Making a cheap Quarintine tank
- Thread starter dvd_wightman
- Start date
nice idea....the only drawback that I can see is that you really can't see the fish that well. when QT'ing a fish, I would want to watch a fish closely in order to see any subtle changes in the fish's appearance that might signal the onset of illness...
Ahhh...good point. Though I do have a clear tub. It is not frosted at all. But then, I went on and errand today and there was a garage sale with a 10 gal. tank sitting right there on the road side. I have no prob. Cleaning out a used tank with ammonia. So now I have a tank, subterate, and decor....but unfortunately I still need the heater and filter. However, who ever said a qt could be set up for $20 doesn't live in the San Fransisco bay area (or they shop somewhere different than me) I was looking at at least $30 and yes, its a big difference when you only make $9 an hour. But hopefully with the used tank that has some stuff I can hold it to $20.
I agree I can't even find a heater for under $20. Does anyone know of some cheap heaters?
Just returned from the lfs - the only $10 tank I could have gotten there was a 2gl fish bowl...and maybe a betta bowl, but I didn't look at those. So I got my garage sale tank for $10 (which is only a 5 gal not a 10, but I think that is really the size I wanted anyway because I didnt want to spend even more money on a heater and filter), a hydor mini 7.5w heater (up to 5gal tank) for $15 (ouch), and an Elite mini sub. filter (up to 3 gal - well, it will just have to do...anyway, I only need it for a month at a time) for $10. If I could take the used tank back and just use my rubbermade tub I would, but too late now! And I was feeling pressured to get all of this stuff togeter right now because I have a lfs credit which expires on on Friday. And there is no way I am putting unknown fish in with my baby(that would be my rope fish). Last time I added tetras to the tetra tank, all of the new ones died from ick. Thank goodness my community was strong enough to handle it. But Im not putting Nessy - or anyone else - at risk like that again!
Oh noooo....I had to stick the qt in my bedroom because that is the only place left for a tank. But it seems that the green hood looks lovely with my pale green walls.....hmmm...I wonder what kind of little fishies I can keep in a 5 gal tank? I may never get a qt tank! Because really, how do you keep from stocking it! Must be strong...must be strong...
Just want to say for some people its impossible to get a ten gal for 10 dollars, I'd be hard pressed to find one under $50.
The rubbermaid work quite well, I use one as a permanent tank for my goldfish, as I'm only a teenager there was no way I could afford the $300+ price tag for a large tank. You can also use much smaller tupperware/rubbermaid containers for the filter and heater, it's pretty easy to set it up so waters pumped into the small container and then does a waterfall back into the tank, in the container you can put the heater, filter media etc, it works wonderfully, aeration, heating and filtering all in one. My 50g rubbermaid cost me $80, $35 for the tub, $30 for a filter that'd turn it over 10 times per hour, $10 for the three containers I use and $5 for the filter media, a crushed terracotta pot, filter floss and some ceramic noodles. I also added on a pair of high output air pumps which I got cheap off ebay, they run in the second container.
Here's a pic if anyones interested, filters on the left
The rubbermaid work quite well, I use one as a permanent tank for my goldfish, as I'm only a teenager there was no way I could afford the $300+ price tag for a large tank. You can also use much smaller tupperware/rubbermaid containers for the filter and heater, it's pretty easy to set it up so waters pumped into the small container and then does a waterfall back into the tank, in the container you can put the heater, filter media etc, it works wonderfully, aeration, heating and filtering all in one. My 50g rubbermaid cost me $80, $35 for the tub, $30 for a filter that'd turn it over 10 times per hour, $10 for the three containers I use and $5 for the filter media, a crushed terracotta pot, filter floss and some ceramic noodles. I also added on a pair of high output air pumps which I got cheap off ebay, they run in the second container.
Here's a pic if anyones interested, filters on the left
I like the clarity of a glass tank for QT, not interested in just seeing the top of the fish. Have never seen a tub with the clarity of glass, even though they are functional. If you can't find just a 10 at the store because they have them all set up for $50 kits, watch for yardsales.
