Fishkeeping Money Saving Tips

How to save money in fishkeeping

There are many alternatives as aquarist markets present many choices. Although cheaper does not always mean better, there is still many places where you can cut your costs.

• Choose the right retailer – reduce your costs by shopping online if you can wait for a few days, you’ll also save on car fuel cost
• Buy used from eBay – you can find great deals on ‘like new’ equipment for a fraction of the price of a new one
• Use most efficient electric equipment – pumps, filters and lights can use different amounts of energy giving the same output
• Use LED lighting – this is great reduction in energy usage and long lasting maintenance free solution which will pay for yourself many times over the years
• Use rain water for water changes, it’s much better than tap water and free
• Clean your equipment to increase efficiency, blocked filters waste energy
• Insulate your tank on the bottom and rear to save on heating costs, also acrylic tanks keep the heat better
• Buy smaller fish – less maintenance, less food,
• Find aquarists friends – you’ll get tons of stuff for free especially if you start out
• Go for cold water species to save on heating
• Use artificial plants to save on lighting and maintenance
• Make your own sponge filters using air pump – this is the cheapest way to filter water
• Bigger tanks need less maintenance – think about that
• Use Walstad method http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method
• Collect your décor locally, rocks, wood, leaves gravel etc.

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