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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

Advise on cleaning sand ?

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01 Dec 2010 19:16 #1 by barr (declan)
Hi All

I'm looking to add sand to a new set-up. Anyone advise what the best way to clean the sand before I add any water?

Thanks :)

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01 Dec 2010 19:27 - 01 Dec 2010 19:32 #2 by des (des)
hi Barr

all my tanks have sand as a substrate
half fill a bucket with sand, add warm water, swish it around a good bit, pour out the water
do this about three times for each half bucket of sand and it'll be nice and clean
take your time now and you won't have to pay for it later...
when it comes to doing water changes, there's a nack to using the syphon
just try to keep it about 1cm from the substrate and you'll be fine...

the best of luck :)
Last edit: 01 Dec 2010 19:32 by des (des).

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01 Dec 2010 19:29 #3 by dar (darren curry)
bucket slowly pour water in and stir it.

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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01 Dec 2010 19:31 #4 by des (des)
oh yeah i forgot
before using the syphon give the substrate a good mixing around with your hand or a net or whatever and when it settles all the dirt will rest on the top of the substrate making it easier to syphon out...

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01 Dec 2010 19:41 #5 by joey (joe watson)
also if you see some sand going up the syphon, just pinch the hose to slow the flow down and the sand falls out, then release and the muck goes back up

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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01 Dec 2010 19:44 #6 by des (des)
joey wrote:

also if you see some sand going up the syphon, just pinch the hose to slow the flow down and the sand falls out, then release and the muck goes back up


exactly

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01 Dec 2010 19:54 #7 by des (des)
another thing aswell, seeing as though we're on the subject...

i use 75% river sand / silver sand (whatever you wanna call it)
and 25% coral sand

i put the river sand in first and then keep adding the coral sand untill i get the desired PH
others mightn't agree with this and say that your PH will soon plummet but it works wonders for me and always stays at the set PH

it would be interesting to hear other opinions on this ?

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01 Dec 2010 20:00 - 01 Dec 2010 20:01 #8 by des (des)
i wouldn't use sand with big huge cats either as they tend to send half of it up into your filter sending your impeller to a grinding hault :dry:
...and that's about all i can tell ya about using sand, hope it helps :)
Last edit: 01 Dec 2010 20:01 by des (des).

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01 Dec 2010 20:03 #9 by andrewo (andrew)
My water comes out near 7(ph); no amount of coral sand works for me to get it to stabilise at 8 unless i use addictives/salts buffers like seachem and tropic marin BUT i think i finally found the answer to keep the ph up without the use of buffers.

I came across this accidentally when i was setting up my marine tank :laugh:

I now use arogonite substrate; its fine sand the one used for marines and ph seems to stable near 8 and i gradually cut down on the buffers.i have even recorded ph of 8.5 with this substrate; definitely good for tangayikans i think.It is said to reduce nitrates too but i dont see it :)

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01 Dec 2010 20:03 #10 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Advise on cleaning sand ?
The perams of your Water will also have a bearing on the capacity to buffer and stabilise your PH.

Kev.

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01 Dec 2010 20:40 #11 by barr (declan)
Probably a silly question by why does it need to be cleaned before it goes into a tank?

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01 Dec 2010 20:43 #12 by andrewo (andrew)
Actually i dont think you must clean it if its a new tank as the cycling will take everything away; but if its an established tank you dont want all the dust and other particles to go into your spotless tank :)

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01 Dec 2010 20:47 #13 by des (des)
i'm not exactly sure but if you don't clean it, it'll take ages for your filter/s to clean it and your water will be very cloudy / dirty and by the time it's clear your filter will be manky...

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01 Dec 2010 21:30 - 01 Dec 2010 21:39 #14 by des (des)
...another thing worth mentioning is, if you are cleaning the glass with a Magnetic algae cleaner, be carefull not to get any sand on it or it will scratch the glass although i wouldn't discourage using sand as a substrate
i like the way the fish waste sits on top of the sand
it makes syphoning the substrate much quicker
i used to hate having to dig the nossel of the syphon into the gravel and then agitating each spot of the substrate inch by inch untill i'd finally reach the other side
there's no agitating involved when you use sand, just a quick hoover along the substrate
i find you end up removing a lot more aquarium water when use gravel, not to mention the tediousness of it...
Last edit: 01 Dec 2010 21:39 by des (des).

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01 Dec 2010 22:20 #15 by dar (darren curry)
barr wrote:

Probably a silly question by why does it need to be cleaned before it goes into a tank?


god knows wat it could come in contact wit via delivery, dealers care"ish" some shops care, we care but wat about people delivering it do they give a rats bum wat goes in your tank? always clean everything before adding it to your tank

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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01 Dec 2010 23:00 #16 by des (des)
good answer, it's best to assume that everything needs a good clean before it enters the aquarium
everything other than the fish that is... :P

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01 Dec 2010 23:24 #17 by joey (joe watson)
yup, trust no-one :unsure: :dry:
touch off topic, but when it comes to getting the fish, i always net out the fish after acclimatising in a bucket, i will NEVER trust anyones water, even my own (when i move fish from tank to tank)

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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