xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
So was answering another thread and got to thinking about some of the "spare" kit I have picked up over the years. Some of it is obvious, spare filters, etc.
Some isn't as obvious though so thought it might be interesting to see what "emergency" non-obvious kit people keep to hand or use regularly.
Some of my "essentials":
At least 1 working airpump an airstone and some airline. I don't tend to use them in my normal tanks but they can be useful for emergency situations to oxygenate water and create surface movement. Its also fairly easy to knock together a airstone powered sponge filter if you need to quickly quarantine something.
Ladies Tights - Good for covering filter inputs or holding various types of filter media. In a pinch can be used to make a small in tank isolation/fry holding area.
A spare heater - I have had multiple heaters fail so always have a spare now. Also useful if you need to set up a quarantine tank.
A couple of buckets - At least one I consider "clean" that has had no chemicals used in it. Can be used as an emergency quarantine/hospital tank.
A couple of small pumps and powerheads - Sometimes you need more water movement, sometimes a filter might fail and you need to bodge something. I have quite a few now (they seem to multiple by themselves over time) but I would always keep at least one 400lph submersible pump to hand.
Spare biological filter media somewhere in an existing tank - I always try and put some extra filter media in an existing tank. Then you can grab it in an emergency to set up a quick hospital tank. Normally I have the tanks way over filtered anyway so there is plenty of spare media in the canisters.
A "Python" water change system - Easily the most useful bit of kit if you have a large tank (or lots of tanks). Makes water changes so much quicker and less messy.
Some isn't as obvious though so thought it might be interesting to see what "emergency" non-obvious kit people keep to hand or use regularly.
Some of my "essentials":
At least 1 working airpump an airstone and some airline. I don't tend to use them in my normal tanks but they can be useful for emergency situations to oxygenate water and create surface movement. Its also fairly easy to knock together a airstone powered sponge filter if you need to quickly quarantine something.
Ladies Tights - Good for covering filter inputs or holding various types of filter media. In a pinch can be used to make a small in tank isolation/fry holding area.
A spare heater - I have had multiple heaters fail so always have a spare now. Also useful if you need to set up a quarantine tank.
A couple of buckets - At least one I consider "clean" that has had no chemicals used in it. Can be used as an emergency quarantine/hospital tank.
A couple of small pumps and powerheads - Sometimes you need more water movement, sometimes a filter might fail and you need to bodge something. I have quite a few now (they seem to multiple by themselves over time) but I would always keep at least one 400lph submersible pump to hand.
Spare biological filter media somewhere in an existing tank - I always try and put some extra filter media in an existing tank. Then you can grab it in an emergency to set up a quick hospital tank. Normally I have the tanks way over filtered anyway so there is plenty of spare media in the canisters.
A "Python" water change system - Easily the most useful bit of kit if you have a large tank (or lots of tanks). Makes water changes so much quicker and less messy.
