Budget Fishkeeping Tip(s)

[PotatoFish]

While reloading Loppy the goldfish's veggie clip feeder, it got me thinking about what tips people have for fishkeeping on a budget. When listening to Cory's livestreams, I hear folks talk about having a tight budget for their fish, so I just wanted to share my one tip and maybe encourage other people to share more. I remember what it was like being in college and not having a whole lot to spend on my Figure 8 Puffer tank.

The veggie clip that I use for the tank is just a plain toothbrush holder I got for super cheap (3 for 1000KRW, roughly 1USD). The ones I just searched for online are way more than that. PLUS, the toothbrush holder is all plastic, with a rubber suction cup. There's no metal. There are no rough edges. The happy face on it doesn't exactly match a "natural" theme though if that is what you're going for.

What budgeting tips do you have?

[The nano tank man]

One money too I know is using snad at hardware stores. At least for me in my area. A 25 pound bag of sand costs 27 bucks! 

[PotatoFish]

30 minutes ago, The nano tank man said:

One money too I know is using snad at hardware stores. At least for me in my area. A 25 pound bag of sand costs 27 bucks! 

That's pretty awesome! I have heard about this too. It can save a fair bit, but if I remember Aquarium Co Op's videos correctly, you may have to do a bit of extra work cleaning it. I think pool sand was another substrate folks used.

OOoo, and rocks at a quarry if you know what you're looking for.

[ange]

As a plant hoarder I trade with locals as often as possible. I've purchased my fair share of plants from ACO and misc people online, but I'd estimate half of my plants were gotten locally through trading trimmings. I've gotten a few mystery plants on the way as well which added to the fun. One of the added benefits here is that plants keep most of their foliage because they were grown submerged in most cases.

[Andy's Fish Den]

5 hours ago, ange said:

As a plant hoarder I trade with locals as often as possible. I've purchased my fair share of plants from ACO and misc people online, but I'd estimate half of my plants were gotten locally through trading trimmings. I've gotten a few mystery plants on the way as well which added to the fun. One of the added benefits here is that plants keep most of their foliage because they were grown submerged in most cases.

I've gotten a lot of my plants this way as well. I highly recommend that when local fish clubs are able to meets again to check your local club out, I have gotten a lot of plants, fish and other stuff for good prices at the meetings and other club activities. Plus, you know that the fish are acclimated to your local water conditions.

[MickS77]

I get a lot of buckets, containers, cleaning brushes, kitchen items all for aquarium maintenance from Dollar Tree.

[ange]

2 hours ago, Andy's Fish Den said:

I've gotten a lot of my plants this way as well. I highly recommend that when local fish clubs are able to meets again to check your local club out, I have gotten a lot of plants, fish and other stuff for good prices at the meetings and other club activities. Plus, you know that the fish are acclimated to your local water conditions.

The nearest fish club for me is almost 2hrs away. I'm just hitting up random people who have fish 😅

[teenage fish]

12 hours ago, The nano tank man said:

One money too I know is using snad at hardware stores. At least for me in my area. A 25 pound bag of sand costs 27 bucks! 

Dang, I can get 60 pounds of sand at my Menards for less than 4 dollars. Where do you shop at?

[Tanked]

My pool sand came from the pool/grill store.  My pea gravel which is the same size as official aquarium gravel came from Home Depot.

If you ask, these places will heavily discount the damaged bags just to get rid of them! 

[H.K.Luterman]

I bought all the big rocks for my 75 at a landscaping place where they charged just a few cents a pound. You can also find bags of rocks at Home Depot for cheap. Black Diamond Blasting Sand is really inexpensive, and is a nice black color. Plastic pot scrubbies make great filter media. The generic versions of the Magic Eraser sponges make cheap algae scrubbers. 

[devind0446]

I think my biggest tip to fish keeping on a tight budget is to spend the money to do it right up front. I have spent way too much  money trying to get away with using a bad light and then having to upgrade lights and get new plants after I killed the first batch. Same thing with getting a good heater so it won't break in a year and making sure you have good enough filtration for whatever you might do in a tank so you don't have to replace it later for a different variation of that tank.

[gardenman]

For a planted tank things like Safe-T-Sorb can be used as a substrate. It's very similar to Fluorite but much cheaper. Sites like e-Bay and Aquabid can often get you nice plants at a good cost. By the time you factor in shipping costs, packaging costs and the like, you're often paying less than a dollar per plant and helping a fellow hobbyist. I tend to look at those sites first when looking for plants these days. They're typically grown submerged so there's less melting. (Assuming you're buying from a fellow hobbyist and not a retailer.) Sponge filters are a cheap and effective means of filtering a tank. The cheaper ones tend to lose airflow over time, but popping apart the bottom section and shortening the nub on the bottom of the air outlet solves that. I like the T-5 shoplights on Amazon for tank lighting these days. You can get them in 6500 K in two and four foot lengths at low costs and can daisy chain them together. (The two foot ones are getting harder to find though.)

The used marketplace is typically way too highly priced for most aquariums and supplies, at least locally. We had a local thrift store that was asking $25 for a bare 10 gallon tank a while back and you could buy one new at Walmart for half that. Waterlily fertilizer tabs are often bigger and cheaper than those sold for aquarium plants, but function as well if not better and are generally fish safe. At Amazon right now 10 API root tabs for aquariums are $6.74, but 25 API Aquatic Plant Food tablets for ponds are $6.79. You'll want to monitor your levels and be cautious using them but the savings can be dramatic. Because they're bigger you may need fewer or wish to break them up into smaller pieces. A bit of experimenting is wise.

Buying common items in bigger quantities can often save you a lot. You don't pay much more for a large spool of airline tubing than a smaller one but you don't need to race out to get more tubing frequently. Rocks are a good thing to pick up at landscapers. Slate is especially handy as it can usually be broken easily and even split into thinner sheets. One piece of slate used as a stepping stone can often supply all the decorative rock you need for an aquarium with some judicious breaking and splitting. Slate was originally sedimentary which means it formed in layers. It's pretty easy to separate back into thinner layers in many cases and you may even find a fossil or two tucked away inside the layers. Just use a thin putty knife and tap along an edge to see if a layer or two will split off. 

[The nano tank man]

10 hours ago, teenage fish said:

Dang, I can get 60 pounds of sand at my Menards for less than 4 dollars. Where do you shop at?

I live in a place is where aparrently sand is a rare find lol. Although my hardware stores have 50 pound bags of sand for 8 dollars. 

[John Martinez]

Regarding BDBS, I've seen pics of rust on aquariums after use. It's not a terribly big deal but this stuff is an industrial product and isn't geared toward keeping creatures alive. If a container of oil or cleaning fluid busted nearby it, the store may not see that as a big deal, livestock definitely will not tolerate that tho. I've seen this specific example at a hardware store where cleaning fluid was leaking into pool filter sand. 

I would say my biggest tip is to be creative. I know I warned against BDBS for not being geared toward aquarium use, but a lot of stuff generally doesn't have to be to be aquarium specific to be used. Examples being if you want a sump, it doesn't have to be an aquarium. You can use a tub, or heck even a bucket. If you use a tub, make sure it can handle the water pushing against the edges. Water is HEAVY, 20 gallons is 160 pounds.

Sometimes DIY isn't the cheapest method, however DIY can often get you exactly what you need and customization options-that can often save money down the road. Filtration with a bucket filter is cheap enough, upgrading is even cheaper as often you can oversize your pump from the beginning and simply dial it up, or replace a pump which is way cheaper than getting a whole new canister filter. 

More on creativity is opening your mind to what you actually need. Get a big tank, but do you go canister or sump? Sump is a fraction of the cost, but provides so much more. You can have it serve as your grow out tank for fry and plants, you can separate bit from your tank and use it as a ready to go hospital or quarantine tank. You can even use it to keep live food if you let snails run wild. A canister is a glorified mechanical filter and media holder. The sump can mechanically filter, bio filter, and so much more. Also, forgot-it can take the evap losses instead of your main tank. Hell it can even make money for you when you stick plant trimmings or fry to grow out and sell. I don't go with baffles and compartments but keep it wide open. 

Edited December 8, 2020 by John Martinez

[Jeff]

Instead of an algae scraper, you can use an old credit card to scrape it.

[Alec2cool]

Lowe's sells a 50lb bag of pea gravel for 3 bucks. If you're not interested in sand or a fan of paying large amounts of cash for "aquarium" gravel, Lowe's is a good way to go.