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
Which background ? (choice of two)
- barr (declan)
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I'm trying to decide on a background for my new tank.(Trigon 190 Corner Unit)
I have it narrowed down to two options - The “ RED GNEISS “ or the “WHITE LIMESTONE”
Here is a link to compare both :
www.backtonature.se/english/slimline.html
I will be mainly keeping, Angels , dwarf gourami, clown loaches , tetras and guppies. The tank is beech.
Anyone recommend what to go for as I really like both equally and finding it difficult to pick ?
I wont be able to see them before I buy neither, as there is no supplier in Cork.
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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Jay
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- tippstar (colm norris)
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- cardinal (Lar Savage)
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Lar
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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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- roealdo (j)
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- Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
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I painted my background black which looks really well and and its much cheaper but everyone to there own.
Pete
Pete Maxwell
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Location: Ashbourne
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- barr (declan)
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By planted - does this mean live plants? If so I wasn’t going to put any in as I have a load of ornaments such as a coliseum , fake plants, rocks etc.
With regards price it works out at €88 in total. This is for 4 pieces as I have a corner tank and am going to cover the internal filter (2 sides)
The only thing I concerned me about the red gneiss is that it would probably darken over time where as the limestone is nice and bright and show off the fishies
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- roealdo (j)
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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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Where did u get it at that price? Can you pm me?
PM sent ,its someone on here that supplies them

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- dyco619 (steve carmody)
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tho i wouldnt pay that kind of money for a background!!
well unless i had a few winners on the horses or something!!

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- roealdo (j)
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the red is nice,
tho i wouldnt pay that kind of money for a background!!
well unless i had a few winners on the horses or something!!
What would you recommend?
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- dyco619 (steve carmody)
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im gonna change one of my backgrounds soon, what im planning is taking a good quality picture of a 3d background and have it digitally printed on to a clear vinyl and and stick it to the back of the tank,
not really sure how its gonna turn out but ill give it a go..!!!
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- tommyt (tommy tee)
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they have coloured up nicely, i suppose its a matter of taste and also what colout your tank/cabinet is.
I got mine in Fintastic aquatics, (Dun laoghaire) siliconed them onto the back panel and i'm really happy with them, they will tile together nicely so no major irregularity between panels, simple to cut to size too, just double check that you are getting the correct height panels if you choose to get them.
good luck
Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
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- barr (declan)
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I went with the white limestine for my african setup (www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...w/catid,27/id,78939/)
they have coloured up nicely, i suppose its a matter of taste and also what colout your tank/cabinet is.
I got mine in Fintastic aquatics, (Dun laoghaire) siliconed them onto the back panel and i'm really happy with them, they will tile together nicely so no major irregularity between panels, simple to cut to size too, just double check that you are getting the correct height panels if you choose to get them.
good luck
Is the limestone really white looking? Some of the photos I've seen it looks kinda greyish.
Did you see the red in the store ? if so what made you choose the limestone if you don't mind me asking

Edit : cool setup btw
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- tommyt (tommy tee)
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I went with that colour so as to tie in with the ocean rock (think thats what it is called) in the tank,
I think algae will be less noticable with the red panels
didnt see the reddinsh ones in store, but my mind was made up on the white ones.
T
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
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- barr (declan)
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I also prefer the Red Gneiss
I painted my background black which looks really well and and its much cheaper but everyone to there own.
Pete
Hi Pete
I'd imagine it would look cool with the light on . But how does it look with natural light or in the evening. I would have thought it would look really dark in there?
Do you have any pics - would love to see black paint as a background?
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- barr (declan)
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Not to shabby although the tank looks a bit bare.
Here it is :
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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Not to shabby although the tank looks a bit bare.
Not suprising given the amount of fish this guy has crammed in there. The backgroung does look well but I think it would be more suited to an African Cichlid setup. Stick with the other one bro

Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
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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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When I have the sand in it will look the business ( I cant wait)
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- dar (darren curry)
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- Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
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Peteemax wrote:
I also prefer the Red Gneiss
I painted my background black which looks really well and and its much cheaper but everyone to there own.
Pete
Hi Pete
I'd imagine it would look cool with the light on . But how does it look with natural light or in the evening. I would have thought it would look really dark in there?
Do you have any pics - would love to see black paint as a background?
Hi Barr,
i'll get some pics up soon mate.
Pete
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Location: Ashbourne
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- barr (declan)
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