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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

Water change again due to yet another nitrate fail

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01 Jun 2014 16:01 - 01 Jun 2014 17:30 #1 by twilight3 (Rachael)
Here I go again water change time looks like th ole nitrates are up,again so I was given tetra nitrate minus by pet shop

Last edit: 01 Jun 2014 17:30 by JohnH (John). Reason: Turned picture 90 deg

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01 Jun 2014 17:22 - 01 Jun 2014 17:24 #2 by JohnH (John)
Stick with it, you'll get there eventually, I'm certain - and you have some positive help on your side in the form of yer man from the shop (as well as from here).
I might have missed a point here, but is the high nitrate problem only in your tank, or in your parents' tank as well?
Whichever way I would stop any feeding of the fish for two or three days and see does that help. Also, be very scrupulous with any dead or dying plant leaves - get 'em out before they start to deteriorate, it all adds up...
One last thing, is 'the shop' testing the water for you, or are you using an existing test kit - these are notorious for giving bad and inaccurate results once they go out-of-date. Probably not - just trying to cover anything which hasn't been suggested already.
Good luck, it will come good and then you'll look back on this episode and have a good laugh about it.
John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.
Last edit: 01 Jun 2014 17:24 by JohnH (John). Reason: correction

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01 Jun 2014 17:27 #3 by twilight3 (Rachael)
;) hi john cheers for that,dessie tested my water in maxi zoo today so the nitrates were heading dark orange to red so it ain't good at the minute but the 11 fish in the tank our fine so far,so ille have to stick at it cheers john

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02 Jun 2014 17:06 #4 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
If im not mistaken dark orange to red on an API test Kit is between 20 and 40 Nitrates...Thats not too bad!

This is the basic maths (Not exactly scientific but a general idea) If say for instance your level is 40..If you do a 50% water change you will halve this to 20...Do another 50% water chnage and you will halve this again to 10...Another 50% will halve this to 5...Now do this over a 10 day period so as not to shock the fish too much and also so as not to allow the Nitrates from the fish waste overtake the water change rate...

I reckon with 50% water changes every 2 to 3 days for 10 days your Nitrates will be right down to around 5..

Now this is also dependant on you tap water Nitrate levels
I would suggest testing your tap water Nitrate levels...

It is impossible to have tank Nitrate levels lower than those from your tap water...Most tap water has a level of about 5 ppm...Ive heard water from wells can be much higher...

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02 Jun 2014 17:16 #5 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
A little word of advice also..Seriously think about buying yourself an API Liquid Master Test Kit...Its a good investment..The API liquid test kits are the ones most people use and are the most reliable for water testing..Its more than likely what Dessie used in the shop when he tested your water....Good bloke Dessie! BTW Very knowlegdabe!

Also if you do decide to buy one it doesnt say on the pack but shake the hell out of the reagent (chemiacl) bottles before testing...Especially NitrAte number 2 bottle...

Honestly you will be glad you bought an API test kit...

Dont be tempted to buy test strips of any kind either...They are notoriously inaccurate!

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03 Jun 2014 19:37 #6 by alan 64 (alan)
can u post the tanks history how long its set up and that and also what is ur maintenance schedule on it and filters and ur feeding amounts roughhly

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03 Jun 2014 19:45 #7 by piyyo (Carlos alvarez garcia)
Obviously water changes are the best way to reduce the nitrate level. But you have to find the cause of the high nitrate level.
Maybe you are over-feeding, the water changes were not enough in the past or your tap water has nitrate itself.

Check, as it was said, if there are dead plants, dead fish or food wastes.
When you made the water change do you clean the gravel? I mean, do you remove not-eaten food?

Regards

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03 Jun 2014 21:10 #8 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
I recommend the Sera test kit, you may have to buy online. The API kit gives good results but the test vials are a but flimsy and the stoppers leak a bit.

The sera kit has nice vials and a syringe for removing/measuring tank water which you can use with the API kit when you need a reagent top up.

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