What's Your Most Useful Non-aquarium Tool (for Aquarium Use)?

[coralbandit]

I use 5 g bucket paint strainers as breeder nets .


^^ I have added a small sponge filter to under it so fresh clean water is lifted into the net ^^
I also use terracotta pots /trays and roofing slates for my fish to lay eggs on.

 

[bitseriously]

I use 5 g bucket paint strainers as breeder nets .

I never knew there was such a thing, that’s awesome!! Non-aquarium plus an add-on diy. So do you float these in a larger tank, and is the bottom sponge fed by simple air line?

Chopsticks seems to be a winner, for many.

 

[coralbandit]

Yea the strainer is from Sherwin Williams [$6] and the sponge filter is an AquaTop CAF10 [$3].
They fit perfect in/on 12 inch wide tanks or you can float them in larger tanks by wrapping the rI'm with backer rod [foam rope /cheap] .The strainer can be used without filter just like any other breeder net .They really are great for livebearer fry or egg layers after first 2-3 weeks. The net is 600 micron I believe so tiny fry can get out .
I poked the hole in strainer and inserted filter. The CAF 10 is a highly un recognized tool IMO .a small sponge unit driven by air that has bio media[gravel] to help hold it in place as a weight. Did I mention cheap and small.

They are good "fool/full proof " duckweed floating plant corral also .

 

[Lucus Tate]

I haven't used it yet, but this hand pump siphon will hopefully make adding water back to my tank with a 5 gal bucket much easier and less disruptive to my fish and plants.

You guys and some great ingenuity!

 

[Ronniethewitch]

my garlic press. it has tiny holes to force food through. I put all the veg (peas, garlic, cucumber etc) that I feed them through the press and hey presto! food is small enough for them to eat. if I have to cut it up there are always large chunks that sit at the bottom of the tank to cause problems -but when it is small enough to eat in a single bite then nothing gets a chance to land on the bottom.

 

[LuxuriantTen]

I use plastic storage boxes as breeding tanks. As for a filter I just use a very small one, put within a ice tea bottle to get the correct flow!

 

[Bob_STL]

Syringes !! - especially insulin syringe for measuring Prime water conditioner. I only have a 10 gallon tank so my weehly water changes are only about 2 gallons & need 2/10 of milliliter of product.

 

[schmath]

I love this colander. I lay it across my tank before I pour water in and it disperses the water like gentle rain instead of a heavy stream that kicks up debris and messes with the scape.

 

[Kai Carlow]

I use a saucer (that you typically use to catch water beneath plant pots, not sure if saucer is the right word?) I cut a hole in it, put a suction cup through the hole and stick it to the side at the top, with some surface plants over the top as a nice little surface-den for my african clawed frogs! They totally love it gives them something to hold on to at the top of the tank but also have cover from the light.

 

[LoveMyFish77]

I use a 3 ml syringe from my nursing supplies when measuring things to add to the water or when withdrawing 5 ml of water for water testing. It's very helpful for being precise.

 

[logqnty]

The towels I just used to clean up the 5 gal bucket I spilled on the floor.

 

[Tol]

Plastic syringe that comes with children's medicine. Useful for dosing prime and ferts. Drawing water for testing. I also use one to feed bloodworms to my frogs.

 

[bitseriously]

The towels I just used to clean up the 5 gal bucket I spilled on the floor.

I have a dog who gets forest walks every day, so we have a ton of dog towels, and they do heroic duty around my tanks. During changes, there’s on in the floor, one on the table, and one on my shoulder.

 

[walkamile07]

The wife's tupperware when she's not looking. Check a fish for disease up close, check. Grab a catfish that you don't want tangled in a net, got it covered. Saltwater tank needs ato filled, no problem. Need to dip a coral, consider it done! ...

She hasn't used it in years but I still have to be in stealth mode, if I got caught I would never hear the end of it.

 

[FergusDaFish]

I found two extendable hot dog forks (meant to cook dogs over the camp fire) that I use for stuff. I altered one to be the extender arm of my air pump vacuum and I current have a plastic fork taped to the other so I can comb through substrate if it needs to be stirred, rearranged or beautified. Literally one of the best finds I have because I can extend it just a little for my small tank or a lot for my bigger one and use the same tool at a comfortable length.

I found a deep fryer spoon (wide, flat, screened) that I use to sift stuff out of my sand substrate.

Then the typical turkey baster, thread, colander, buckets, eye droppers, etc.

Every time I stop by Good Will I make a stop in their utensil aisle and see if there are any useful looking spoons, screens, sticks or measuring implements for the tanks.

 

[SteveK3586]

1ml & 5ml syringes, my wife uses a lot of medication and I always get a fresh syringe with each prescription whether she needs it or not (she has a habit of losing them), any that are spare are great for drawing test water or for adding dechlorinator etc. Clear plastic tubing from the diy store, about 16mm diameter holds led light strips great - you can fit a few in each. Seal both ends with fish safe aquarium sealant and you can submerse them in the actual tank and make some great lighting effects with different colours for basic decorative community type tanks.
Normally closed solenoid switches for various car windscreen wiper type things from the autoparts store, with connect it to a 12v converter (eBay for less than a couple of £) mounted on a stand and you've got an electrically activated venturI system for less than £5.

 

[Bacalaotropic]

A fork, for holding my CAEs slice of zucchinI down.

 

[richiep]

My wife the little marvel she makes me tea while I do water changes on 11 tanks

 

[Btcapri00]

I would have to say plastic pot scrubbers. I use them for a complete DIY pickle jar filter for my deck pond and they do wonders. So much surface area for all the bacteria. And that's another one! PLASTIC PICKLE JARS make great filters. I use a large pump that used to be used for a small in ground pond and used a 2 1/2 inch piece of garden hose to stick into the intake of the pump then a hole in the side of the jar and I filled it up full of all different media. Left over filter media from my aqua clears, filter socks, and pot scrubbers. Then I drilled a bunch of holes in the lid of the jar and it makes for a fantastic filter!

 

[Jack B Nimble]

1 gallon milk containers, when cut as pictured its very sturdy when using the handle.

Top use: Cleaning sponges!
I found myself cleaning sponges in the water drained into a 5 gallon bucket couldn't get all the gunk out because the whole volume of water was instantly contaminated.
Now I use the milk jug scoop out .5 gallon (fits into 5 gallon bucket easily) squeeze sponge in there, dump into another 5 gallon bucket and repeat.

Other: Fish moving/ acclimation ect, small water transfer
Net /wet stuff storage

Maybe: small fish breeding rack tanks?


View attachment 531565

Lol that's exactly how I cut the milk jug to hold my bio waterfall on my tank.

 

[Nerium]

I use an egg cup to put frozen peas in and splash hot water on them to thaw them for the goldfish .... actually an egg cup is my go to for all fish food operations like that, hahah. Rarely get used for eggs!

Long reptile feeding tongs! I got them to feed some axolotls that I rehomed on to a friend and forgot to give them to her - now I find them great for all those tank-reaching situations where you don't wanna get your whole arm wet.

I'm another dog towel and plastic dish scrub user haha. Also for buckets, these flexible ones?

Originally used to use them as feed bowls for horses but can't recommend them more highly for water changes as you can hold both handles in one hand to carry and this closes the bucket a bit for less splashing, they're gentle on your legs to walk with,and they naturally form into a pouring spout to tip into the tank or wherever else.

Now I wanna know if anyone has any crafty items they use to clean the inside of the little test tubes for the API liquid water test kit!

 

[Frisbee]

View attachment 531348

Straws! lol use it in all my tanks, I use them as feeding rings and also my bettas love building bubbles nest in it.

Great idea, unless your in California, then you would be a criminal if you did that.

P.S. yea, my grandma has an operation, she smuggles them across the border, don't tell anyone.

 

[Michael.j.gomez]

Hello, I use a rubber baby's nasal bulb(say that 3×fast)for water tests & one to feed cory fry in breeding net(I desolve shrimp pellet in tank water). Hope this helps!

 

[Fishcat]

If you are careful when buying your turkey baster, it comes with a little brush that is perfect for scrubbing test tubes.

 

[Triggerman]

My Bunn coffee maker I use it to warm up my water for water changes

 

[Donnerjay]

A shot glass. Use it with a "shot" of tank water to thaw small pieces of frozen brine shrimp (or other frozen fish foods) so you don't use an entire cube when not necessary.

 

[mattgirl]

I use the wand off a minI blind for holding down Elberts zucchinI and for putting freeze dried blood worms in a piece of netting wrapped around the end of it to feed my assassin snails. Corys love it too so the assassins have hurry as fast as a snail can hurry to get their share. For those that don't know...that is Elbert over there in my avatar

 

[bitseriously]

Now I wanna know if anyone has any crafty items they use to clean the inside of the little test tubes for the API liquid water test kit!

Running water, air dry.
Imagine there is, say, nitrate in your tap water, at (let’s go relatively high) 40 ppm. That nitrate could contaminate your next sample in that vial, but at literally 100ths of the concentration of what you’re measuring. So 20ppm in your next test might be 20.25ppm due to the contamination. Negligible and irrelevant, IMO.

I use the wand off a minI blind for holding down Elberts zucchinI and for putting freeze dried blood worms in a piece of netting wrapped around the end of it to feed my assassin snails. Corys love it too so the assassins have hurry as fast as a snail can hurry to get their share. For those that don't know...that is Elbert over there in my avatar

TWO great tips here. I like that the rod is long enough to place and retrieve without getting into tank, and the net idea is great also! Can you shaper pics next time?

I’m deviating somewhat from my original question, but I mince/mash a single frozen uncooked shrimp from the grocery, and distribute into portions in ice cube tray, then bag the frozen cubes for extended storage/use.

 

[mattgirl]

TWO great tips here. I like that the rod is long enough to place and retrieve without getting into tank, and the net idea is great also! Can you shaper pics next time?

Thank you. I will see if I can get my camera to work but it is attached to a very old flip phone and I've not figured out how to get the photos from phone to computer

I just cut a piece of netting with fairly large holes in a circle about 4 inches across. When it's time to bait it I get it wet with some tank water. I sprinkle the blood worms in the center of it and drop on a bit more water to get the worms to stick to the net. Place the end of the wand in the middle, pull the sides up and wrap a rubber band around it to hold it in place. The snails and corys are able to pull the worms through the holes.

 

[Nerium]

Running water, air dry.
Imagine there is, say, nitrate in your tap water, at (let’s go relatively high) 40 ppm. That nitrate could contaminate your next sample in that vial, but at literally 100ths of the concentration of what you’re measuring. So 20ppm in your next test might be 20.25ppm due to the contamination. Negligible and irrelevant, IMO.

A good point and thank you, though that's not what I'm actually trying to clean - I have a bad habit of walking away and forgetting the tests for a while and after years of use I have a number of tubes with colored residue from the test chemicals inside ... a very small pipe cleaner gets most of it but not the very end and it bugs me!! II' prolly gonna try something like a bit of sponge stuck on something but I just wondered if someone had found, I dunno, a baby's nose cleaning gidget or obscure cooking utensil #325 that just happened to be perfect for the job

 

[Bryangar]

I use hand soap to clean my tanks. It gets them squeaky clean

 

[DarkOne]

I use hand soap to clean my tanks. It gets them squeaky clean

Dawn blue dish soap is the best for cleaning if you need soap for aquarium stuff.

 

[Ronniethewitch]

Had a parasite scare awhile ago. Broke my tank down and to clean things from/in the tank I used my steam cleaner- no chemicals at all... kills bacteria AND parasites immediately. At the same time as breaking the tank down I was treating all the tank inhabitants in a smaller bucket-requiring less medication, so that when I returned them to their fresh tank they didn't bring anything back with them. I did have to recycle the tank but its been two months now without sign of any issues and has done the trick.

 

[Nick72]

Plastic Mesh Fencing

I've just lost three of the nine Red Eyed Tetra that I bought last Friday.

I really didn't think they would jump ☹️

Strange thing is they all jumped somewhere between 1am and 7am, when the lights were out and they should have been sleeping.

Just Implemented this $5 emergency overnight cover. Took all of 10 minutes to cut to size.





It's not 100% but I'm fairly convinced it will stop any more from jumping.

 

[H2O Concierge]

My computer. I can learn more in one day than I would have in the "old days" with a week at the library. For the more conventional answer... Medical hemostats, syringes and eye droppers

I use an egg cup to put frozen peas in and splash hot water on them to thaw them for the goldfish .... actually an egg cup is my go to for all fish food operations like that, hahah. Rarely get used for eggs!

Long reptile feeding tongs! I got them to feed some axolotls that I rehomed on to a friend and forgot to give them to her - now I find them great for all those tank-reaching situations where you don't wanna get your whole arm wet.

I'm another dog towel and plastic dish scrub user haha. Also for buckets, these flexible ones?

Originally used to use them as feed bowls for horses but can't recommend them more highly for water changes as you can hold both handles in one hand to carry and this closes the bucket a bit for less splashing, they're gentle on your legs to walk with,and they naturally form into a pouring spout to tip into the tank or wherever else.

Now I wanna know if anyone has any crafty items they use to clean the inside of the little test tubes for the API liquid water test kit!

I found an assorted sizes of bottle brushes at Freight Harbour. Use distilled water to rinse tubes. Sorry for the size of the picture.


9 Pc Tube/Pipe Nylon Brush Set

Item#90631

 

[FergusDaFish]

Hello, I use a rubber baby's nasal bulb(say that 3×fast)for water tests

You have a rubber baby?

Plastic Mesh Fencing
Just Implemented this $5 emergency overnight cover. Took all of 10 minutes to cut to size.

It's not 100% but I'm fairly convinced it will stop any more from jumping.

I need to do that to keep my cat from sticking his face between the light and the opening in the cover and drinking out of the tank. Took me weeks to figure out why that tank was losing water so quickly!

 

[DarkOne]

Flashlights.

I have an Olight S10 and a Braun 390 lumen light bar from Harbor Freight. The S10 is old but has a magnetic base so great for my metal shelving. It runs on a CR123a battery but I use a rechargeable. The Braun also has a magnetic base but it's a bit bigger. It's rechargeable (uses a 18650 battery) via MicroUSB.

390 Lumen Magnetic SlI'm Bar Folding LED Work Light
$40 but often goes on sale for $20. They sell pretty fast when it's on sale so it took a few months for me to get a 2nd (and 3rd) one. The 3rd is still in its packaging as a backup.

 

[LizP]

I use a brush that you use to clean out straws, they are bendable to get into areas that are hard to get the gunk out of filters when they are clogging etc.

 

[Biff]

A digital meat thermometer. My fish appreciate the exact same water temperature pouring into their tanks.

 

[angelcraze]

I use hand soap to clean my tanks. It gets them squeaky clean

I legit thought soap was a no no for aquariums. Then I read a drop of Dawn is great for removing dust from sand. What do you use soap on pls?

 

[Bryangar]

I legit thought soap was a no no for aquariums. Then I read a drop of Dawn is great for removing dust from sand. What do you use soap on pls?

I was kidding oops

 

[richiep]

Siphon tubes I rigged up at varying lengths for tank depths, great for spot cleaning, removing hard to get shrimp safely

 

[Michael.j.gomez]

Plastic pot scrubbers in filter for added bacteria!

 

[MomeWrath]

Plastic pot scrubbers in filter for added bacteria!View attachment 535001

Those are great, and not to deviate from the thread, but it looks like you've got a ton of water flowing right back out the front by your intake tube and not getting filtered. Just something I noticed. Maybe too much of a good thing going in there? *shrug*

 

[Michael.j.gomez]

Those are great, and not to deviate from the thread, but it looks like you've got a ton of water flowing right back out the front by your intake tube and not getting filtered. Just something I noticed. Maybe too much of a good thing going in there? *shrug*

Yeah good eye, needs cleaning. Moving 6 tanks tomorrow(5-55gal). Can wait. Starting new maintenance schedule.

 

[bitseriously]

Does anyone have a trick for cleaning the bendy part of the aquaclear filter intake tubes? I have a bendy hose brush (1” brush that swivels and bends on a long flexy plastic line), but it’s mediocre at best.

 

[WTFish?]

Does anyone have a trick for cleaning the bendy part of the aquaclear filter intake tubes? I have a bendy hose brush (1” brush that swivels and bends on a long flexy plastic line), but it’s mediocre at best.

Same here, I have that too but it’s a pain! And it’s like 5’ Long!

 

[BRP]

A plastic old (credit) card, member card or what ever.

You can clean the glass with them without scratching it. Als you can remove the sand/small gravel from the glass to clean the glass near the bottom of the tank.

Move the card from the top to bottom. Except for green spot algae the algae come off easily.

 

[H2O Concierge]

Plastic pot scrubbers in filter for added bacteria!View attachment 535001

To reduce overflow (unfiltered water) I decrease flow in my HOB. It also helps because with some media (like Seachem Matrix) needs a flow rate below 50gph for the BB to grow properly.

 

[goldface]

Dish soap for cleaning. It worked great for cleaning the oily residue off my Black Diamond Blasting Sand. Years ago, I used it to clean old aquariums as well.