This could be fun, I dare you to......

[itiwhetu]

Add up the value of all the additives you put in your aquarium which are sitting under your tank and post the figure. Do not include food. Just other stuff (Water conditioner, medications, fertilizers, etc., etc.,).

Go on dig out those bottles and add up the value.

And then if you can be bothered add up the value of the expired or out of date products.

I thought this would be a cool challenge.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I have an unopened £10.99 litre bottle of Aquadip H2O Maker dechlorinator. I have it in my cupboard incase I have low or no bottled water available should I need to do an extra water change for any reason and have to use the 'orrible tapwater.

This is all I have

 

[Colin_T]

About $200 is what I had for my tanks and most of that was a Rift Lake conditioner to increase the GH, KH & pH of the water. The rest was aquarium plant fertiliser and pH, GH, O2 and CO2 test kits that I used when collecting fish. None were out of date. I never paid for stuff with cash, I just swapped fish for cash or store credit and took what I needed.

Test kits and water conditioners should be kept cool, dry and out of bright light. I kept mine in a 2 litre icecream bucket (with lid) on the bottom shelf of the fridge.

Make sure children and animals can't get to the kits because they contain some poisonous reagents.

Edited to add I had a 20kg bag of pool salt too (thanks for the reminder mon @CaptainBarnicles . The salt only cost about $5.00 and last a year before I poured it in the pool and bought another bag.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

500ml Seachem Prime...I bought this for about £20 on offer and it will last for a year if not longer.

500ml TNC lite, plant fertiliser I bought for like...£7? Lasts ages.

Got some salt knocking around somewhere, can't remember what I paid...probably about £3

So £30

 

[Wills]

£20 bottle of prime, £3 dropper of API water conditioner, £12 bottle of Tropica Fertiliser. The Prime will last an other year, API a few more months and Tropica probs the oldest one so only a few months left on that.

I know what you are trying to say but I don't think its as bad as you think it will be

Wills

 

[itiwhetu]

£20 bottle of prime, £3 dropper of API water conditioner, £12 bottle of Tropica Fertiliser. The Prime will last an other year, API a few more months and Tropica probs the oldest one so only a few months left on that.

I know what you are trying to say but I don't think its as bad as you think it will be

Wills

The really bad players are not going to post on here, but I will make them think

 

[Deleted member 149562]

The really bad players are not going to post on here, but I will make them think

Actually I think it would be a very good idea for everyone to post their "stuff" on here.

Two reasons

1. So people with more experience can advise what to get rid of and what to keep....especially those who are new to fishkeeping and who were sold the entire contents of a medicine cabinet by the salesperson who blinded them with (dodgy) science but who really only wanted to bump up their commissions.

2. In these times of belt tightening when not everyone can go out and buy the best and most expensive aquariums and equipment, some great advice to be had against buying equally expensive and unneccessary "stuff". The "just incase I need it" shopping list people who go out and buy everything in the shop "just incase" and thus waste a huge amount of money in the process (that could be better spent paying a bit extra towards their electric bill)

 

[Fishmanic]

One unused additive I have is 2 full bottles of excel. I heard that adding it to a fish tank could be detrimental for the health if the fish. So it sits. I should just discard it.

 

[GaryE]

I have an unopened bottle of dechlorinator ($17 CAD) which I bought last week, and a bucket of salt, which I mainly use to hatch brine shrimp. There'a bottle of methelyne blue, and a bottle of malachite green, just in case. The meth blue is useful for determining if killie eggs are fertile.

Altogether, about $35 in stuff.

Ah, and a couple of boxes of rooibos tea, which I got on clearance for $2 a box, to add tannins.

 

[Colin_T]

If you have chemicals/ fish medications that need disposing of, take them to a chemist (pharmacy) and see if they dispose of them. Most chemists do take old, expired or unwanted medications and dispose of them safely, and don't pour them down the drain.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Add up the value of all the additives you put in your aquarium which are sitting under your tank and post the figure. Do not include food. Just other stuff (Water conditioner, medications, fertilizers, etc., etc.,).

Go on dig out those bottles and add up the value.

And then if you can be bothered add up the value of the expired or out of date products.

I thought this would be a cool challenge.

Urgh, but my fish cupboard and drawers are a mess of airline tubing, spare sponges, aquascaping stuff etc, I don't wanna tidy them, dad! *drags feet and pouts*

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Urgh, but my fish cupboard and drawers are a mess of airline tubing, spare sponges, aquascaping stuff etc, I don't wanna tidy them, dad! *drags feed and pouts*

You never know what you might find.......for instance that thingamywotsitdoodah that you wanted 6 months ago and went and bought a new one

 

[GaryE]

I have boxes of plastic - power filters of various makes, etc. I sometimes scavenge them for parts, but with my new set up, I have stopped using them in almost all my tanks, and they sit there. That's a serious waste - old equipment. I have 15 working heaters in a box, lots of Chinese-made gear. But if I recycle it, I generally discover a use for it a couple of weeks later!

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I have boxes of plastic - power filters of various makes, etc. I sometimes scavenge them for parts, but with my new set up, I have stopped using them in almost all my tanks, and they sit there. That's a serious waste - old equipment. I have 15 working heaters in a box, lots of Chinese-made gear. But if I recycle it, I generally discover a use for it a couple of weeks later!

You sound just like my old dad...he would keep stuff in boxes, all carefully stacked in the garage....

"I might need that one day"

He used to go to the local council dump once a year with the car loaded to the gunnels of "stuff"....... then the next week or month, I would find him swearing at a broken something or other, waving it at me....."Bloody typical, I kept spares for this blighter for years, never needed them, took them to the dump...and now it decides to stop working!!"

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

You never know what you might find.......for instance that thingamywotsitdoodah that you wanted 6 months ago and went and bought a new one

I remember helping my dad clean his fish tank when I was a kid, and wondering what all the random tiny bits of plastic or tubing of different lengths and diameters were for, why he kept them in the cupboard when he never seemed to use them. But as a fishkeeper now, I get it. You never know when you might need that stretch of airline tubing, and those used plant weights are still good! I have spare equipment from second hand tanks I bought - including the backgrounds, my back up filter/airpump/heater, and a load of stuff I got for cheap when my LFS closed down. Some of which I may never use, some might come in very handy, like the carbon pads that would have been pricey to buy new, but cheap in a bundle and with the part exchange of the fish I took in. Not forgetting the foods, ferts, water conditioners, leaflets that came with the equipment I have bought, fish bags and rubber bands, pleco caves, water test kit etc etc.
If you really want to add it up, @itiwhetu then I will! Just the water chemistry things that go in the water, right? Meds, water conditoner and ferts, right?