Cheap Things To Use In A Fish Tank

As a spin-off from another thread, I thought it might be useful if we all posted everyday things we use for our hobby. It could be things we find useful, it could be things that are cheaper and just as good as 'proper' aquarium items.


Plastic tubs always come in handy. For small ones, yoghurt or other single portion dessert containers. For middling sizes, butter/butter substitute containers. Large ones - ice cream tubs.

Algae scrapers - plastic pan scourers (make sure there is no detergent added). For corners, toothbrushes. For stubborn algae on glass - labels from bedding plants, the rectangular kind with a nice flat edge. But always use new pan scourers or toothbrushes to avoid contamination with washing up liquid or toothpaste.

Tweezers - ideal for removing the end of the cotton bud that has fallen off when cleaning the impeller well. And for getting the impeller out to clean it - one of mine is held so tightly I've broken the shaft trying to get it out with my fingers.

For those of you with nerite snails - something very long and thin to turn them over when they turn upside down without getting your hands wet. I use a piece of catenary wire left from my husband and son's old model railway.




Add your own ideas 

When I tiled the kitchen and bathroom, I had to use J cloths    (yes, I tiled them not my husband  )


If someone is coming in to feed the fish when you are on holiday, get one of those pill dispensers with a compartment for each day. Put a day's-worth of food in each compartment and just ask your friend to empty the relevant compartment into your tank. If you are away for 2 weeks, buy 2.

If you don't trust the friend, hide the food tubs so they can't give the fish more than you've measured out.

Try an old herb or spice jar with blanched lettuce in . Leave the flip up side with small holes open and attach a cord to the neck. I caught 12 on the first go. Snails your days are numbered!

Here's a link (well actually, just here) that is an index of YouTube DIY tips from levelling an aquarium to building your own aquarium and stand and filter etc etc.

Polyethylene pipe is incredibly resistant, dirt cheap, made for marine environments and is the mainstay in the food aquaculture industry - so it's totally safe for fish and plants. You can do anything with it, from cutting it up, sanding it and making it into ornaments, all the way to making complex piping systems for air and water delivery systems. I have made ornaments for friends in the past by getting some pipe of the right shape, cutting it, sanding it, gluing sand onto the pipe itself (using a thin layer of aquarium silicon), and then sanding the sharp edges down. From there, you just boil it for a few minutes in water, and chuck it in the tank.

I use a wire coat hanger opened up fully and by bending a hook on the end of it I can attach it to my pipe cleaning brush to do the whole length of my external filter pipes (obviously the filter is turned off and the pipes have been detached!)