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I must have the lowest maintenance fish tanks in the southern hemisphere, if not the world. I teach marine studies at a high school and have a total of 8 tanks right now. They are all extremely low cost and low maintenance because that was my first priority. There is no money to spend on them, and although I get some 'help' from my students, the buck stops with me as far as tank maintenance goes.

So, my first decision was to go fresh water. I live a hundred kilometers from the sea, so carrying sea water to school was not a viable option. I am lucky enough to pump my own water at home from a free-flowing and clean water stream, so I use that to save having to treat the tap water (which I tried to use once, after leaving in the sun for a while, but it killed the fish).

I don't use artificial lights at all because of electricity costs and vandalism problems. Some of the tanks get indirect light, while some are next to a window. So, my only ongoing costs are fish food, filtration wool, a few water curing chemicals to adjust the pH, plus the electricity to run my water aeration pumps. I started with an individual aerator for each tank but finally bought one medium sized tank that feeds oxygen to all the tanks at once. Much more energy efficient and safer too, to not have all those electrical appliances sitting next to water.

I use my aeratorss for waste removal as well as to supply oxygen. By running the bubblers through filtration wool (just stuffed inside cheap, clear plastic tubing), they also help remove fishy waste products. I also do a half water change every couple of weeks to help clear wastes and when I do that, I take out the filtration wool and... wait for it... don't just stick new wool in - I recycle it by washing it out. I usually get three or four uses out of it before I replace it.

Every few days I run a fine meshed net through the water regularly to take out solid wastes. I also wipe down the glass sides to get off algal growth. This is particularly heavy in the tanks near the windows and has to be done regularly. That is about all I do though, so the water isn't crystal clear and I have gone for tough species of fish. Most of my fish are little Aussie natives, like rainbow fish and gudgeons. They are adapted to local conditions in ponds, streams and billabongs and they thrive in my tanks, which are mostly 1 and 2 foot glass tanks. I also have lots of snails, which help with tank cleanliness, and a crayfish or two, plus one very tough Jack Dempsey.

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