Favorite Unexpected Non-Fish Fishkeeping Tools

[VariegatedReticulated]

Three tools I use that aren't fish tools but make my hobby much better. 

1. The thin, white spatula: This came with my immersion blender and I love to use it to scrape the sides of my micro and banana worm cultures when I don't feel like sticking my finger in there. 

2. Substrate scoopers: These are pet supplies but they're not for marketed for fish. The small blue one is sold for hermit crabs. The other two, I believe both found at Petsmart, are in the reptile area. GREAT for scooping duckweed from the surface. Also great for scooping gravel-sized substrate and rinsing it. The two larger ones are great for getting into corners...if you're tearing down a tank and you can tilt it-- throw in some water, stir it up and you can scoop out the last gravel more easily from the corner(s). 

When I put my snail feeder-catcher down or some repashy and I want to pull a bunch of snails, these scoopers are handy to grab the ones nearby. 

3. Red paint scraper from the hardware store: When new, great for scraping algae (the edge can dull over time depending on how you use it,) if you've let it go for a while and have a sheet of it on your tank wall. (This kept happening to the one tank whose side faced a SE - facing window until I painted.) I've also used this to pull java and other mosses with hair algae to provide a surface to separate (with a bamboo skewer) what I could. Also used this to pull duckweed from the top but it's not as good as the substrate scoopers.

I'm sure there are others, so I'll add to this when I come across more. Do you have any non-fish tools that are amazing for aquarium work you can share?

[GoofyGarra]

pillow stuffing.

I got a huge bag at a craft store for pretty cheap, and i use it for filtration, algae cleaning, and keeping plants moist when im working on a project and need to take a break. It clogs fast in filters so i dont use it in HOBs anymore, just box filters, but its cheap and versatile.

Towels: (always have a towel)

For cleaning up spills

Disposable Plastic Table Cloth:

I usually have one of these in front of my tank when im doing tank work as it keeps water from getting onto the floor and causing damage.

Edited October 2, 2023 by GoofyGarra

[VariegatedReticulated]

OH, I didn't think of using pillow stuffing to clean algae. Genius! I always have too much of it. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 10/2/2023 at 1:16 PM, VariegatedReticulated said:

OH, I didn't think of using pillow stuffing to clean algae. Genius! I always have too much of it. 

it works for soft alages like brown and green diatoms, not too effective against green spot algae though.