Misc items you use for your tanks?
 

So I just posted this thread yesterday in the "new to hobby" forum.
Wondering if anyone else has any non-fish tank related items they use that make your life easier.

If so please share

Bought a 3D printer couple of weeks ago. That should help the hobby to some degree :mrgreen:

Turkey baster, stainless steel tongs, dollar store perforated container and dollar store clips....I'll list more as they come, dollar store stuff comes handy in this hobby!

I use a tea defuser to thaw out frozen food. That help keep the unused organically to a minimum.

ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH!!!!


Seriously, best tool ever for cleaning rock, pumps, whatever in your tank. Got a spot of algae? Turn on your electric toothbrush and carefully remove it. Gets into cracks or those hard to reach areas.

I keep it charging in my sump and pull it out on water change days, best idea ever!!!

I don't use anything groundbreaking, but these are common household items I use:

- Toothbrush for cleaning the silicone corners of the tank, cleaning powerheads, etc.
- Handled pot scrubber for heavier duty scrubbing
- Vinegar for cleaning pumps/test tubes and dosing the tank for carbon dosing
- Shot glass and SS baby spoon (rubber removed) for thawing/feeding/breaking up frozen mash
- 10L icecream pails with lids for holding mixed chemicals like Ca/alk/Mg/kalk.
- Towels (duh lol)
- Glass scraper blades
- Muriatic acid for lowering alkalinity in new saltwater
- Garden hoses for water transfer

So canreef has a 3D printer now?! Sweet! Is it complicated converting ideas to real life printed objects?
Electric toothbrushes can be used fully submerged? If so that's a pretty handy idea
Oh yeah shot glasses, but don't forget the vodka for a carbon source of course. Towels for sure! Thankfully someone else does the laundry around here :surprise:

items used:
 

I use a pencil torch or a dremel saw to blast or pulverize any algae/pest that I can't get off the rock any other way. The Dremel saw worked very well to remove an aptasia.

My husband attached garden hose ends to all my hoses and pumps so I could just screw and unscrew any combination I need. Ming Wo has fantanstic scraper pads at the front cash register for sale. They look like colourful squares of velcro and they make very short work of any algae on the glass without scratching the glass - much better than anything available from fish stores or on line.

AquaAddict

3D printing plastics found to be toxic
 

see link:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog...oxic-to-fish-1

You can use many different plastics in a 3D printer, several of which are not harmful to reefs.

http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ree...astics.175329/

I think canreef has quite a few 3D printers. It depends on how complicated the model and depending on the geometry, you can convert real life ideas to printed objects fairly easily.

Stereolithography is the main issue and I can see why. It uses a very unique form of resin and can definitely contain toxic. I am not sure whether any of the resins are FDA approved.

On the other hand, plastics like ABS and PETG are very common and FDA approved. In fact, they are used in quite a few aquarium components too. Sometimes the colour compounds can release unwanted chemicals so people stick to neutral colours. Alongside, FDM printers have 10+ types of plastics now and the researchers did not mention which plastic they tested.

People have been used ABS printed frag racks, etc. for years without any issue so I don't see anything to be concerned about.

Just saw on FB a new "pancake" 3D printer, that uses pancake batter instead of plastic or ink to create the design off a picture or file.

Ive been picking up Dollarama Superglue for making frags and plugging up pest anenome holes.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yGd9gM4NZH...super+glue.JPG

I always did that too, but I learned that a bottle of coral glue will out last 100 tubes of the dollar store stuff. So even though it's hard spending $25 on a bottle of glue, it last way way longer.

Couldn't agree more, thought dollar store crazy glue was about the best deal ever compared the fish store but damn those little tubes barely have anything in them either.

Geat idea thanks for this. Picked up a $15 oral b one yesterday and used it. Totally waterproof and the small rotary head gets into all the hard to reach places.