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
mineral water for water changes
pH levels can be way off scale....ranging from pH4 to pH 9.
That pH may be highly buffered within the water and so may be difficult to sway to something acceptable for fish keeping.
You need to test the pH as the stated pH may not be correct.
Nitrates can be rather high in some brands.....again you would need to test the nitrate level rather than go by the stated as some are about 50% incorrectly labelled. And be aware of those that under quote nitrates by using nitrogen conc instead.
I see some have levels as high as 30 to 35 mg/l nitrate: that is not an ideal to be adding to a tank.
ian
I feel some research coming on
would it be fair to say that the results would be likely to be consistent within each brand? in other words, if it turns out Ballygowan has safe parameters, then likely as not ALL bottles of that brand will be fine?
"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."
Please Log in to join the conversation.
The labs are done independently, monthly, and have been consistent over the last decade or so.
It's not bottled town water, or any other such muck called "Irish Mineral Water", unlike other high-volume producers.
(My boss owns it, I keep wanting to have a display tank at work filled with the stuff, but no go.
. I work for a different company, btw).Not really publicly available, but if there is demand, etc.........
Please Log in to join the conversation.
pH levels can be way off scale....ranging from pH4 to pH 9.
That pH may be highly buffered within the water and so may be difficult to sway to something acceptable for fish keeping.
You need to test the pH as the stated pH may not be correct.
Nitrates can be rather high in some brands.....again you would need to test the nitrate level rather than go by the stated as some are about 50% incorrectly labelled. And be aware of those that under quote nitrates by using nitrogen conc instead.
I see some have levels as high as 30 to 35 mg/l nitrate: that is not an ideal to be adding to a tank.
ian
I feel some research coming on
would it be fair to say that the results would be likely to be consistent within each brand? in other words, if it turns out Ballygowan has safe parameters, then likely as not ALL bottles of that brand will be fine?
You would expect a greater consistency within a brand than across a brand if the source used by that brand remains the same.
Now, some parameters (eg ones due to dissolved carbon dioxide) might change between batches........different "bottlers" may have different quality control parameters.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
Please Log in to join the conversation.