Don't throw that away!!!!

[Oxquo]

Don’t Throw That away !!!

Aquarist’s are cheap, they have to be. Or maybe it’s just me. The more tanks I run the cheaper I get too. Here are a few money saving suggestions as I am sure most of you have a few of your own, care to share? Saving money in a hobby of any kind is seemingly impossible at times. As our hobby grows so does our expenses and time invested running the hobby. Where do we draw the line? When is a hobby, no longer a hobby and how do we keep interested in something that starts to feel more like job? I am going to list a few money saving hints as well as ways to keep the excitement in the hobby. First of all I should list things around the house that make great fishroom helpers. These should be purchased so as to not get a spousal beating. Most of these things you can find at a local dollar store kind of place.

Turkey baster- I don’t know if I use any item more, especially when it comes to fry. Feeding them, getting food down to a nest in the maintenance tank, sucking up mouldy fry, bad eggs or even doing water changes on small fry containers. For about $1.50 you can’t go wrong here.

Pop bottles- Whether raising brine shrimp, making your own CO2 dispenser, hatching eggs or culturing green water. Many uses, cost is only the loss of deposit.

Garbage cans- The large plastic garbage cans, the ones garbage men hate. I use these for worm cultures(red wigglers), aging water, and even to save water in when breaking down a tank. Oh yeah, you can use them for garbage too but what a waste, ha ha ha.

Plastic film containers- the ones your film comes in. I use these for hatching out killi eggs in. they work perfect as you can label them and they store very neatly.

Almost all plastic containers- Whether margarine, ice cream or candy containers. All have great uses for culturing, egg hatcheries, washing substrate or cleaning plants.

Well since the list goes on, way on, I will leave it to you to take a good look around and see what you can find that suits your hobby. For the real crazy fish fin-atics, using a garlic press, not the one your wife uses. Place your cleaned out red wigglers in there and give em’ a squish into your cory tank and watch them go nuts, even for smaller cichlids. It’s a lot less messy than scissors I guarantee.

Much like Ikea furniture, as I usually have enough left over parts from one kitchen set to build a kitchen to match. Your Aquaclear filters are a two for one special and my favorite bargain of all. I have enclosed a picture of my gift from Hagen and you too can enjoy this beauty. Using your cycled sponges for everything from powerhead pre-filters to intake pre-filters and then this handy homemade jobby. Take your extra intake tube, cut off the small end just so your airline will fit snuggly through it. Push your airline through the small end all the way and attach your airstone. The next part you should do quickly or atleast try to keep your sponge nice and wet in used tank water. Sit the sponge upright, using scissors cut an “x” into the top and 2” from the bottom. 1” from the bottom cut another slit across parallel to the bottom. Insert a weight “I use a rock” into the bottom slit to keep it still in your aquarium, and then insert your intake tube with airline intact so the fat part goes into the “x” in the sponge. You have just made a perfectly cycled sponge that is ready to go into any emergency quarantine or fry tank.

Make a chiller for around $100.00. Using an old bar fridge, some very inexpensive 1/4” tubing and a small canister filter. Set up the fridge so your beer is hidden from your friends. Drill holes in both sides of the fridge with a ¼” bit. You may have to bore it out a bit to squeeze the tubing through but a tight fit is best. Depending on the size of tank you need to chill, buy hose accordingly. For a 50 gallon 25’ is good. Push hose through one side out the other and up into your tank attach with suction cups. Coil up the rest of the hose in the bottom of the fridge so there are no kinks and the end left over goes into your filter output. Set fridge temp and make sure to have your heater on so you don't cool things off too much. Adjust your temp with the fridges thermostat, plug in the filter and you are ready to go. Also, with a self priming filter, if there is a power outage it should all start up when the power comes back. This one is the best of the best, can be hidden under a wide enough stand and you can keep your whiskey chilled and ice frozen cause we all know that in fishkeeping we all need a stiff drink some days.

This just all goes to prove that we can all be cheap and save our money for buying fish and plants instead of getting soaked on expensive aquarium equipment if we try hard enough. Hey, it never hurts to bring along those two for one coupons when you take that special lady out to the fast food joints either. This may not solve all of your problems or tasks at hand but atleast it should get you thinking before you throw away that old piece of junk that could become fishroom gold. Until next time , happy fishkeeping.

John Clark, Fintastic Finatic

P.S. Why the old lady stays beside me I’ll never know, you’d think she’d have gotten those handcuffs off by now. Just kidding.

[LightYourAssOnFire]

Excelent post Oxquo, Very informative.

Thanks, we could all save a bundle using some of those tips.

[vantgE]

I just used a pop bottle to drip amonia into my tank while i was gone cut off one end and stuffed the other with coffee filters

Alot of that stuff looks really cool but it's more for a multiple tank person eh

but i might try that aquaclear thing if i ever get fry cause i hear a ac 200 is too powerfull when running

[Oxquo]

Hope you find use for some of them, yeah aquas are too strong but using the whole old filter sponge on your intake means more surface area, less chance of fry getting sucked up and a sacrifice of only a few GPH. As for you salt water finatics. Feel free to ask me to help you build your very own inexpensive chiller it really only takes a few minutes to build and is better than any I've seen, but then again when have you seen a chiller any size for under $150.00, this could also chill multiple tanks. Anyways I look forward to seeing more ideas.

[Toirtis]

Almost all plastic containers- Whether margarine, ice cream or candy containers. All have great uses for culturing, egg hatcheries, washing substrate or cleaning plants.

Boy, have I a treasure trove for you....

[Kolla]

Thanks for sharing all the info, I have learned a lot from your post.