Question of the Day Hobby Hacks - your best tips, tricks and time-savers!

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If you've been in the aquarium hobby for a while, I'm sure you've created or picked up so valuable hacks that fall into the tips, tricks and time-savers categories. So, in an effort to compile and share them, let's post them here.

This site is about sharing knowledge and experiences so don't be shy, no hack is too small or silly.

Please post yours.

Seth Meyers Tips GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers
 
I'll start. This is one that I know is out there and known but it's good to listed here because I do think it's a hack.

The liquid super glue and toilet paper method.

I used to boil wood or keep it submerged in a bucket until it didn't float anymore. Others use zip-ties to tie the wood to a heavy object. Now I don't waste that time. I simply glue the wood to a stone that is heavy enough to hold it down. The glue takes but literal seconds.

I stick a piece of rolled up toilet paper between the wood and the rock that I want to glue. I soak the toilet paper with the liquid super glue. Within a minute or so, the paper has soaked up the glue and binds the two pieces together perfectly well.

I've built entire rock/wood walls this way.
 
To add to @Art ’s hack, immediately after you soak the tissue with CA glue, toss on some sand, sawdust or pigment powder to hide the whiteness of the paper and blend everything in.

This may be a pretty well known hack, but I’ll list it anyway. Two of my tanks are over 24” in height, so to facilitate siphoning I have ziptied my hose to a thin pole to stiffen it and have a turkey baster rubberbanded to the end as well. This way I can use one arm (wearing a sleeveless shirt!) to poof up the substrate surface and syphon the debris.
 
Most of us know that messing with the substrate in the tank can lead to trouble. While I have never read an obviously correct explanation for this, it probably has to do with a release of microorganisms in the tank.

Old, dirty and compacted substrate can lead to trouble as well, so I take out part of the substrate (let's say 20-30%), rinse and partially add new substrate and back in the tank again. Every part of my tank will be refreshed every 12-18 months or so to try and avoid any 'old tank syndrome'.

My hobby hack is that I purchased a 2 meter long 16/22 mm hose, that I use to suck out substrate. As not only the substrate will be sucked up, but also all dirt and organisms go with it, I can keep the rest of the tank and water column as clean as possible in the process. This as compared to scooping up substrate, that will give a lot of pollution released in the water column and I imagine unnecessary risk of algae blooms, diatoms and the like.

Of course, after rinsed and partially renewed substrate back in the tank I will do one or two big water changes.
 
In reefs its hydrogen sulfate that gets created when it goes anaerobic. Nasty gas that will get released when the bed is disturbed.

I would imagine something similar would happen in the same conditions.

Old tank syndrome means lack of biodiversity. Keeping your tank diverse has been solidly proven in reefs as a key to greater success.
 
Not necessarily a hack, but a free tool I keep finding more and more useful is an app called “Aquarium Log”. It lets me track and graph measurements, keep searchable diary entries, track water changes, add photos. I don’t use the maintenance planning/scheduling or track the plants/livestock in tanks. The app interface can be a little quirky and unpolished in places, but makes sense if you are a software geek. I also found it to be nicely customizable and the developer keeps cranking out updates.

Also in the cheap hack section is how I get CO2 into the tank. I drilled a hole into the top of my UGF uplift tube, just an inch or two below the powerhead sitting on the tube, and my CO2 airline tube feeds in there. The powerhead quietly chops it into bubbles, so no diffuser to clog and no additional equipment to hide. I reduced the bubbles in the tank spraying out of the powerhead output by a significant amount by modifying the output: I added a right angle so the output flow points toward the substrate, and then attached a open ended spray bar to it. I’ve even played around with putting a small bit of really coarse foam in the spray bar which helped even more…. But took it out because I like to be able to visually verify that CO2 is flowing by actually seeing a little something.

Lastly I always have at least one wyze camera pointed at my tank when I am out of town. If I have two I make sure they have two decently different viewing angles. If it is a really long trip I always take screen captures from the wyze cameras before I leave so I can see changes in plants. I guess this hack might also fit in the “Tell me you have a planted tank obsession” thread.
 
Use 180 micron nylon filter socks stuffed with polyfil vs 200 micro cloth socks. Almost eliminates sock purchases and polyfil can be rinsed many times.
 
All my big tanks have canisters. Instead of media sponges/floss I buy the cheapest pillows from the dollar store and use the filling

Ive heard cautions against it as far as things like being fire retardant or possibly other undesirable chemicals, but Ive been doing it for years 10 years and never had a problem
 
Burr740 said:
All my big tanks have canisters. Instead of media sponges/floss I buy the cheapest pillows from the dollar store and use the filling

Ive heard cautions against it as far as things like being fire retardant or possibly other undesirable chemicals, but Ive been doing it for years 10 years and never had a problem
Click to expand...
Nothing in your canisters apart from pillow fluff?

I remember you saying something similar in a previous post, but thought you were still using some type of media?

I haven't been using any sponges, but have 3 trays of media after a tray of polyester wadding.. pillow stuffing used in skimmer
 
Joel Armstrong said:
Nothing in your canisters apart from pillow fluff?

I remember you saying something similar in a previous post, but thought you were still using some type of media?

I haven't been using any sponges, but have 3 trays of media after a tray of polyester wadding.. pillow stuffing used in skimmer
Click to expand...
There's bio stuff in the top trays, ceramic rings and bio balls etc. The pillow floss is used in place of the filer sponges, couple trays worth down low
 
I buy poly fill from Joanne’s, just as cheap 👍🏻 the sump right now is just Poret foam baffles and two bags of lava rock for biomedia. I’m thinking of tying a large micron bag around my main drain in the sump to act as a “filter sock” for my first chamber because all the stray leaves and debris just waste away and cleaning a sponge is much more difficult than just rinsing out a bag.
 
I stopped using it, but anyone who uses a regenerative media like Purigen should get a magnetic plate stirrer. I used it in the past and it exponentially cuts down the time needed to revive it.
 
Water change - get a long hose (get like a cheap 22$ one from Menards or something) and attach the siphon bell on it, and just leave it there siphoning out the water for when you're a little busy and need to do a water change. Then just use a long hose from your RO system to your tank to have it filling up, even get one of those little alarms that once they sense conduction( correct term?) they make a sound, or if you're an electrical engineer, have it when the water reaches the top, have it turn off a smart outlet for the RO system! (I have a 600gpd ro system that runs with electricity, so this may be different for others haha).

Siphon the top layer of aquasoil. One thing to remember is if you have seeds in your tank don't do this haha, I think I have lost quite a bit of rare Xyris and Blyxa seeds doing this haha.
 
IMG_2480.jpeg

Nothing beats these for getting the inside of your glass crystal clear. They are 25 cents each and you recycle them when they clog up.

I’m stilling using my first bunch that I purchased two years ago.

Disclaimer: make sure they are wet when using.
 
*Ci* said:
immediately after you soak the tissue with CA glue, toss on some sand, sawdust or pigment powder
Click to expand...

And adding on to yours 😁 a small granite mortar and pestle to grind up matching dust out of some aquarium soil / beach sand / bits of stone from the bottom of the shipping box..

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just sprinkle onto the glue, et voila!
 
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By request:

Rule of aquariums, is all heaters fail.


Inkbird has you covered:

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Probe goes in the tank, heater plug goes in the controller socket:
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when water temperature goes high, controller shuts the heater off 👍👍

Cheap insurance! Even has dual probes for bigger tanks + sumps where you want to split the load across two heaters.
 

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