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
Water ph and hardness.......
- alkiely (alan kiely)
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The joys of dublin tap water......!!!

I need to drop the ph and hardness right down for my SA tank. Im gonna be running c02 but that wont get in down to the levels i want.
I dont want the levels going up and down want to keep them steady. I could add peat to the filter i guess. I dont want to use any chemicals etc to lower the ph and hardness.
Is there other ways i can do this and keep the levels steady.....?
Cant use rain water either so that out of the question.
Alan
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- minnion (jimmy white)
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this was for apistos so i would same for most fish
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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worth looking into so.
Is the breeder of the apisto a member on here...? if so can you pm me his details coz im setting up a new tank and im putting apistos into it.
If he has any forsale id be interested in buying some
Alan
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- minnion (jimmy white)
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if mine breed ill sort you with some
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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John in seahorse or Darren could give you some good advice as could Ian etc.
Kev.
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Would i have to add any minerals etc to the water....?
just wasnt sure with the mix of ro water and co2 etc will take some fine tuning but i should get the right mix
Ill be heading over to sea horse tomorrow to see waht i can get my hands on so ill ask the lads then.
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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While using only RO, it may start out cheap but you will be locked into using remineralising concoctions for the duration and THAT could see your costs rising.
Kev.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Do you really really need to drop the pH and hardness?
ian
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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cheers kev.
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Kept them before with no problems with a ph of 7.4 and hard water but for breeding it never happened. I hoping to get the apisto breeding thats the main goal.
Ive kept A.cacatuoides, A.borelli, A Hongsloi and had a beautiful group of F1 A.viejita 1 male 3 females.
Found the Viejita females to be very agressive with each other two paired up and killed the weakest female.
Alan
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- JSleator (Jason Sleator)
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How to make oak leaf extract.
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Davey C what apisto are you keeping and any joy with the breeding yet...?
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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most are too young yet but are starting to pair off. the problem i'm having is even keeping my ph below 7 even though there is nothing i can see of that would be the cause of a higher reading, i was gonna try co2 too but i don't think it'll get me anywhere near wher i need to be for some to breed unfortunately.
what apisto's will you be keeping??
Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Seen bitaeniata before Christmas in a sponsor shop they are super looking apistos. If you have any look breeding any of the apistos I call dibs on some ha
Was looking at A bitaeniata, A iniridae, A Viejiata and A Panduro. I'll pick two Apistos to keep in the 4 foot say 1 male to 2 females and if I get my way I'll see if I can get my hands on wild or f1 apistos for a 60L tank I have hidden away ha
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Seamus
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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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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If its working that way for you im gonna give it a go myself cant argue with the results your getting at the minute.
Always loved apistos small fish but great colours and when the pair up great to watch too.
Sounds like you have some amount of tanks going with great fish.
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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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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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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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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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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That's a super list of apistos......
Seen bitaeniata before Christmas in a sponsor shop they are super looking apistos. If you have any look breeding any of the apistos I call dibs on some ha
Was looking at A bitaeniata, A iniridae, A Viejiata and A Panduro. I'll pick two Apistos to keep in the 4 foot say 1 male to 2 females and if I get my way I'll see if I can get my hands on wild or f1 apistos for a 60L tank I have hidden away ha
yea thats cool, the bitaeniata i have are wild caught and the male is huge, very hard to get a picture of them though because their in blackwater
@sheag35.... do you filter your rainwater? was considering getting a water butt myself but may get up and clean the roof 1st

cheers
Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Alan
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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So, if we take an simple (but unrealistic case for tap water) case of having tap water with a pH of 8 but has almost zero alkalinity and almost zero buffering capacity, and that the chemical causing the pH is sodium hydroxide, then doing a 50/50 mix would theoretically drop the pH to ~7.7 (ignoring any carbon dioxide that might dissolve).
If, however, the tap water has a high alkalinity and good buffering (by having a different mixes of acids and bases and their salts to sodium hydroxide) then the pH drop may not even be as much (you may even find that the pH is still nearly 8).
Without any further info on the chemistry of the tap water, one can only guess what the outcome would be.
If you do mix tap water with RO and add peat then you are likely to drop the pH, but to what level?.....that depends on the above.
Ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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So by lowering the kh it will in fact lower the ph is that correct
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Well living in coolock Dublin the ph will be in the mid 7 region and will be hard.
So by lowering the kh it will in fact lower the ph is that correct
Nope....not as a fact anyway.
Lowering KH may have a simultaneous lowering of pH, but it could cause a raising of pH depending on chemicals are giving the pH you have. What is closer to a fact is that with a lowered KH you are more likely to have an unstable pH that could rise or lower at the drop of a hat.
However, we just so happen to find that natural water that has a low KH may just so happen have a low pH (but it is not a rule or a fact).
If you do lower your KH, then you will have more chance of lowering the pH by using peat (or cones or almond leaves etc).
Sometimes, people say that all that is too complex or confusing....and that is why I would always advise to change pH with great care and to know the potential problems if something goes wrong (as does in some cases).
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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