Hi from the UK!

[Vladimir61]

Hi from Kidderminster, the UK!
I am back to the hobby after 40 years. I've noticed a few things have changed.
It's mind boggling, really! I'll need help for sure!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Welcome to the community. Looking forward to seeing and hearing about what you are getting up to.

 

[Andy Sager]

Welcome fellow old timer.
Yeah, things have definitely changed in the past 40 years. The big thing is the fish themselves are different. Now, so many fish that were just a few generations from wild years ago are farm raised and have their own disease variations so not everything that worked before in treatments still work on these farmed fish. Best to not mix wild caught and farmed fish in the same tanks. The good news is that there are many new varieties of wild fish being discovered all the time and new color forms of domesticated fish being made so plenty of variety to keep us interested.

The same concepts hold true as before , just the machinery to achieve them are different. ( I still use some of the same methods and machines I used 50 years ago and still have great success. )

So ask away to get you caught up.

 

[Vladimir61]

Thanks guys!
I wander, if my memory is failing me or I was just young and ignorant, but I don't recall people talking about the Nitrogen Cycle and cycling the aquariums back in the seventies.
The fish must've been some "surviving fresh tap water" variety in those days.

 

[Aiken Drum]

The nitrogen cycle has always been there, but a lot more is understood about it, along with nitrogen toxicity.

Cycling a tank has always been there too, but will have been called other things. Improved knowledge just means there are better processes in place to do this. You used to stock lightly, change water frequently, increase the numbers of fish gradually. This is in essence what is called a fish in cycle, but with better testing and better understanding of whats going this can now be more controlled and safer for the fish.

Cycling a tank can be as complex or simple as you wish. The things you used to do will still get you there.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thanks guys!
I wander, if my memory is failing me or I was just young and ignorant, but I don't recall people talking about the Nitrogen Cycle and cycling the aquariums back in the seventies.
The fish must've been some "surviving fresh tap water" variety in those days.

We called it " Seasoning " the tank back then not cycling. It's exactly the same thing today. Even today, the water out of the tap is different from back then. The use of chlorine alone has been changed to Chloramine in many areas which is a chlorine ammonia combination that does not dissipate like chlorine alone does. So today you have break the chlorine ammonia bond in order to make the water safe for the fish. In some places, there are even nitrates in the tap water. Good "clean" water out of the tap is a rarity more than a commonplace.

 

[Aiken Drum]

In some places, there are even nitrates in the tap water. Good "clean" water out of the tap is a rarity more than a commonplace.

50ppm is the legal upper limit here in the UK, so obviously thats already higher than some people find acceptable to keep fish in, before you start to take account of fish waste making it worse. Most people here have pretty good water, but we've had a couple of members over the last couple of years based in London reporting nitrate levels out of the tap close to that 50ppm limit. Mine is about 5ppm.

Not sure if its common knowledge outside of the UK, but the water companies here are performing atrociously which is being highlighted by people like Feargal Sharky. Pressure is being put on government to legislate to stop bonuses being paid to CEOs and dividends to shareholders until the water companies clean up their act. Some are proposing jail sentences for whats happening. The CEO of Thames Water which covers London has already resigned over their poor (illegal) environmental practices. The water companies will eventually be renationalised IMO which can only be a good thing.

 

[Andy Sager]

50ppm is the legal upper limit here in the UK, so obviously thats already higher than some people find acceptable to keep fish in, before you start to take account of fish waste making it worse. Most people here have pretty good water, but we've had a couple of members over the last couple of years based in London reporting nitrate levels out of the tap close to that 50ppm limit. Mine is about 5ppm.

Not sure if its common knowledge outside of the UK, but the water companies here are performing atrociously which is being highlighted by people like Feargal Sharky. Pressure is being put on government to legislate to stop bonuses being paid to CEOs and dividends to shareholders until the water companies clean up their act. Some are proposing jail sentences for whats happening. The CEO of Thames Water which covers London has already resigned over their poor (illegal) environmental practices. The water companies will eventually be renationalised IMO which can only be a good thing.

I guess I've been lucky in that where I have lived or had my businesses, the water wasn't that bad. There are places in the US where the tap water is just so unhealthy to drink, they've placed entire neighborhoods on " Do not drink" orders. I only had to deal with the " new" chloramine issue ( back in the 1980s) once but only became aware of it when the pet store I was working in suffered massive fish losses after a water change. After contacting the water company, we found out that the city had switched from chlorine to chloramine. There was a lawsuit against the city for not giving ample warning and after that, the water companies in the state had to notify pet stores and make public warnings well in advance of when they changed anything in the water so that preparations could be made to save the livestock. I'm on a well now in a rural part of the state so there are no nitrates or additives in the water. The well apparently is deep enough that I get good water because my neighbor, a koi farmer, had to aerate his well water before it went into his vats and tanks or else the fish died of lack of oxygen. This only proved again that " water is not the same everywhere."