About AquaticForum.co.uk

What AquaticForum.co.uk is

AquaticForum.co.uk is a UK-focused online community where aquarium and pond hobbyists can meet, share photos, diagnose problems, compare kit and plan new builds. It covers the whole breadth of the hobby:

• Freshwater community and species tanks (tropical, coldwater, biotope).
• Planted tanks and aquascaping — from low-tech to high-tech CO2 set-ups.
• Marine and reef keeping, including fish-only, FOWLR and full reef.
• Ponds — build, filtration, fish welfare, seasonal care and pond plants.
• General fish health, water chemistry, cycling, feeding and behaviour.
• Gear talk — heaters, filters, lights, UVCs, skimmers, test kits, substrates.

Alongside the forum we publish staff-written reference pages — the blog, the free calculator suite (tank volume, pond volume, heater size, filter flow rate, dosing and more) and the UVC Bulb Finder that helps people identify the correct replacement UVC bulb for their pond clarifier.

Who we are

The site is run independently by a small group of UK fishkeepers who have been in the hobby for years and wanted a no-nonsense community that wasn't tied to a shop, a brand or a single personality. It is not owned by a retailer, a manufacturer, a wholesaler or a livestock supplier. It has never been sponsored.

Members are volunteers sharing real personal experience. Some are advanced hobbyists with decades of tanks, breeding projects or ponds behind them; many are complete beginners learning the ropes. Both kinds of voices are welcome.

Day-to-day moderation and admin decisions are taken by the operator(s) of AquaticForum.co.uk. We are reachable through the contact page.

What we are not

Because so many "community" fish sites are actually storefronts, it is worth being completely explicit about what we aren't:

• We are not a retailer. There is no basket, no checkout, no order system and no way to buy anything from us. We do not sell livestock, dry goods, bulbs, media, food, chemicals, aquascaping supplies or pond kit.
• We are not an affiliate. We do not use Amazon / Pets at Home / Swell UK / Maidenhead Aquatics / Charterhouse Aquatics / eBay affiliate links, referral codes or tracking links. No external link on this site earns us money.
• We are not sponsored. We do not accept paid reviews, "seeding" of free products in exchange for coverage, sponsored posts or advertorials from any manufacturer or retailer.
• We are not a veterinary, consultancy or installation service. Advice given on the forum is community knowledge, not professional diagnosis.

This is covered in more legal detail in Section 3 of our Terms of use.

How the site is funded

Running a community site costs money (hosting, domain, image/video CDN, email infrastructure, developer tools). To cover those costs without charging members or compromising the independence described above, we display generic platform advertising served by third-party ad networks such as Google AdSense. Key points about those ads:

• Ad units are clearly labelled.
• The specific ads you see are selected by the ad network, not by us. We do not pick advertisers, negotiate with them or receive product samples.
• An ad appearing on the site is never an endorsement by us. Seeing a brand advertised here does not mean we recommend, stock, stand behind or have any relationship with that brand.
• Ads only load after you give consent for the "Advertising" cookie category in the cookie banner. If you decline, you can still use the whole site as normal.
• We follow the Google Publisher Policies and the Google AdSense Program Policies.

More detail is in our cookie policy and privacy policy.

How advice works on the forum

The forum is a space for hobbyists to help hobbyists. Replies and guide content come from community members and the site operators, not from paid experts. That has two consequences worth being clear about:

1. Double-check safety-critical advice. Anything involving fish welfare, electricity (heaters, pumps, UVCs, lights), chemistry (medications, fertilisers, ammonia dosing) or structural work (pond builds, liners, filtration plumbing) should be cross-checked with the manufacturer, a qualified electrician, or — for sick fish — a qualified aquatic vet.
2. Treat calculator and reference-tool output as a starting point. Our calculators and the UVC Bulb Finder are best-efforts tools that use industry-standard formulas and manufacturer documentation. Always verify dimensions, wattages and part numbers against your physical equipment before ordering replacements.

There is a fuller disclaimer in Section 7 of the Terms of use.

Moderation and community safety

We want AquaticForum.co.uk to be a useful, welcoming place for every level of fishkeeper — and a place we can stand behind publicly. To do that we moderate the community actively:

• Every post has an in-thread "Report" button. Reports are reviewed and rate-limited to prevent misuse.
• Moderators can hide, edit-for-formatting, lock, move or remove posts that break the rules, and can mute or ban accounts for serious or repeated breaches.
• We do not allow hidden advertising. Members who receive free products from a supplier must disclose that clearly in any post where they mention the product, in line with UK ASA and CMA guidance.
• Account eligibility is 13+. We take down obviously underage accounts when we see them.
• We comply with UK law and respond to valid copyright / takedown requests; see Section 12 of the Terms of use.

Editorial independence and accuracy

Reference pages (blog posts, calculators, the UVC Bulb Finder database) are written and maintained by the operator(s) of AquaticForum.co.uk without input from any advertiser. When we get something wrong we fix it. If you spot a factual error — especially in the UVC Bulb Finder part-number / length data, where pond kit specs change over the years — please let us know via the contact page.

Product and brand names mentioned on the site are trademarks of their respective owners and are used for identification only. Their appearance does not imply endorsement by the brand owner or a relationship with us.

Getting involved

• Create an account and introduce yourself in the forum.
• Browse categories or the all discussions feed.
• Read the blog for longer-form guides.
• Try the free calculators before you buy or set up new kit.
• Use the UVC Bulb Finder to identify the right replacement UV bulb for your pond filter or clarifier.
• For questions, corrections or policy issues: contact us.