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
Sand or Stones
- barr (declan)
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I've seen a tank recently and the floor of it was sand. It looked really well and got me thinking are there any advantages/disadvantages to a sand floor V the usual aquarium stones ?
Thanks
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- dar (darren curry)
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advantage: some fish love it and it looks god dam great
i just gave a bag of it away (white) to a chap on here, but i'm looking to go back to gravel, wat gravel have you got we might be able to arrange a swap if you are interested
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- barr (declan)
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- fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
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at the end of the day it becomes nite
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- Jim (Jim Lawlor)
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Thanks.
Jim.
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- Ma (mm mm)
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Once you are prepared to clean it, sand is great. I have none in my tanks though, too many plecos:)
Mark
Location D.11
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- Melander (Andreas Melander)
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If you keep a few burrowing snails like malaysian trumpet snails or assasin snails they should stir the sand a bit.
My grif with sand would be plants being uprooted easier, but that can be fixed by placing some beach pebbles on top of the roots.
Melander
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Make sure it's clean to start with by swirling in a Bucket, Sand when wet and stirred will act like a Fluid itself, imagine Quicksand, same thing, Quicksand is fluid because of water beneath it. If you use your hand in Summertime, warmer water, you can clean it quite quickly, just swirl it with one hand while holding a Hose over the Bucket.
Corydoras are excellent Sand shifters and ensure a clean substrate, you can also use burrowing Snails .
From my experience and I cannot attest to others, no waste gets buried or if it does, not for long.
I have always had Corydoras and Sand for as long as I can remember, I hate Corys on anything other than sand, Manado being the closest I will accept.
Now, for putting it in your Tank, just dump it in and spread with a Ruler or straight Stick.
When you are filling the Tank with Water, put a Dinner plate that has a slight Lip on the sand, middle preferably, then put a Soup Bowl in the middle of this, when the Water is put into this, it overflows and bounces off the Dinner plate causing virtually no disturbance.
Make sure you have the correct type of Sand, ie, Ph stable unless you want it to buffer the ph of your Water.
Make sure also that the intake of your Filter is not so close to the Sand as to have it sucked up, Sand and Impellors don't mix.
Kev.
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- SSS (Sion S)
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I find both are easier to clean than my other tank which has gravel just because whatever dirt is in there just sits mostly on top instead of seeping through it like it does with gravel.
You do get air bubbles but everytime im doing a cleanout i just stir the sand a bit with my fingers.
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Think you are mixing up air buubles with what could be another Gas but this one could be a noxious one, normally you won't find Air Bubbles but stuff like Sulphur dioxide etc.
Kev
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- barr (declan)
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- barr (declan)
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- SSS (Sion S)
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Don't use your Hands or Fingers as you can end up with fine Sand being sucked up by the Filter, a fine knitting needle or a Chopstick, something narrow but rigid will sort the bubbles out but not the reason for them being there in the first place.
Kev.
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- SSS (Sion S)
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- SSS (Sion S)
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- dar (darren curry)
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Here's an idea, why not try mixing a heavier Gravel as the base with the Sand, that way you'll have the depth but it'll be a 50/50 mix.
Kev would the sand fall through the gravel and create the same situation but wit gravel in it making the stiring a bit more difficult? i was actually thinking simular myself for plants to root keeping the sand on top for the loaches
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- barr (declan)
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
I should have added, all of the above is dependent on the Sand being free of contaminants.
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- JohnH (John)
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It's important to make sure the sand comes from inland - sand from the sea shore would contain miniscule-sized amounts of calcium in the form of finely crushed shells and therefore not be inert.
It could be possible that sand is not collected from beaches in Ireland and would therefore be not an issue.
John
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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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- barr (declan)
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Does this sound right ?
Anyone advise how much I'd need to cover the floor in a Trigon 190 ?
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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The Play Sand from The Early Learning Center in Mary Street is 5 euro something a Bag, two would be more than enough for you.
Kev.
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- barr (declan)
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Does it not have to be special type sand for aquariums?
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- dyco619 (steve carmody)
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