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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

Has the tank cycled ?

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04 May 2007 14:40 #1 by decmac71 (Declan McNamara)
Hi,

I set up a tank 3 weeks ago, it spent a week with no fish, shop gave me Aqua Cycle so I guess that started the process. There have been 6 rosy Barbs in it for almost 2 weeks now (next Tue) and they seem to be doing fine, feeding well, seem to be active etc. I also got some water from Holgers sponges (thanks Holger!) to help speed things up.

However my Ammonia and Nitrite level are still at around 0.25ppm. I know this is low but should they actually go to zero ?? The levels have been around .25 for the last week or more - they were never very high but dont seem to be going any lower. I've done one water change, didnt make any difference to the levels.

So - has the tank cycled ? Is it safe to add some more fish and if so I'll probably need more advice on what is suitable!

My thoughts are some Guppys, some Neon Tetras and some Clown Loaches.

Are they going to be happy together with the Rosy Barbs ?

Thanks,
Declan.

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04 May 2007 15:12 #2 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Has the tank cycled ?
Hi Declan,
your ammonia and nitrite readings should be 0. Don't stock any new fish until they are. Two things that I could be thinking of why your values are still not zero is a. overfeeding and b. your gravel could be too coarse and food might be getting in between the individual pebbles and rots. I'm staying in Cork for the weekend so give me a call if you want me to pop around and have a look at your tank

Holger

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04 May 2007 15:30 #3 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I'm not sure why shops advise people ot set up tanks and leave them without fish for a week. The tank can't cycle without an ammonia source. It would be good advice to set up the tank and leave it running for a day or so to ensure everything is working.

As Holger says, once your tank has cycled, it will have the nitrifying bacteria to deal with your current stock. If you drastically increase the number of fish (e.g. double it), your tank will go into a mini cycle. This can be very bad for your fish.

Make sure you add fish slowly over a number of weeks to give you filter a chance to adjust to the increasing stock without tiggering a mini cycle. This is a common mistake made by new fish keepers when their tank cycles. Believe me, I've been there and lost fish.

Regards,

Ken.

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04 May 2007 16:23 #4 by decmac71 (Declan McNamara)
Thanks for the replies,

@Holger - I'm actually away for most of the weekend but thanks for the offer, maybe next week or next weekend.

Speaking of being away should I leave them without food (leaving Sat morning back Mon afternoon) ? I have some of the 3 day feeding blocks but not sure if they are any good or whether I would be better feeding normally on Sat morning and leave them alone until Mon.

I suppose this is a question I should have asked 2 weeks ago but how much food do 6 Rosy Barbs need ???? I was told twice a day so I feed in the morning and evening and generally give a pinch of the flakes.

Declan.

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04 May 2007 17:37 #5 by Penguin (Penguin)
Replied by Penguin (Penguin) on topic Re: Has the tank cycled ?
Your fish will be fine for 2/ 3 days without food; it in fact does them good to diet a bit every now and then. As to how much to feed them, unless they are fry, the general guideline is as much as they can eat in 5 minutes, once or twice a day.

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