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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

help please before i break my tank

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04 Jun 2010 23:37 #1 by r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
hi i got a new 4ft tank and i put sand in it i cleaned the sand for about two hours before i put it in then i filled it and the water was a real pissy yellow i let it settle over night no change still the same then i emptied out 3/4 of the water and refilled and much better but still pissy yellow.

so i did another 3/4 change and it got much worse back to the same as the first fill
i had 2 fulval 4plus internal filters running on it and they did nothing. i have a jbl e900 external but i dont want to destroy the filter media by using it to attempt to clear this yellow water or will it be ok to run it and will it sort the problem out

please get back to me asap or im smashing the tank my head is wrecked with it

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04 Jun 2010 23:58 - 05 Jun 2010 00:00 #2 by Ma (mm mm)
Start your setup right to avoid problems in the future, sweat now saves tears later.
Did you get builders sand? if so dump it, aquarium and usually play sand wash out pretty quickly.

Drain the tank, take out the sand, wash it until the water from it is clear no matter how long it takes or get different sand, clean tank and filter and put clean sand back in refill and cycle


Mark

Location D.11
Last edit: 05 Jun 2010 00:00 by Ma (mm mm).

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05 Jun 2010 00:01 #3 by r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
it is aquarium sand got it from the lfs

will the external clear the problem you think

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05 Jun 2010 00:10 - 05 Jun 2010 00:12 #4 by Ma (mm mm)
I wouldnt want my external full of sand mate, and its not just sand thats floating about the water, some will settle but the fact that the tank is murky means that there is a fair bit of it and when any disturbance happens your tank will be back to that nice yellow colour.

I have had mirky water on a new fill but not to teh point of colouring the water. If not properly cleaned out there may also be some unwanted stuff in there too.

If no fish have been added I'd whip out the sand and wash it clean mate, seriously.

Put it this way, if you set all up and add fish and then discover a prob, then its a real pain in the behind
Mark

Location D.11
Last edit: 05 Jun 2010 00:12 by Ma (mm mm).

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05 Jun 2010 00:12 - 05 Jun 2010 00:22 #5 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:help please before i break my tank
OK, here's the thing, if you decide not to empty the Tank, turn off the Filter, this will allow particulates ie. suspended stuff to settle out on top of the substrate, if it does, it proves that suspended solids are the cause and that the Filter, if you put fine Filter floss in it, will remove it, if as Marks says you have used low grade material like Builders Sand, you have two problems, one, you don't have a clue what's in it and two, you won't be able to control your ph easily. I have often had murky water even after hours of frozen Hands in Buckets, it's normal to a degree. Just a reminder, never clean Sand etc in the Sink, u'll end up having to call a Plumber to clear all the gunk in the waste trap of the Sink.

If you are deciding to stick with Sand, Play sand from the Early Learning Center in Henry Street is best, you can find white Silica Sand but it is extremely fine and can irritate Gill plates.


If you find your tank doesn't seem to be clearing during the period where you have the Filter off it may be staining of the water of some sort, activated Charcoal is great for taking it out.

IF YOU ARE REMOVING SAND AS A LAST RESORT BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sand will screw up a Glass and Acrylic Tank like nothing else! If you catch a grain between whatever you use to scoop it out and the Tank wall, you'll end up with a deep scratch that's there for good.

Kev.
Last edit: 05 Jun 2010 00:22 by stretnik (stretnik).

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05 Jun 2010 00:15 #6 by Ma (mm mm)
stretnik wrote:

IF YOU ARE REMOVING SAND AS A LAST RESORT BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sand will screw up a Glass and Acrylic Tank like nothing else! If you catch a grain between whatever you use to scoop it out and the Tank wall, you'll end up with a deep scratch that's there for good.

Kev.


Sage advice from Kev indeed.

FYI always syphon sand from a glass tank with a thick hose:)

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05 Jun 2010 00:32 #7 by r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
i think il just start from scratch and clean the sand again its so frustrating thanks for the advice lads really helpful

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05 Jun 2010 00:34 #8 by r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
have yous any advice on how to really give sand a good clean

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05 Jun 2010 00:39 #9 by Ma (mm mm)
quater fill a bucket with sand half fill it with water and get a stick, pipe whatever and stir the cr@p out of it n drain, repeat till clear then next batch, some dirt sticks to the sand and doesn't come away with just a rinse.

Mark

Location D.11

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05 Jun 2010 00:41 #10 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:help please before i break my tank
My suggestion is dump the sand, get the play sand, if u live near me, Glasnevin, I've half a bag u can look at and keep, it's cheap, about a tenner for two bags, you won't use all of it, trust me.

Kev.

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05 Jun 2010 14:02 #11 by r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
i got all the sand from my tank and im putting gravel in its just easier i removed all the sand quite easy only tokk about and hour now its filling back up then giving a good clean and putting CLEAN gravel in the hopefully it will be done

thanks for all the advice guys

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05 Jun 2010 14:18 #12 by Dioza (Adam Bell)
For cleaning sand i found the most simple is to half fill the bucket with sand, turn on the hose and force it down to be bottom of the bucket. Leave it a couple of minutes stirring a little and it should run clean in no time. But that was with bags of silica sand, it was very clean stuff.

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