Tools of the Trade

I wanted to show you some of my favorite tools for working on the tanks and around the house. Everyone should know how to use a sewing a machine or at very least a needle and thread. I repair clothes, make simple toys for the ferret and modify bags and carbon pillows with mine.

Sewing these things by hand is a pain but well worth the effort if your like me and can only find 55 gal carbon pillows but have a 10 gal tank. Sew a double line down the center, being very careful to not hit any of the resin pieces with the needle, with a very small tight stitch. Make sure its far apart enough to cut down the center, leaving enough seam overhang to prevent the stitches from tearing out.



Don't forget to save the bag(or can if its the old packaging) and keep the unused half sealed up because it will absorb toxins from the air as well as water. As a disclaimer, bio-zorb says that cutting or modifying the bag in any way is a big no-no.


Pipettes and turkey basters are wonderful, I had read about other people using them but didn't buy one until after starting the salt water tank, should have starting using them years ago. Bamboo dowls have been on my must have list for many years. You can use them like chopsticks to move things around the tanks, poke holes in bags, scrape off undesirable algae, apply glue and silicon....and a myriad of other things. Pictured is my main piece of tubing for doing water changes, but I also use a short piece at times and smaller diameters for acclimating.