Re: NANFA-L-- Frugal fish transporting and keeping - cheap

Derek Parr (derekparr-in-earthlink.net)
Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:52:29 -0400

my turn ;]

My favorite bigtime money saver is using a layer of red clay from the
yard instead of laterite covered with sand/gravel from a nearby creek
(heavily rinsed and hosed off) for all my tank's substrate. It is free,
isn't that much trouble to rinse and works really well. And as a bonus,
I occasionally get some asian clams crawling around afterwords. For the
one or two tanks I have that aren't planted I leave out the clay. I
prefer using fertilization instead of a soil layer.

Of course, one can't exagerate the importance of supporting your local
fish club. I get a lot of great stuff for very little by donating to
the club at the monthly raffles. And all of the stuff is completely
free in my mind, since I want to support my club anyways.

As for filter media for those cheap hang on the side filters, I just jam
nearly any porous non-toxic material into them.. bio balls, filter
floss, sponges, etc. maybe strip the old padding off the plastic of the
filter pad that came with it and tie the floss/sponge on to it to keep
it from flowing in to the tank.

Also, battery operated air pumps for fish transport are much cheaper at
bait stores than at aquarium stores.

Of course, I don't see the point of buying driftwood... I mean, shoot,
the stuff grows on trees! ;]

The rest of my little tricks that I can think of are pretty common or
have already been mentioned.

-derek parr
chapel hill, nc
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