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Pet Supplies Up to 60% Off • Experience Everything Pets for Less Catnip and Cat Grass Cat Beds and Furniture Cat Flea and Tick Whisper 60 Aquarium Air Pump - Up to 60 gal. Chemi-Pure Aquarium Filter Media - 10 oz. - 6 pk. Emerald Crab - Mithraculus sculptus API Stress Coat + - 64 oz. Current Satellite PRO LED 48-60 in. Go to Amazon.co.uk's Home Page Something that every aquarist should already understand: Don't buy fish or invertebrates which are not compatible with what's already in your tank (Something will die).Some critters just don't play well together. Not in the wild, not in your tank. That cute little Triggerfish in the LFS's tank will eventually grow up to eat all of the snails and hermit crabs in your tank. Do the research before you buy. It just seems like common sense: Don't buy sick livestock (anything less that perfect). It will probably die.Even if the LFS guy (or gal) tells you "it will probably be O.K." and offers you 10% off that Yellow Tang that has signs of ich, burnt fins, and cloudy eyes, don't buy it!
If it was "probably going to O.K.", the LFS would hang onto it, heal it up and sell it for full price.If you take a sick fish home, you are just inserting another problem into your tank or you... Don't buy corals that are above your experience level. It is easy to spend a small fortune on even just a few corals. Why buy something that that is beyond your current experience level? If you are just starting out, it is probably best to stay with easy corals until you gain the experience and confidence to move on to the more challenging corals. Do the research before you buy, take it slow and you will save a lot of money. Adam Wimsatt/Flickr/Attribution 2.0 Generic Buy quality equipment whenever possible. The cheap stuff is usually cheap for a reason (lower quality materials and construction). When you are just starting out in this hobby (or even if you have been in it for a while), the cost of almost everything can be jaw-dropping. The temptation is to save a few bucks and buy a cheaper piece of equipment.
You might have to pay half again as much for a quality heater over the bottom line heater, but it will last 3 times as long.Read product reviews before... Tappinen/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0 If you want to save some serious money: do-it-yourself.
cheap way to light a fish tankWhether it is cleaning your own tank or building your own tank.
cheap small goldfish tankIt might seem like a lot of hassle, but building you own custom tank cabinet, your own custom tank or even assembling and installing a DIY auto top off system not only saves some serious money, but it allows you to make your aquarium system "yours," with your own personal stamp on it.
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Bill Boch/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images Instead of doing repetitive water changes to reduce nitrates, think about using the "vodka (or ethanol) method to reduce nitrates. A pint of cheap vodka (or a bottle of ethanol from your local drug store) costs less than sea salts and it is a lot easier to squirt 5 ml of vodka into your tank twice per week that it is to do a water change.
saltwater fish tank start up cost When you have determined which fish, invertebrate, coral, or piece of equipment you are going to buy, shop around. Whether it is aquarium equipment or aquarium products, if you are shopping online, don't forget to look at the shipping charges. Buying from your LFS might end up being cheaper. Marineland Reef Capable LED Lighting System. For long term money saving, take a serious look at LED Lighting on Your Reef Tank. The initial outlay is more than "conventional lights", but the payback can be huge over time!
Take a few minutes to do the math to see how much you can save. For example: The Marineland Reef Capable LED Lighting System fixture (for a 48" - 60" tank) has a total of 48 1 watt 10000K LED's, plus 8 1 watt 460nm (blue) LEDs for a total of 56 watts. Compare that to what you have on your tank now and... Moto "Club4AG" Miwa/Flickr/Attribution 2.0 Generics Some fantastic deals on aquarium equipment and aquarium complete systems can be found at garage sales and in the classified ads in your local newspaper. You might have to patient, but there are people out there who just want to get rid of that aquarium that's been taking up room in the garage or back room for a long time.People who are moving often don't want to hassle with moving a tank, also. Not long ago, I saw a 100g complete reef system sell for $100. Keep your eyes open.Show All ItemsOR COMPLETE BEGINNER'S guide to using a cheap and simple filtration system to maintain good water quality in a small (less than 5 gal) aquarium or fishbowl.
Introducing a cheap (around $4) small tank filter called "Discard-A-Filter" (I'd say one of these is good for an aquarium of up to 2 gallons. Use two and you could probably go up to 5 gallons. Note that you need an air pump to operate it, but these can also be quite cheap and you only need one, even to run two of these filters.) The filter is so cheap because the manufacturer expects you to just toss it in the trash every month and buy a new one (which would actually end up costing you quite a bit over the life of your fish). However, and this is not because I'm so eco-conscious (I'm reasonable: I don't go overboard, but do try to limit unneccessary waste when I can), the idea of just chucking a relatively large, sturdily manufactured object just rubs me the wrong way. It doesn't help that I happen to know that the only thing about the filter that stops working is the activated charcoal (and a smaller quantity of zeolite, which you can also, optionally, add), which absorbs harmful chemicals from the water -- it's absorbed everything it could, and has to be replaced with a fresh batch, there's no getting around this one.
So, in this instructable I'll show you what you need to do to keep happily and cheaply reusing this filter, as well as improving its function.NOTE:I'm going to be REALLY THOROUGH here and explain every step into the ground. It'll be so easy a caveman can do it ;) If you find that annoying, I'm sorry -- it's my first instructable, and I'm kind of OCD about explaining things... Just skim through and look at the pictures, you'll get the hang of it.AN ASIDE ON SMALL AQUARIUM FILTRATION (skip this stuff if you already know about how filtration systems work)Everything I've read about keeping aquariums always ALWAYS says that a small tank is a bad idea for a beginner (the reason for this is the fact that even a small amount of fish waste can drastically change the water quality when it's dissolved in just a little water, so you need to keep a careful eye on water quality, and understand the factors that affect it). But what if you just want a little fishbowl on your desk (or wherever), and don't feel like sinking over hundred dollars into setting up a respectable size tank (i.e. 10 gallons or more, and believe me, it will add up to that much or more, with tank, stand, hood, filter, air pump, gravel, decor, chemicals, etc).
On the other hand, you don't want to just have a betta death-trap, where you change the water from time to time and hope your fish doesn't die. You can always shell out $30 - $80 on something like the Eclipse Explorer (prettier kinds are on the higher end of that range), and have a relatively complicated setup to clean and maintain to boot. Or you can set up a very simple and very effective filtration system in your existing tank for about $12. However, I must point out that a filter doesn't replace the need for frequent partial water changes. One of the things that came as a surprise to me was the revelation that ALL filters ultimately work simply by creating water movement over filtration media. /wiki/Aquarium#Nitrogen_cycle), and they can absorb toxic chemicals from the water (not all filters do this step, called chemical filtration). There are multiple ways of accomplishing this, and several different choices of each type of media, but the underlying principle is the same.The "Discard-A-Filter" is a type of sponge filter, enhanced with the addition of charcoal and zeolite (these absorb chemicals, while the sponge both filters out large particles as well as serves as a home to bacteria which convert ammonia to nitrates and nitrites).
Despite its uncomplicated construction, a sponge filter is very effective at what it does, as well as very safe for your fish (there's no suction, so babies or injured fish can't get sucked into the filter, or stuck to it). Because the water movement is driven by an air pump (basically, air bubbles displace water as they move up though the filter, and are, in turn, displaced by new water), the water is aerated in addition to being filtered. Also, because there's no moving parts, there's nothing to break (your air pump could still break but that's a separate issue), and, because there's no complex assembly of chambers and reservoirs, there's MUCH less for you to clean and scrub! In fact, this filter is so simple, you could easily make one yourself, just by securing sponge and charcoal over an air bubbler with some kind of mesh -- the only reason I went for the "Discard-A-Filter" in the first place was because it brings everything together in such a small, neat, visually unobjectionable package.
A NOTE ON CHEMICAL FILTRATION:This is not a necessary step, and many filters do not accomplish it at all. Ultimately dissolved chemicals are better controlled by frequent partial water changes, which are necessary whether or not you filter the water at all. However, I find it helpful to have chemical filtration in very small tanks, because it helps keep the levels of dissolved chemicals from fluctuating too wildly.Most common chemical filtration medium is activated carbon (or charcoal). It is very good for absorbing organic impurities (such as proteins, as well as very small particles). It does not directly absorb dissolved inorganic impurities, such as ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites (claims that it keeps these chemicals under control, are not directly false, but misleading: some organic compounds, like proteins, will create nitrates/nitrites when they decompose, so activated carbon helps by removing the organics before that happens). There are other media that do, directly, remove nitrogenous wastes.
Zeolite does this to a limited degree (but be careful, under certain conditions it can release them back into your tank). Products such as Nitra-Zorb, or Seachem Denitrate exist specifically to remove ammonia/nitrates/nitrites, and some of these can even be "recharged" to restore their absorbing properties. When reusing the "Discard-A-Filter" you can choose to improve its filtration abilities by using these products instead, or in conjunction with, the activated charcoal. Regardless of what you decide, keep in mind, you still have to do water changes.Step 1: WHAT YOU NEED:Show All Items To SET UP filtration in a small tank:SMALL Air pump (you WANT a wimpy one, same effectiveness but less noise, also, they are cheap!)Discard-A-Filter cartridge (just use it for the first month)Plastic/silicone tubingOne-way-valve -- I highly recommend getting one: spend a buck or two now to avoid a huge mess and a ruined air pump, plus a possible electric fire.Scissors(Optional, if your chosen tank doesn't have a straight vertical wall) Superglue.