[boxboy]

POOR MANS Aquarium!

Who says you need money to start a new tank?

Show me the worst/Cheapest/DIY anything you made/built/used related to this hobby! Post em up!
I wanna see Outright Supid, Crazy, borderline controversial, cheap, lazy, super getto, hardcore nuts and down right dangerous failures and success from our fishy hobby!!!

Show us what ya got, we have ZERO shame here!

 

[PlantedRich]

I like your thinking!
But then I rarely take pictures of the WORST stuff I try. And then how do we want to define worst? Worst looking but still works great or best looking but worst working?
I've rigged some really crude things that I could not buy but found they worked. I would admit that my current lighting and equipment under my canopy may be among the worst looking around. But then I like it because it is cheap and does work, providing all I want from it.
My lighting is a rejected Sears shoplight combined with a string of CFL on an extention cord for phased lighting.

My tank brace is nothing much to look at, either.

But then it looks good enough and I get good light. For a hundred dollar 125 gallon tank, I'm happy!

 

[twentypoundtabby]

Probably the cheapest kluge I've done is take a non-working light strip for a 29 gallon, gut it, line it with reflective metal tape and put two double incandescent fixtures in it so I can use 4 compact fluorescent bulbs in it.
Or maybe it's putting my two small tanks on my plant stand so I can just use the shop light to light them.

 

[AquaAurora]

Look forward to seeing peoples photos here, don't have one atm but got a black bin that is the driftwood soaking 'tank' which also has a colony of pond snails.. they've turned black like the bin so impossible to get a photo of them in there.
Have a nearly finished aquaponics NFT system set up (basically glorified pvc with holes to shove plants in and hang above a tank have water from canister pump through it and dump out into said tank) will post photos once it up... though I wouldn't call it ugly just practical price range(under $40 for everything vrs couple hundred $ for some fancy pants pre-made system). Made with the help of my hubby (I provided details of what it needs to be/do, he figured out and assembled the parts).
Also going to be making (with a LOT of help from the hubby again) 2 DIY light fixtures using cfl bubls, and 2 DIY inline heaters with eheim jagars and eheim 2211 cansiter filters (more pvc fun here).

edit: oh wait, I do have one I can show:
diy light stand for 10g light 'hood' (old photo now, lot more plants)

aluminum bars, touch of welding, several holes drilled in each piece for height change, and a screw and wing nut on each side of light. Another done by the hubby per my request for an adjustable light ^^ No cost, had all parts laying around the house.

 

[boxboy]

PlantedRich: I love that center brace, its sorta nuts and this is why its awesome.
Great looking eatting area too, Thumps Up!

Also edited the first post as to what we all wanna see from people here.

 

[boxboy]

Probably the cheapest kluge I've done is take a non-working light strip for a 29 gallon, gut it, line it with reflective metal tape and put two double incandescent fixtures in it so I can use 4 compact fluorescent bulbs in it.
Or maybe it's putting my two small tanks on my plant stand so I can just use the shop light to light them.

Ya gotta post a photo of this, its like a right of passage Or go build something just for the hell of it and when your family says "your nuts" come back and post some photos. I will give you a Thumbs Up!

 

[boxboy]

Look forward to seeing peoples photos here, don't have one atm but got a black bin that is the driftwood soaking 'tank' which also has a colony of pond snails.. they've turned black like the bin so impossible to get a photo of them in there.
Have a nearly finished aquaponics NFT system set up (basically glorified pvc with holes to shove plants in and hang above a tank have water from canister pump through it and dump out into said tank) will post photos once it up... though I wouldn't call it ugly just practical price range(under $40 for everything vrs couple hundred $ for some fancy pants pre-made system). Made with the help of my hubby (I provided details of what it needs to be/do, he figured out and assembled the parts).
Also going to be making (with a LOT of help from the hubby again) 2 DIY light fixtures using cfl bubls, and 2 DIY inline heaters with eheim jagars and eheim 2211 cansiter filters (more pvc fun here).

edit: oh wait, I do have one I can show:
diy light stand for 10g light 'hood' (old photo now, lot more plants)

aluminum bars, touch of welding, several holes drilled in each piece for height change, and a screw and wing nut on each side of light. Another done by the hubby per my request for an adjustable light ^^ No cost, had all parts laying around the house.

Im waiting with my thumbs crossed to see this $40 plant contracption, in the meantime you get a Thumbs Up! for building a slick looking light system.

 

[AquaAurora]

Im waiting with my thumbs crossed to see this $40 plant contracption, in the meantime you get a Thumbs Up! for building a slick looking light system.

Hoping to have it up this weekend if all goes well.

 

[lksdrinker]

Does the standard rubbermaid tub as a temporary aquarium fit the bill?

 

[AquaAurora]

I'd think so, though the inevitable bowing of the rubbermaid and other plastic containers always makes me nervous personally (don't mean that as a negative thing.. they just scare me lol).

 

[lksdrinker]

I'd think so, though the inevitable bowing of the rubbermaid and other plastic containers always makes me nervous personally (don't mean that as a negative thing.. they just scare me lol).

I agree. That was a very temporary situation while setting up a new tank; but it worked like a charm for a few days!

Unfortunately I rarely ever take photos of anything I've done/made that I consider stupid or a failure!

 

[0live]

POOR MANS Aquarium! No Shame here!

Here's the tank/cheeseball jar I was handed when I showed up to the NEC convention and show empty handed. I was asked to put something together for the planted tank class for the show in less than 24 hours.

I took 2nd out of 3 entries.

 

[cjipping]

Kiddie pools tucked into attic window nooks in old apartment. Useless space for anything else.











Grew Moss, Cherry shrimp, and guppies like a boss. No waterchanges and heater was set at the very lowest setting. Just dumped in more water when it got low enough the sponges stopped working.

Only problem was explaining to new guests why there were kiddie pools all over the place and dealing with that all-to-common "you're crazy" look. The best part was when the landlord did an open house to sell the house. I am quite sure a few of my potential landlords thought I was growing pot.

 

[boxboy]

Cjipping: For use of a useless space and a kids pool, while making your landlord roll his eyes and making me choke on my coffee. I award you the rank of:

Here's the tank/cheeseball jar I was handed when I showed up to the NEC convention and show empty handed. I was asked to put something together for the planted tank class for the show in less than 24 hours.

I took 2nd out of 3 entries.

Olive: For great quick thinking and for showing us mason jars are not just for jam...
I award you the badge of:

Does the standard rubbermaid tub as a temporary aquarium fit the bill?

For bending the laws of your fishes world and thinking outside the box, I award you this badge:

 

[Bandit1200]

Does the standard rubbermaid tub as a temporary aquarium fit the bill?

Only if you plug in that heater...

 

[lksdrinker]

For bending the laws of your fishes world and thinking outside the box, I award you this badge:

Sweet! I feel so humbled.


...and I promise the heater was plugged in no matter what the picture looks like!

 

[Italionstallion888]

My method of diffusion

This is an old pic, the moss has covered the ss. It catches the co2 bubbles. The hob passes through the moss putting the bubbles back into the water. The water enters the tank with almost zero splash. Im rather pleased with myself on this one lol
Water line is low for the photo.

Works like a champ though.

 

[hedge_fund]

cjipping,

that is an awesome kiddie pool setup...I love it!

 

[gSTiTcH]

Kiddie pools tucked into attic window nooks in old apartment. Useless space for anything else.











Grew Moss, Cherry shrimp, and guppies like a boss. No waterchanges and heater was set at the very lowest setting. Just dumped in more water when it got low enough the sponges stopped working.

Only problem was explaining to new guests why there were kiddie pools all over the place and dealing with that all-to-common "you're crazy" look. The best part was when the landlord did an open house to sell the house. I am quite sure a few of my potential landlords thought I was growing pot.

MAJOR points for the Bacardi handle bottle being used as a cord retainer.

 

[TekWarren]

I raised fry from eggs collected from my back yard pond in this pool last summer. Pool was under $10 and holds a couple hundred gallons if I remember right. This pic is just after filling. I was hoping I had a picture of my filter that I made. Imagine a kitchen type trash bin sitting in the pool with a couple big rocks to hold it down and full of sponges. I used a cheap harbor freight pump, some clear hose and section of PVC to pump the water to the bottom of the bin and then the water flowed out of some holes I drilled higher up on the bin. -Worked awesome.