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
Drop Checker
- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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I just got my new drop checker today and will put it into my tank tonight
Can anyone give me any advice for these I have seen posts by people that say they haven’t used the regent that came with the drop checker and used kh solution instead is there a reason for this?
Thanks
Donal
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- tanks_alot (Denis Coghlan)
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I think the main reason why people do not use the regent that comes with the drop checker is that it is for use with water. This is where the problem arises as most peoples water is different in terms of hardness and pH depending on the source of that water. The regent that comes with the drop checker tells you to add a certain amount of regent with a certain amount of tank water. Therefore the results giving can be varied depending on the chemical composition of the water used and often this will lead to false readings. Platty (from the forum) had been using the regent that came with the drop checker for a while and he has nearly zero hardness in his water so he constantly got a reading telling him to add more Co2.
People use 4kH solution because it is a \"constant hardness\" and therefore when mixed with Brom blue from the low range pH test kits, it should provide a relatively accurate measure of the level of C02 in the tank. I also have to agree with other members of the forum that although they are handy to have and easy to read, the range that each colour denotes is very wide. But I will still be keeping mine as its working very well at the moment.
Basically
= Not enouggh CO2
= Green adequate CO2
= Yellow to much Co2
If you want to get your hands on a bottle of 4kH solution, aquatic essentials in the UK sell it.
Hope this helps
Denis
Lead me not into temptation, For I can find it myself!
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- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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So i need to get 4kH solution
and Brom blue from the low range pH test kits, how do i know how much of each to mix do i judge by colour?
Thanks
Donal
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- tanks_alot (Denis Coghlan)
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Add 3-5mls of kH solution to drop checker, then add 3 drops of Bromothymol blue solution (Hagen low range pH test kit). After each large water change to your tank, change the 4kH solution in your drop checker. (This is just an abbreviation of what is written on the bottle).
I'm not sure how much the bottle of 4kH solution costs because I split an order with somebody else. However, the Nutrafin pH (6.0-7.6) test kit will cost around 10-12 euro
Hope this helps.
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- Mr Algae (mralgae mralgae)
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May your fish be with you:
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- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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I ordered the 4 dKH Solution last night
Ill let ye know how I get on with it during the week
Donal
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- darragh (Darragh Sherwin)
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Darragh
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- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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Thanks for the advice on the 4 dKH Solution
It works a lot better then the stuff that came with it
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- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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I see the difference when the co2 is on for a while but at the moment I leave the co2 off when im not around to monitor it
So a question for the people that use pressurized co2 is
What’s your time scale, im thinking on from 8 in the morning till 12 at night with minimal pressure?
Also what’s the idea of turning off the lights for a few hours during the day?
Thanks for your input
Donal
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Well the drop checker is changing color no problem
I see the difference when the co2 is on for a while but at the moment I leave the co2 off when im not around to monitor it
So a question for the people that use pressurized co2 is
What’s your time scale, im thinking on from 8 in the morning till 12 at night with minimal pressure?
Also what’s the idea of turning off the lights for a few hours during the day?
Thanks for your input
Donal
well the midday break or siesta period of the lights is sort of old school at this stage, it doesn't really have any effect on algae reduction IMHO. I just do a straight light period and let the lights run for the duration, most others do this as well.
I run my CO2 for the duration of the photo period (period that the lights are on)but I start up the CO2 via a solenoid about 2-3 hours before lights come on to let it build up in the water, so when the lights do come on its at the right level from the start. CO2 then goes off when lights go off.
1 bubble per second I find ok for tanks of about 100 litres, but of course it depends on how you dissolve the CO2 some methods are more efficient than others. If you keep the bubble count steady there is no need to monitor it, once the dropchecker is green the fish should be in no danger, just wacth it for a few days with the CO2 on and get a bit more comfitable with it and then you should be fine. My CO2 is on a lot of the time when Im not here and I have never had a problem tbh.
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- curefan (Dave Massey)
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Just wondering, do you have two timers, one for the lights and another for solenoid (since you have this coming on first) ?
Cheers, Dave.
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- darragh (Darragh Sherwin)
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I use separate timers for the solenoid valve and the lights.
I have 5 timers which switch on and off 4 ballast units and the solenoid valve.
Darragh
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- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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1 for the solenoid valve
2 for lights
And one for the air pump at night
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Light period 7 hours for the first week the tank is set up and 8-9 after that.
I also do plenty of large water changes for the first couple of weeks. Removing any surface scum with the water changes.
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