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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

easy life fluid filter medium

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01 Jul 2015 22:39 #1 by Aido Cornally (Aidan cornally)
Hi guys
has anyone used this product to help kick start there filters ?
Added a full bottle to my cycling tank that has no fish in yet, and now there is a flock like substance on all the wood and stones is this normal and will it go away ?

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01 Jul 2015 22:49 #2 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
I use this as my water conditioner and the water does get very cloudy for a while. Never heard of it used to start a tank though.

It is very powdery and settles in the bottom of the bottle.

I would wait for the water to clear and then rinse off the decor.

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02 Jul 2015 00:05 #3 by murph (Tony Murphy)
Easylife is supposed to be used with a full active biological filter as a reagent that removes un-desirable compounds. It is not a culture starter. Check out JBL Filter Start, or similar if you need to get a filter going.

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02 Jul 2015 09:07 #4 by JohnH (John)
+1 on the two previous posts, my understanding is that Easylife 'clumps' aquarium 'debris' which then makes it simpler for the system to be able to filter it out. At least that's the purpose I've always used it for.
A good way to speed up the 'cycling' process is to get some 'gunge' out of your existing tank's filter and put this into the new tank's filtration system This will help to kick-start the whole process. I, again personally, have no faith in those 'bottled bacteria' believing that once removed from their habitat the bacteria die within hours.
The other option to allow you to stock fish immediately is, of course, Organic Aqua.

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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02 Jul 2015 14:06 #5 by Aido Cornally (Aidan cornally)
Thanks Guys for the responses I was under the impression that this was a filter enhancement fluid, as that is what I asked for in Seahorse Aqua' and got this,
History: the sand a used in the tank was already used previous and probably contained some beneficial bacteria ( I hope ) as when I set up the tank and filled with water i had a bacterial explosion that took 4 day to go down, I did add water from my other tank that I had syphoned off and washed my filters in , let it settle as not to get too much gunk in the filters
I have checked the ammonia levels several times but all at the lowest level at no stage did I get an ammonia spike. does this mean my tanks has not cycled, I was hoping to put fish in this weekend, should I hold off ? is there some way to check the filters are fully activated ?

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02 Jul 2015 15:22 - 02 Jul 2015 15:23 #6 by JohnH (John)
Maybe there was a 'blip' in communication at your last visit to Seahorse.

I fear your tank isn't yet ready for all but a (very) few hardy fish. A sharp rise in Ammonia, then in Nitrites indicates that the process is going to plan.
Perhaps you should bring a sample of your tank water and let them give you a 'second opinion' before buying any fish - they're good people in most shops and won't guide you wrong - just for the sale of some fish.

That's my suggestion, perhaps others might like to add to the conversation?

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: 02 Jul 2015 15:23 by JohnH (John). Reason: missed a word out

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02 Jul 2015 15:45 #7 by Aido Cornally (Aidan cornally)
Thanks again John for your sound advice
I Might pop in to them and get some advice on water sample and see what they say,
I already have the fish in my 180 tank and have them a few years so don't want to loose any of them

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02 Jul 2015 15:48 #8 by alan 64 (alan)
If u washed ur filters in some tank water and added it to the tank ur setting up I would do as John says and add some hardy fish I usually add water with washed filter material in it and it always works for me

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02 Jul 2015 17:43 #9 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Are you moving all your fish from the 180 to the new tank? If so you probably don't need to cycle the new tank.

Really the only way to tell if your filter is maturing is to introduce some ammonia and test you should have an ammonia reading which should drop back to zero.

If moving all fish then half fill 450 and get up to temp then add water and filter from 180 to 450 and move fish.

If not moving fish then add a few fish to new tank and a good squeeze of filter media from the 180 filter into the new one to get colony started.

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03 Jul 2015 10:18 #10 by Aido Cornally (Aidan cornally)
Hi guys
thanks again for all your help on this I have in deed used the water from my filter media from my 180ltr tank JBL external filter to add to the tank as well as the fluid media, i have added some of the fish last night and fed them, they certainly know how to churn up the sand in the tank, so i did an ammonia test first thing this morning, with a result of less than 0.05 mg/l (ppm) i also dipped for nitrite with no detectable levels and less than 20 ppm for nitrate, so hopefully this will be the same this evening.
I may need to add a polisher media to my fluval fx5 and the fine debris isn't dissipating as quick as in my 180 ltr that has a fine media pad.
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03 Jul 2015 10:18 #11 by Aido Cornally (Aidan cornally)
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03 Jul 2015 10:18 #12 by Aido Cornally (Aidan cornally)
with some fish this morning
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04 Jul 2015 13:34 #13 by Aido Cornally (Aidan cornally)
have check the ammonia levels again this morning still less than 0.05 ppm
for some reason the tank look cloudier in the video than in real life but i think i need to use a fine filter pad to get it crystal clear

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08 Dec 2015 19:38 #14 by robert (robert carter)
have just brought a bottle of easy life filter medium ,as far as dosing do you dose the whole tank 350 litre in my case or just the amount of the weekly 20% water change ,if the whole tank it make it quite expensive .Robert

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09 Dec 2015 00:32 #15 by alan 64 (alan)
I use it and just treat the water i am adding but i also leave the water sitting a day or 2 before adding it

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09 Dec 2015 13:50 #16 by robert (robert carter)
hi ,I dosed the complete tank last night , do you find it any good ?

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10 Dec 2015 01:54 #17 by alan 64 (alan)
Ive been using it nearly one year with no problems i buy it bye the gallon so its not expensive

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10 Dec 2015 08:29 #18 by robert (robert carter)
hi Alan ,thanks for your reply ,do you dose the whole tank ,or just the amount of water added after your water changes? where do you get gallons of it and what price ? sorry for all the questions . Robert

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10 Dec 2015 13:12 #19 by ger310 (Ger .)

hi Alan ,thanks for your reply ,do you dose the whole tank ,or just the amount of water added after your water changes? where do you get gallons of it and what price ? sorry for all the questions . Robert


Sorry for answering Alan's question..........You can dose the whole tank if you like as it wont do any harm but there is no need to dose it,only using it in the water from your tap to eliminate the chlorine when doing water changes is suffice.....I haven't used it in a couple of years but when I did I just added the amount needed to the bucket/barrel of freshwater I was adding and poured/pumped it in to the tank.

I cant remember seeing a Gallon of it for sale anywhere around in the shops but I use to buy it online with Zooplus.ie....65 euro if I remember right,maybe more now though!!

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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10 Dec 2015 16:00 #20 by alan 64 (alan)
Spot on ger

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11 Dec 2015 04:52 #21 by paulv (paul vickers)
Used it in my, now sold, tank when I did a wc and when I cleaned the filter.

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11 Dec 2015 08:36 #22 by robert (robert carter)
hi ,if you use at water changes do you need to add a water declorinator as well . Robert

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11 Dec 2015 11:30 #23 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Easy Life Fluid Filter Medium acts as a dechlorinator as well as its other uses...

No need to use another dechlorinator as well when treating tap water for water changes...

Its just a waste of money...

Easy Life Fluid Filter Medium is also not very economical when used as a dechlorinator..

Best value for money in my opinion for a dechlorinator is Prime by Seachem...

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11 Dec 2015 11:57 #24 by robert (robert carter)
so in a nutshell is it worth useing

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11 Dec 2015 12:53 - 11 Dec 2015 12:54 #25 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
In my opinion if it just to be used as a dechlorinator there are much better value products out there..

Ive never had any use for it to be honest other than as a dechlorinator and i only used it for a short period cos it aint cheap!

So in a nutshell no!
Last edit: 11 Dec 2015 12:54 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered).

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11 Dec 2015 16:09 #26 by robert (robert carter)
well guess I wont be buying any more of it ,just use my normal dechlorinator. thanks

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11 Dec 2015 21:06 #27 by ger310 (Ger .)
I kind of agree with what was said about value for money if just used as a de-chlorinator but I used Prime before I used the easy life stuff and the differences in the tank when I changed were very noticeable ie.plants looking a little healthier,fish a bit more active etc. so from my experience using it it was well worth the extra few bob for it,and it was only a 'few' bob extra I found,nothing major!!

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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11 Dec 2015 21:30 #28 by robert (robert carter)
thanks Ger well I have enough of it to do a good few water changes so will see what happens ,insidently Darron in seahorse reckons it great stuff .

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13 Dec 2015 19:32 #29 by Gonefishy (Brian oneill)
2nd that on Darren's view on it...I've had this discussion with him a few times, particularly given I keep a planted tank. He told me that prime will bind all nutrients that I would be adding daily so not great for plant growth....ffm doesn't do the same....I'm sure he can speak himself but said I'd pass on my own experience and discussion..

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