jeanie1978 Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 (edited) Ever find yourself doing a W/C and find out too late that your out of filter media. No time to go to the store or the stores are closed. I have a toddler that likes to get into stuff and doing a W/C late at night found my media had been ruined by nailpolish. I had thought to just rinse the media and reuse but I had added new fish that day and didn't want to chance it. Pondering this I glanced at my big tanks filter, it was a pouch type that you add carbon to and clip top. I had an idea. Rummaging around I grabbed up new 2 pieces of scour pads (those green scratchy scouring plastic pads you buy for scrubbing dishes). Placed them in a pan and poured boiling water through them to sterilize them and dried them flat with my hairdryer. Pulling out the old sewing machine I sewed them together to form a pouch with heavy gauge white cotton thread. Half a cup of active carbon to fill and sewed the top close. Rinse again quickly under running water for dust and BAM emergency media. >> The fish were fine and happy until I was able to get into town to buy new media a week later (not medically able to drive and where we lived didn't have a taxi service) I use this home made media on the Goldfish and use it in my community tanks to no ill effects for the last 2 years. Thoughts??? Edited March 9, 2012 by jeanie1978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mokos Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Wow very inventive and cost effective. Why not use what's around your house. I kinda do the same thing. I use the filter floss from big ALS inside my canister filter and I aswell sew 2 pieces together for my HOB then I add the carbon inside it. Got tired of spending endless amounts of money on the filter pads. Very cool way of making a pad for your filter. Cudos to you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanie1978 Posted February 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 LOL Awesome. This hobby is expensive to be sure. I'm working on some other quick and cheap stuff too. Working on building my own breeder tanks fro under $3.00. hoping this experiment works too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanie1978 Posted March 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 Plants: Another thing I've been testing out well is low lighted plants for the thrifty. I was looking around at different LFS for plants. When I started to piece out some of the equipment I had a eye opening experience. Looking at low light plants were another bit of an expense. I had almost gave up on plants in my tank. I sat down in my livingroom racking my brain when my eyes fell on my spiderplant. I had taken runners off it and were growing them in plain water to root them and thought why not try them. They were similar to the ones I had wanted (can't remember the name now) and definitely cheap. Poor old Goldfish was the first guinea pig. They survived for awhile in his little tank but started to mold quickly from the waste food. The Goldfish was gleaming and had no ill effects. To stop the moldering of the spiderplants I added a bubbler to the tank to create current. It worked beautifully. I tried it on my big tank (assorted tropical freshwater fish) and again, no ill effects and the fish loved it, especially my pleco. They stripped the plants down to its "skeleton" (which looked really neat) in areas but as long as the plant had good water movement it was fine even grew runners in tank. Best of all no special equipment or chemicals needed, grows well under ordinary lights and fish loved it. I have since also tried this with bamboo sticks from walmart. Bamboo required a good rinse and I kept it in a vase for a week, changing the water everyday to make sure it had no chemicals on it. Plecos and algae eaters loved the bamboo leaves most, the other fish preferred the roots. It will also regrow leaves and roots quickly (as long as you have a good current in your tank to keep the water moving. I use a proportionate length bubbler and H.O.B. filters) . I had a planted tank for super cheap, and no spikes to the levels in my tanks too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanie1978 Posted March 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 CRAFTING MESH. (from Walmart) Cheap and easy, No not me LOL. I have been experimenting again with this lovely stuff. It comes in 2 sizes and is easy to manipulate. I made a tank divider for my 60G column tank with it. 2 mini suction cups with S hooks on them, cut mesh to dimensions of tank and viola. Sturdy cheap and all under $4.00. The mesh allows easy airflow between 2 sections. I use this set up in the 60G to separate m/f guppies and to separate them from their fry. Another cheap use is breeding tanks. Make the size you need or multiples all under $4.00. Easy Peasy! Cut dimensions/size you want to make a box. With a needle and thread (heavy gauge white cotton thread or fishing line/plastic thread, available everywhere) sew box together by threading thread through the mesh or a fancy stitch if your that handy with thread. NOTE: Don't use colored thread as the color leaches into water. You can have the box resting at the bottom of your nursery tank or hang it off the side with some mini S suction cup hooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niki Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 There are se nifty ideas here! Thanks for sharing! I currently use the colorful scrub pads from the dollar store in my filter, when I took the carbon out it left a gap and was looking fr a cheap way to fill it....saw a pack of 6-8 at the dollar store and bam they fit the bill... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanie1978 Posted March 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 LOL neat. They're are the same things used for media just a touch coarser but work great. Glad your enjoying the ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niki Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Yea I loved the crafting mesh decider idea! I love DIY ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niki Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Divider* Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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