Useful items to save those $$$$;

[DominicJ]

Beware false economy

Getting your water checked "free" at a local LFS is probably a false economy.
You can get 130 ammonia test for £10 at P@H, probably less elsewhere.
7.7p a test.
How much does it cost to get to the shop that will do your test?
Mines a good 4 miles each way, I get about 10 miles from a litre of petrol in my car, so 90p, plus the hassle of driving there.

[Mick]

Very good point

[POS_miniracer]

Not to mention that when buying fish your water will almost always test fine but the same water will show poor results when trying to return a fish under warranty. In other words usually the knuckleheads at most shops either don't have a clue or just tell you what you need to hear.

[DominicJ]

Insulating your tank.
After a rather shocking electricity bill (3x the last pre fish/snake one) I've been "insulating" my tank. It has two fleece throws over it all the time (£2 each from Tesco) and If I remember I throw a snuggie over it at bed time as well.
Obviously its hard to judge exactly how much electricity its saving, but it is 4-8 degress above heater point when I go to bed, just from being next to a radiator.

I was considering plumbing it into my central heating system, but thats probably quite insane.

[xbeckieboox]

I live in a flat and I save the 3ltr juice botles for doing water changes/gravel vacs.I used to use a bucket but it usually sloshed over the side..plus the bottles have handles so easy to carry.
My lid of my juwel tank has slot of algae growing on it and I used to scrape it off and throw it away.Now i scrape a chunk off (its quite thick above the lights) and put it in my shrimp tank.They love it, i no longer buy algae tablets.

[Mick]

Good tip about the algae, that should save some money for others

[mr pops]

Excellent post very helpful many thanks

[weirdartist]

I thought I would mention freecycle, if you search for freecycle in your area/surrounding areas, you can often find people desperate to get rid of old tanks before they move, or people who have thousands of baby guppes! You will often need to collect items, but if you are saving the cost of a tank/fish, it usually works out much better. Its very much chance what you find, and you have to be quick to phone/email the giver, but sometimes things are in a very reasonable condition. One of my best (non-fishy) finds was an inversion table that would have cost around 300 new.

[Mick]

Here's another tip to save the pennies and I cam across it by accident. Due to the fact that I have to leave the lighting on for longer than I would llike to promote algal growth on the rocks, it also causes a problem with algal growth on the tank glass. I have been keeping up with this by scrubbing and it takes time. Was looking at the steel bladed scrapers availalble for aquariums but they do not come cheap, anyway was sorting through my decorating gear today and came across my old plastic window scraper, cost me pennies so my brain kicked in (it does sometimes ), tried it on the back glass very carefully to make sure it wouldn't scratch and hey ho it worked a treat, I cleared all of the algae from the tank in less than 15 mins ( it had built up since the holiday), without a scratch in sight.
Added bonus was as fast as the algae was dropping from the glass, the fish were eating it so free food for the fish

Checked out the prices at Homebase, new ones are still only just over a pound and stanley blades are not expensive, just one word of warning, as with all bladed scrapers be very careful near the seals on the aquarium!!

[weirdartist]

cheap fish from a reliable source - If you have a very good lfs, they will often take in sick fish and heal them all up, if said fish end up with scarring or are much older than when they are usually sold, they will often be given to you for significantly less money than they were 'new'. Just ensure they are disease free and have been quarantined (might be worth quarantining them yourself as well if you are putting them in a community tank).