What kind of cheap equipment do you use?

[LuizW13]

Hi guys,

I'm setting up a 25g AIO aquarium as my first and i'm trying to come up with a good strategy in terms of cheap and functional equipment for QT and water/salt mixing bucket.

A little context to this - this is something i've been wanted to do for over three years and i think i'm finally ready to pull the trigger on this project.

For my quarantine, i'm buying a 10 gal whatever tank from petco, a ViaAqua 50 Watt Quartz Heater, a Tetra 77853 Whisper Air Pump, 40-Gallon and Powkoo Aquarium Fish Tank Air Driven Biiochemical Sponge Filter. Can you leave the quarantine running empty on it's own for a few months as i add new fish? Should I cycle my display tank and use some of that establish water to initially fill the quarantine for first use?

Regarding the mixing salt into water, is it absolutely necessary to use an additional powerhead to circulate the water? Could i get by with using the quarantine air pump? What about the heater, am i going to need to buy an additional 100w heater, making the total heater count 3, or could i somehow heat the water enough with the 50W quarantine heater? Is is it a good idea to make a surplus of salt water for convenience or is it wise to make just enough for the current water change?

Thanks in advance!

 

[WatDatThing]

I use a powerhead to mix my salt. It is also my backup PH. I always end up with extra salt water just because. I only heat up the water in the winter when my home temp is about 68.

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[48hughey]

Regarding the mixing salt into water, is it absolutely necessary to use an additional powerhead to circulate the water? Could i get by with using the quarantine air pump? What about the heater, am i going to need to buy an additional 100w heater, making the total heater count 3, or could i somehow heat the water enough with the 50W quarantine heater?

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong, but you shouldn't use the equipment from the QT to mix saltwater that would go into the DT. That would defeat the purpose of keeping separate systems that are isolated from one another. Cross-contamination, right?



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[LuizW13]

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong, but you shouldn't use the equipment from the QT to mix saltwater that would go into the DT. That would defeat the purpose of keeping separate systems that are isolated from one another. Cross-contamination, right?



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well, I would make sure to have that equipment cleaned before reusing it.

 

[kmbyrnes]

Never intermingle and TTM/QT equipment with regular equipment.
That said, your saltwater mixing equipment should be fine, as long as you use clean containers to fill your TTM tanks.
I have left my cycled QT for months at a time with nothing but a few snails in it. Then when I get a fish out of TTM, its ready to go.

 

[Floyd79]

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong, but you shouldn't use the equipment from the QT to mix saltwater that would go into the DT. That would defeat the purpose of keeping separate systems that are isolated from one another. Cross-contamination, right?



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I wouldn't unless you fully sterilize it all. It would defeat the purpose of the qt.


I have a powerhead, cheap heater, and glass thermometer for mixing salt. Any powerhead and heater will do for salt mixing.

 

[LuizW13]

Thanks you all for your input!

 

[Coralfuture]

You all don't use the waste water from the DT to put into your QT tank like I do? Pre heated, salinity stable and full of w/e is leftover from the DT? I use a 20 gal a 100w heater and a hob filter(penguin power filter 50-70gal)....2 18w led bulbs (reef bulbs Kingbo) They are on a timer there is a egg crate blocking off the filter intake and heater and the lights are on a timer.....nothing has died in there yet, but, I'm sure stuff will eventually; I will kill something. I don't run copper in system because I put meh corals in there too there is a happy batch getting ready to leave on the 4th all in all I think this is a pretty cheap setup but I'm sure you can go cheaper still....I would imagine a bubble filter/heater and maybe some chateo with the led's I mentioned may be the best way to go if we are aiming for cheapest. Someone can likely find a cheaper method but IDK. I would still use my old tank water tho for the water changes unless your really stretching out the time between changes.