5 Hidden Dangers of Used Fish Tank Equipment!

The aquarium hobby can sometimes be an expensive hobby, as some of you have probably figured out, and we always look for ways to save money.

However, sometimes the ways in which we save money can go horribly wrong and actually cost us a lot more money in the long run.

And so, in today's video, we're going to talk about some ways to save money in the aquarium hobby, but things you need to be very careful about when you do that. Thanks for being here.

Well, hello everyone. This is Jason from Prime Time Aquatics. Let's take a closer look at some of these ways in which we could save money and some of the ways in which it can go wrong. First one is filtration.

If you are buying your filters used, whether that is on Facebook Marketplace or Offer Up or wherever you buy your used fishroom stuff, used filters can potentially save you a lot of money. But there are some things you should consider.

Now, obviously, you should make sure that the thing works, that it's actually moving water.

However, there is a hidden danger there.

And that hidden danger is potential contamination.

And so, if you've got a fish tank filter that was part of an aquarium where everything died, well, guess what? There's a chance that some of those pathogens could be connected to the filter and the filter media itself.

And so, here's what I would recommend to try and avoid that to the best of your ability. One, get rid of all the filter media. So, if you bought a filter and it came with media and you are at all concerned that that media might harbor parasites or bacteria from a previous tank, there's a couple things you can do. Yes, just get rid of it and replace it. Now, I know that's not going to save you a ton of money, but at least you will have peace of mind.

The second thing you can do is make sure if you really want to use that media, like let's say it's a canister filter and there's tons of sponge in there and stuff like that, make sure that it thoroughly dries. And so a lot of times most pathogens are not going to be able to survive without liquid water available.

And so when you make sure that that is completely dry, especially if you can sun dry it and those UV rays can also hit the surfaces of that media, that can go a long way in ensuring that the filter media is going to be okay.

For me personally, I just replace it.

Now for the filter itself, if you are at all concerned about that after you've removed the media, you can spray it down with hydrogen peroxide, the same stuff that you buy at a store. You could use 10% bleach to wipe it down as well.

You could do that for the intake tube.

And that will generally speaking greatly reduce the likelihood that you're going to introduce pathogens into your new aquarium.

And like I said, just like with the media, make sure that that filter is thoroughly dried before you use it again. Now, obviously, if it's a sponge filter, well, that is the media itself.

And so again, you're going to want to make sure it's thoroughly dried, ideally out in the sun, and that way you don't have any potential issues later on, or at least you minimize those issues.

The next place where used fish tank equipment can go wrong is used heaters.

I personally will not buy them.

And the reason I won't is heaters have a shelf life.

And of all the things that we talk about in the aquarium hobby, it is usually the heaters that have the shortest shelf life. And when something goes wrong with them, often it is catastrophic.

And so there's two things that can go wrong with a heater.

One, it can get stuck off. It can turn off and get stuck that way. In which case, sometimes you don't figure that out for two or three days after the heater has basically shut off on you and broken, and your fish stop eating.

They become very lethargic, and that can be a very big problem in terms of temperature shock.

And then you have to go buy a new heater, try to get them back up to temperature very slowly. And so that is a potential concern there.

The bigger concern is if you buy a used heater and the heater gets stuck on, in which case sometimes you can see fish tank temperatures rise above 90° Fahrenheit and most fish cannot take that extreme heat and your fish will perish very very quickly.

And so if you are even considering using a used heater, I would thoroughly test it for a couple of days.

Make sure that it's holding temperature properly.

Inspect the heater.

Make sure there's no frayed cord or anything like that and that everything is in good shape.

But that is one generally speaking I do not mess with on a used market.

Now on the flip side, you've got lights.

You can save money with used lights.

However, the things that you're going to want to consider there is make sure all the LEDs I'm assuming at this point we're all using LED fish tank lights.

And if you're not, I'm not even sure where you can find the bulbs anymore.

But make sure all the LEDs are working just fine. And of course, do a close inspection of the cord to make sure there's no fraying or damage there as well.

I'll just make sure it works.

But for the most part with the lights, that's probably one of the safer things that you can buy used. If you want a full detailed video on aquarium lights, check out that video in the upper right hand corner.

We go into a lot more detail in terms of what lights are good at each price point. Then there's the wood and the rocks, the hardscaping.

If you want to get that used, sometimes you can save a lot of money.

This potentially is one of the areas where you can save even the most money.

It's not uncommon for rocks to go anywhere from $2.50 50 cents up to $4 per pound at the retail stores. Sometimes when you get them used, you can get them a whole lot less expensive. Now, with rocks, it's not necessarily as big of a deal as it is with wood because they're not as porous.

Generally speaking, again, I like to have that hardcaping thoroughly dried to reduce the likelihood that any contamination is introduced into the aquarium.

You could certainly spray the rocks down with a with a 10% bleach solution and then soak them in water.

You could also spray them down with 3% hydrogen peroxide.

Wood is a little bit more tricky, but let's face it, all rocks and wood have come used from some location.

Our concern here is that these things were in an aquarium where there was a disease outbreak and you don't necessarily know if that happened or not.

So, when it comes to wood, if they are smaller pieces, you can certainly boil the wood. Do not boil rocks, but you can certainly boil wood and that would take care of most potential pathogens.

if the piece is way too large to boil.

Again, a lot of drying out in the sun can certainly help with that.

If you'd like more information on rocks and wood, check out the videos in the upper right hand corner. I do a full breakdown of the different types of wood, advantages, disadvantages, and then of course with rocks, I've compared sued stone with dragon stone, two of the most common rocks that we use in the fish tank hobby.

Last thing I want to touch on is used aquariums and the dangers there.

Of course, the major danger is the fact that that aquarium could potentially leak and that the seams are not intact.

And so, what you're going to want to do is pay special attention to the silicone on the seams of the aquarium.

Ideally, it would be nice to see if that aquarium is actually holding water before you buy it. It's not a bad idea if you do buy this aquarium and you don't know if it was holding water before you bought it or at least you didn't see it. Fill it up preferably in an area where if it does leak, it's not going to cause a problem. So maybe out in the garage or outside somewhere.

Fill it up. Make sure it's holding water for 24 hours.

There's no leaking anywhere.

I did a video on how to inspect aquariums that I'm going to put in the upper right hand corner that I think is very valuable and you can use those tips to make sure that the aquarium that you're buying on the used market is at least going to give you the best possible chance for success. All right, everyone.

So, saving money in the aquarium hobby can be great, but there are some dangers to look for. Once again, if you want more information on how to make sure the aquariums are structurally sound, check out that video in the upper right hand corner.

If you want a full breakdown of all the different types of woods that are out there for the aquarium, check out that video in the lower righthand corner.

As always, thank you so much for being here.

We'll see you next week.