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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

second tank, i want an aga entry!

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14 Oct 2008 20:50 #1 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi all

having browsed the aga competition entries
and george farmer's tanks on pfk
and considering i have had a 54l tank for a few months...

i have decided that i want to do a
full on work-of-art aquascape :laugh:
no i do , seriously!

i have eyes on a 100l tank
and want to go the whole hog,
co2 this, npk that! injections all over the place!

a friend who has kept tanks for the guts of 10yrs
has said \"its easier said than done\"

i was thinking that while i wouldnt be easy
it would be attainable,

is i really that tricky
to get a consistantly lush planted tank?

rgds

4

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15 Oct 2008 13:14 #2 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Without Co2 Id imagine it would be. Ive tried a few plants in my South American tank and its a nightmare at present.Im losing stock at the bucketload and my tests seem fine. Id so frustrated with it. I think the batch of fish I got were poor though. I added Java Moss, Java fern,Bog wood, other plants and while it looked good initially Im now left with a clouding tank and dead fish.

My character is being really tested with this tank,I wake up each morning and there are more dead fish,Ive never experienced anything like it.
Id advise you to get as much advise as possible and then consider if you want to do a project like that. I also think tyou would be better off getting a bigger tank that 100 litres to do a project like this on.
Gavin

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15 Oct 2008 13:19 #3 by lampeye (lampeye)
do a search for zig (username) . he is the jedi master.

lampeye

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16 Oct 2008 13:41 #4 by Mr Algae (mralgae mralgae)
Building a planted tank is as hard or as easy as YOU want to make it. If you get the basics right from the set up, plant substrate, lighting, c02 and ferts it’s a lot easier. Im not saying you wont have some problems but if you get the balance correct then every thing else falls in to place. If you want to go high tech then you have to go high tech there is no in between. You cant expect to have 4wpg with a tank full of plants and not have c02, it wont work.

May your fish be with you:

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10 Nov 2008 09:22 #5 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Any update fourmations? are you going for the full planted tank? i hope to start planting mine by the end of this week my plants should be on the way from around the world by now :)

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10 Nov 2008 17:07 #6 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi bandit

i am still in the reseach / saving process
my tank lies empty!

the whole thing is much more expensive than i thought!
and I cant decide on layout and plants

Having butchered my first tank several times
I want a really clear vision of what i'm doing before i start

where did you buy your plants? aquatic magic?

i am intersted in what you are up to also
have you a good idea of what you are going to do,

what are you using accross the board?
(lights, co2, filter, plants, substrate)

i have been on ukaps a lot recently
its a very good and active site and the
guys there are good for newbie questions

Regards

4

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10 Nov 2008 20:59 #7 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
I’m just building it as I go along no major plan
In a years time I will probably be sick of it and start again
I put updates in this thread www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o.../catid,517/id,40799/
Im nearly ready for plants :)

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14 Dec 2008 01:29 #8 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi all

heres the latest, seeing as its been about a month!

i have forged ahead with my "scape"
its a nod to amano (and zig's!) iguwami's

i feel its a great style for the newb
as I have used two/three species of plants only and those nice mini landscape rocks

i have cuba and hairgrasses down
(it really was tedius planting the hc)
i got my plants at aquaristic.net
and they arrived in great nick and
dead cheap to boot

I'm doing the dry-start method
and its going fine, but i will only give it two weeks! i got my co2 kit today, i'll be doing ei ferts with dry powders, i have 88w over the tank in luminaires

thats it

cheers

4

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14 Dec 2008 03:13 #9 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
hope it takes off for you, never had the patience for planted tanks myself hence more the cichlid biotopes i've gone for, started with apisto's minimum planting but plenty of hidey spots, then to malawis and now tanganyikans... barely a plant to be seen, so i'm kinda envious when it comes to planted tanks so wish you the best of luck
pm me your email address and i'll see if i can send on some pdf's on planted aquaria i have

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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14 Dec 2008 14:09 #10 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
4 i have never done the dry start method. Do you just keep the HC and hairgrass moist or how is it done?

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14 Dec 2008 17:28 #11 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
I know what you mean about planting the HC it did my nut in and i only planted a small patch of it :unsure: any pic's for us?

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15 Dec 2008 12:08 #12 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
here we go, poor photos
but you will get the idea

only filled in last night
obviously the hc will fill in (i hope)
and there will little or no gravel visible

be kind!





pretty happy so far

spec:

96litre - 36" x 12" x 15"
88watts in two luminaires
dd presurised co2
flourite sand under pea gravel
HC, hairgrass, big vallis!
1200lph internal (soon to be external)

regards

4

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15 Dec 2008 12:15 #13 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
That’s looking good 4 but what’s that blue line running across the back of the tank?

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15 Dec 2008 12:57 #14 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi bandit

cheers

the blue line is hard to explain
but its not there now...

regards

niall

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