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
Lighting upgrade
- ck1 (chris)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 266
- Thank you received: 36
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- manius112 (Mariusz Kaminski)
-
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 98
- Thank you received: 25
More light will get better conditions for algea and to dont let them take over tank you need more plants. Dosnt matter if you go for easy or mid grow plants with 0,7W/L they will grow fast and if you wont them grow nice and healthy you need to feed them.
Also dont forget about bulb temperature (mesured in Kelvins) as its more important than amount of Watts in your tank.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- ck1 (chris)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 266
- Thank you received: 36
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- manius112 (Mariusz Kaminski)
-
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 98
- Thank you received: 25
Im not saying you cant add extra lighting. you only have to be awere what extra light may cost you (part of extra electricity)

Algea love ligh more than plants so if you not gona do it right you will have trouble wit them.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- zabol001 (Marcin)
-
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 102
- Thank you received: 16
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- dzukas76 (audrius)
- Offline
- New Member
-
- Posts: 8
- Thank you received: 0
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- ck1 (chris)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 266
- Thank you received: 36
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- manius112 (Mariusz Kaminski)
-
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 98
- Thank you received: 25
CO2 is easy enough to make your self instead spending hundreds euros on fancy sistem.only thing you have to buy is diffuser.i bought one on ebay for 17€ with the bubble counter. 1 kg bag of sugar would last for a month.in two goes. tea spoon of dry yeast and bit of soda...
Did you ever try to use "fancy" co2 system:-) dont take me wrong its like compare bike and morobike on a speed race. You ge ther on your bike but how much efford and time sill cost you:-)
For nice and healthy mid and fast grow plants you need to have 20up to 40mg/l of CO2 so DIY for his 125L tanks will last for max 2-4 days.
ck1 if you stay with less than 0,5W/L and plant few anubias or cryotocorynas you will be ok without CO2. For thous plants CO2 you get from biological filtration (if you have one - external canister filter minimum cap 3l) will be enought. But if you plant some more CO2 demanding plants they will absorb CaCo3 from minerals you have in water and it will get your KH (carbon hardnes) close to 0 and with this you may have very unstable ph.
In my opinion if you want to have more than 0,5w/l CO2 its first think you should to get.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- dzukas76 (audrius)
- Offline
- New Member
-
- Posts: 8
- Thank you received: 0
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- dzukas76 (audrius)
- Offline
- New Member
-
- Posts: 8
- Thank you received: 0
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- zabol001 (Marcin)
-
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 102
- Thank you received: 16
- ck1 (chris)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 266
- Thank you received: 36
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- lawrenceog (Lawrence O Gorman)
-
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 70
- Thank you received: 1
Easycarbo is a source of gluteraldehyde, this carbon compound has algeacidal properties and is proven to promote aquatic plant growth, it acts as a carbon source but keep in mind your plants have to work harder to absorb it than dissolved CO2 making it less effective and it will not help with certain plants ( I need to investigate more ). It has a half life of 8-12 hrs so daily dosing is required.
This is a good link that explains a lot more, even though it is describing a different product it is essentiall the same thing. Easycarbo
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- lawrenceog (Lawrence O Gorman)
-
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 70
- Thank you received: 1
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- ck1 (chris)
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 266
- Thank you received: 36
Please Log in to join the conversation.