What's the worst purchase you ever made?
 

I'll start.

Powerhead that oscillates back and forth. Died within a week.

Fluval *04 series. The handles broke the first time I tried putting it together.

Warm white bulbs for a planted tank...I had a really bad outbreak of BBA that I attribute mainly to them. I switched them out with aquarilux bulbs. They are cheap, provide proper spectrum, and can be found at most hardware stores.

Forgot one. Rio pump. Broke almost immediately. :evil:

Totally useless Red Sea PO4 and Fe test kits. I never got a decent reading from either kit despite having reference solutions that were in the middle of the kits' ranges where they should be most accurate. Swapping for new kits didn't change anything.

Emperor 400 - the waterfall.

This was back in a days. :roll:

ditto
Totally useless Red Sea Fe test kit. ...anyone want to buy a hardly used test kit ? :P

Fluval 304...almost made me vow never to touch another canister again! :roll:

I dont remember the name of this (supposedly algae eating) fish. It's huge and it's mouth is formed to suck on things. I bought it at an lfs(tong's) for $24 bucks with a two day guarantee. It didnt' even eat a single bit of algae(any type) and died on the beginning of the third day.

Man, I really like my Fluval canisters... Never had a problem. Are you guys playing football with them?!

Anyway-- worst thing I ever bought (besides a 30" aquarium) was a product called Aquarium Plant Vital which was upposed to replace CO2. This was WAY before Excel which I hear works well. I think it was a Mark Weiss product...Snake oil, it was totally worthless, IMO.