
Ken.
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- JohnH (John)
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Out of interest - what is "the high end of the scale" and, as Ken asks - what fish are you keeping, some are much more at home in a higher pH environment anyway.
For what it's worth I have used the 'proper pH' stuff and a] everything became covered in a white film and b] it did not lower the pH anyway.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- lestat (Stuie)
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For what it's worth I have used the 'proper pH' stuff and a] everything became covered in a white film and b] it did not lower the pH anyway.
OK Barr as i said i have not used it before myself,only heard people been recommended it,but if its tried and failed by JohnH its probly not worth wastin money on,yeah filtered rainwater would do the trick to as the lads have said above
Stuie;)
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- barr (declan)
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What sort of fish are you keeping? Why do you feel you have to lower the pH?
Tap water generally tends to fluctuate in terms of pH.
Its a mix of guppies , black skirt tetra, neon tetra and glass bloodfin tetra and a dwarf blue gourami.
The reason I wanted to lower the ph is the Gourami doesn't look well at the moment. Everything in the water is ok but on my ph card the water is bluer than the highest value on the card (7.6)
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- DJK (David Kinsella)
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I have a community tank set up with with the same pH readings as yourself ie. above 7.6 on the card.
Assuming that the real pH is not much above 8.0, I'd leave things as they are as all of your mentioned fish should tolerate this easily as they are proving. What you are looking for is stability.
Tampering with your pH with chemicals etc for the sake of one fish could put your otherwise healthy fish at risk. Also I've found Dwarf Gouramis to be delicate despite what you read about them.
Dave
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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As Dave mentioned, Dwarf Gouramis are a soft touch, Ive had two die on me in a horrible fashion...a small hole developed into a gaping wound and I could see all the way through them...nasty. This happened to the two fish independently of each other as I didnt get the second one till a few months after the first one died. It seems to me they are prone to illness and I certainly wouldnt go risking the health of everything in the tank for the sake of one poorly fish. That might sound cruel but its how I roll anyway. Keep an eye on the fish and if possible place him in quarrantine and see if he bounces and but if all is otherwise well in the system, leave the water alone.
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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- barr (declan)
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Everyone in the tank looks in good order but the dwarf gourami did not make it

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- Norrie Rugger (Ían Ó Ceallaigh)
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