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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

coconut shell and aquarium water PH / Help

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15 Jun 2014 07:59 #1 by dub320d (Derek)
I bought a coconut shell in a pet shop in Sandyford Ind. Est. when the guy told me that it would lower my Tank PH ( ???) after I told him that I have a problem with rising PH (and KH) I am using CO" to stabilize it . I put the coconut into a small bucket of tap water (PH 7.2 ) overnight and I checked it this morning and It has changed the PH to approx. 5.something. I wonder is there anybody on our Forum who have used Coconut Shells in their own aquariums in order to adjust the PH. Grateful for any help. Derek

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15 Jun 2014 09:47 #2 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
That is quite a massive change in pH in the bucket overnight.....that's an increase in acid concentration of around 3 times the original.
But that does not mean it will lower the pH in your main tank (for reason of volume and alkalinity and initial release of acids from the shell)

Normally, I wouldn't use Coconut shell specificcally for lowering pH or for any other change in water.....although it will tend to lower the pH if the alkalinity is not too high.
Coire (the husk from around a coconut) is used in some tanks as a substrate (especially for fish to breed in or to help raise small critters for fry to eat);
the shells are great breeding caves for fish that breed in caves.
In those cases, the fish happen to love low pH anyway.....but if it doesn't lower the pH then I'm not bothered.

What fish are you hoping to lower the pH with? and do you really need to lower the pH ? (my guess is that you don't need to lower the pH at all really)

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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15 Jun 2014 09:47 #3 by JohnH (John)
Derek, welcome to the Forum.
I have used coconut shells for years and years and have never found them to have have any lasting effect upon the pH in the water but quite obviously your experiment, as explained, must disprove this.
It will be interesting to hear the observations from other Forum members on this matter.

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.

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15 Jun 2014 10:10 #4 by Eric (Eric Corcoran)
Hi Derek ,
I used a shell in my 120L tank for about 6 months and it had no affect at all on the pH. I reckon the tank was to large for just one shell to have an affect. They do look well tho with some moss growing over them

Eric

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15 Jun 2014 10:55 #5 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
But as I said in my post, it does depend on the bucket volume.

pH is a concentration effect......so a drop of 0.5 pH units means an increase in acid concentration of about 3.

You can not relate the pH in a bucket experiment to the pH you would get in, say, 100 litres especially with the types of acids in coconut shells.

So......this is in keeping with what JohnH has found and what I find (which is why I see no reason to use coconut to specifically lower pH.....but it may be useful in very small tanks).

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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15 Jun 2014 12:24 #6 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
I have a half coconut shell in one of my 30 l and never have noticed that it had an effect on the ph.

Anthony

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15 Jun 2014 13:10 #7 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
I have had 2 coconut shells in a 190 for a long time and no effect on the water
As Ian said tho, fry love them as a safe haven and some fish use them for breeding in!

Im looking for more to put into my fry tank for the brisslenose pleco's to keep them happy along with the terracotta pots I already have in there!

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15 Jun 2014 14:45 #8 by swai (Simon)
I have 3 home made coconut shells in my 54 liter. No effect on PH. They cost me 75 cents each to make!

Marino, Dublin 9

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15 Jun 2014 14:53 #9 by dannyb (Daniel Byrne)
I have 2 in my 260 cichlid tank for a good few months now and no change in ph reading at all. Mine where fresh cocnuts that i drilled and hollowed out myself all for 99 cent each ;) i did boil them for a few hours before adding them to the tank

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16 Jun 2014 17:14 - 16 Jun 2014 17:18 #10 by dub320d (Derek)
Ian and fellow forum members thanks for the reply , I have this 120 ltr fully planted thank at least 15 years with no problems until I renovated the house here 2 years ago. In this tank there is only Bog wood / gravel /C02 / External filter /and plants and nothing else. the injected Co2 is a new addition as I was using the Water+ sugar + yeast method for aquarium C02 in order to stop my PH rising . I'm here in stillorgan and only down the road from you and the PH coming out of the tap is about PH7 but if I dont leave the C02 running 24/7 the PH in aquarium rises quickly to 8.? I have striped this tank ,washed theTank / qravel /bogwood etc and still have this ph problem
Finally Ian I get a little bit of light brown algae on the glass now and then / have you any ideas what may be the cause . Derek
Last edit: 16 Jun 2014 17:18 by dub320d (Derek). Reason: Update

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16 Jun 2014 17:16 #11 by dub320d (Derek)
John I did use boiling water. Derek

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16 Jun 2014 18:23 #12 by swai (Simon)
If you want to lower ph best off getting a filter bag and putting peat moss in it and then adding to your external filter if you have one.

Shamrock peat moss has no additives in it and is irish made.

Marino, Dublin 9

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16 Jun 2014 19:27 #13 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Derek, yep, we have the same water supply. :D

Increasing pH can be due to a number of reasons......here are a few reasons:
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...hange-simple-listing

If pH increases then check ammonia as a first port of call anyway.

CO2 in combination with certain rocks can increase pH.

High photosynthetic activity in soft (KH Soft) water of generally acid conditions can produce rapid and massive increases in pH (in fact so high that it can easily kill fish).

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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21 Jun 2014 11:56 - 21 Jun 2014 15:19 #14 by dub320d (Derek)
Hello Ian and thanks for the very useful info in your reply. I do check the ammonia on a regular basis and there is no rocks in my tank but your quote
''High photosynthetic activity in soft (KH Soft) water of generally acid conditions can produce rapid and massive increases in pH'' is certainly catching my attention. The room where my Aquarium is located has a large bay window ( 3sides) and the curtains were broke hence it gets sunshine & daylight all day long. Anyway now that I have fixed the curtains I can now fully control the amount of light that my aquarium gets and I will let you know if this step does stabilise the ph in the aquarium. Thanks again Derek
Last edit: 21 Jun 2014 15:19 by dub320d (Derek). Reason: Update

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21 Jun 2014 15:23 #15 by dub320d (Derek)
SWAI ive put in liquid PH down and no change and also put a piece of turf in external filter and no change either

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21 Jun 2014 22:41 #16 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)

I get a little bit of light brown algae on the glass now and then / have you any ideas what may be the cause . Derek


This can be from silicates coming from the tap water.
You can use a silicate remover but these can have a direct effect on KH. So I wouldn't use it if there was any issues with KH or PH.
Otocinclus catfish love this brown diatom algae.

Darren.

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