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 softening/ rainwater
- wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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I am getting a bit tired of the water we get out here in Ashbourne. It is very very hard leaving lots of deposits in sinks, toilets, and most annoyingly... aquariums! I am sorting a south american themed tank at the minute and I want nice soft water that won't leave marks and will suit the fish. I don't really want to go messing with plumbing, to install a purifier, as we rent our apartment so is there an easier way to remove dissolved solids from the water. I wouldn't mind collecting rainwater and buffering it up to pH6.5 or 7, if I know it is safe. Tap water here is 8 or just over.
Do any of you folks who have experience with issues like this have any ideas?
Cheers!
...maybe half tapwater, half rainwater?
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- pkearney (Phil Kearney)
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phil
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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- Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
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Need to keep on top of your tests though.
You do not need to mess around with the plumbing as long as you have a washing machine (cold water) mains connection.
You can purchase the following and have an RO unit without spiking and saddling mains pipes.
A "Y" connector to fit onto the cold inlet at your washing machine point.
An adaptor which connects to one of the branches on the "Y" connector the other branch is for the washing machine.
Finally a tap to shut off the mains to the RO unit.
Regards
C
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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- Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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- Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
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And can be removed without having to repair anything if you ever wish to move house or are in rental accommodation.
The Y connector screws onto your cold mains by your washing machine (the one with the blue tap)
Your washing machine cold fill (blue pipe) screws onto one side of the Y connector. The adaptor for your RO onto the other side of the Y connector then a stop valve is placed in-line before the pipe enters your RO unit.
Regards
C
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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- wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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By the way thanks for the replies Shea and P!
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- Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
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That would put me in the running for my own RO unit! Sweet!
Where there's a will, there's always a way, Rory

This is exactly my set-up with a DI pod attached to the main 3 stage RO unit and a 100 litre water butt for storage.
If you can't source those fittings locally then here are the links below.
www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=136
www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=52
Purchase a few of this next item as they are handy to have around
www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.php?cPa...86_65&products_id=44
But I also utilise various water mixes and Hydrochloric acid to achieve what I need for various species. Again monitoring is paramount.
Hope that helps
Regards
C
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