Some things I have come up with over the last 20some years that save time, equipment and energy.
Big cichlids want big flat rocks for spawning right? Bubble wrap is an excellent thing to place between these big rocks and the glass, cheap too. Going on 2 years under some 30-40 pounders for me and still inflated just fine, can climb under the stand and still see it.
Save your drains! One of them 32g rubbermaid tubs is and excellent aid, I keep a siphon just for the tub. As I do my water changes, roughly 200 gallons a week, I empty my buckets into the tub, when full I dip the siphon and it drains out, just the water, all the sand, gravel, poo, carbon ect.. settle to the bottom, guess I get 6" a year in mine of 'sludge'.
Garden hoses, one of the best things I have ever done!! Most everyone has a washer connection in their home. You can buy splitters for the connections and run garden hoses to your tank room with nozzles on the ends, hot and cold so you get your prefered temp. You can run them thru the basement, crawlspace or attic, beware of freezing tho. I do not miss luggin buckets thru the house at all! Total cost was about $15 from wal-mart. I flushed my hoses for the first few months to be safe, never had any troubles.
If you are fixing an old Metaframe tank, seal any cracks or natural fissures on the surface of the slate bottom. Just had that thought, back to context now.
Most know this now, but the Magnum 350 is a great piece for a bio only system, and is easily moved to another tank if extra bio is needed. I have saved a few tanks this way. I keep an extra M350 going just for this.
Great tank decor and cheap. Old Marble table-dresser-counter tops. When I retired a few years ago I started hitting auctions (awesome places to find cheap tanks) and happened across some old broken ones. Natural and safe rock, easily stackable and it looks supa nice. Local marble supply probably will have broken bits and pieces, I never checked. The ones I bought I just dropped on the concrete (breaking it) till I got the sizes I wanted. I go for the black and dark grey marbles, not the white kind, yet. They have natural quartz like fissures in them, really nice looking stuff.
Gift wrap. Comes in all colors and foils, easy and cheap backgrounds.
Got some fry on the way? Get some snails. Them babies will devoure the snail babys, and snails make alotta babies. Free natural food. I keep a couple 10g tanks for this. You can have thousands of tiny (pin head size) snails in a months time. They spread easily so take care when relocating the fry, my tub as mentioned above has been infested just from the water changes.
Whisper filter cartridge, lifetime version (or close enough to it, my lifetime ain't over yet but all are still going fine). Sure it is on the forum here somewhere. I know this has saved me likely a thousand dollars over the years. Very fine mesh bag that fits the plastic cartridge snugly, some Marineland* blue filter material, add carbon. You can figure it out from there. I keep a second piece of the blue filter in the HOB for bio, similar to what the newer versions have, can't hurt.
I have observed that my fish know their food containers. I have learned that putting a new brand food into the old brands container makes them accept it more readily.
One I have not figured out yet is a cheap replacement for the plastic hinges for the glass tops, they seperat at the seam about every 2 years. Any ideas??
Good luck with you friends (the fishys) and hope this can help at least one person some day. I could not keep half the tanks that I do if not for these ideas and others.
Big cichlids want big flat rocks for spawning right? Bubble wrap is an excellent thing to place between these big rocks and the glass, cheap too. Going on 2 years under some 30-40 pounders for me and still inflated just fine, can climb under the stand and still see it.
Save your drains! One of them 32g rubbermaid tubs is and excellent aid, I keep a siphon just for the tub. As I do my water changes, roughly 200 gallons a week, I empty my buckets into the tub, when full I dip the siphon and it drains out, just the water, all the sand, gravel, poo, carbon ect.. settle to the bottom, guess I get 6" a year in mine of 'sludge'.
Garden hoses, one of the best things I have ever done!! Most everyone has a washer connection in their home. You can buy splitters for the connections and run garden hoses to your tank room with nozzles on the ends, hot and cold so you get your prefered temp. You can run them thru the basement, crawlspace or attic, beware of freezing tho. I do not miss luggin buckets thru the house at all! Total cost was about $15 from wal-mart. I flushed my hoses for the first few months to be safe, never had any troubles.
If you are fixing an old Metaframe tank, seal any cracks or natural fissures on the surface of the slate bottom. Just had that thought, back to context now.
Most know this now, but the Magnum 350 is a great piece for a bio only system, and is easily moved to another tank if extra bio is needed. I have saved a few tanks this way. I keep an extra M350 going just for this.
Great tank decor and cheap. Old Marble table-dresser-counter tops. When I retired a few years ago I started hitting auctions (awesome places to find cheap tanks) and happened across some old broken ones. Natural and safe rock, easily stackable and it looks supa nice. Local marble supply probably will have broken bits and pieces, I never checked. The ones I bought I just dropped on the concrete (breaking it) till I got the sizes I wanted. I go for the black and dark grey marbles, not the white kind, yet. They have natural quartz like fissures in them, really nice looking stuff.
Gift wrap. Comes in all colors and foils, easy and cheap backgrounds.
Got some fry on the way? Get some snails. Them babies will devoure the snail babys, and snails make alotta babies. Free natural food. I keep a couple 10g tanks for this. You can have thousands of tiny (pin head size) snails in a months time. They spread easily so take care when relocating the fry, my tub as mentioned above has been infested just from the water changes.
Whisper filter cartridge, lifetime version (or close enough to it, my lifetime ain't over yet but all are still going fine). Sure it is on the forum here somewhere. I know this has saved me likely a thousand dollars over the years. Very fine mesh bag that fits the plastic cartridge snugly, some Marineland* blue filter material, add carbon. You can figure it out from there. I keep a second piece of the blue filter in the HOB for bio, similar to what the newer versions have, can't hurt.
I have observed that my fish know their food containers. I have learned that putting a new brand food into the old brands container makes them accept it more readily.
One I have not figured out yet is a cheap replacement for the plastic hinges for the glass tops, they seperat at the seam about every 2 years. Any ideas??
Good luck with you friends (the fishys) and hope this can help at least one person some day. I could not keep half the tanks that I do if not for these ideas and others.
Too bad on those hinges you missed, it is so easy to get distracted at auctions, have to try to get that to work in your favor, I should pay my kids (with treats) to start screaming and fighting, maybe that will lower the high bids, usually just that one person that runs ya up on price.
