Are you overpaying for aquarium plants in the UK? I nearly did — until I used this free plant-price comparison tool from Bradders on the UKAPS forum.

It lets you build a list of the aquarium plants you want, then compares the current prices from the major UK aquatic plant sellers. Once you reach the final screen, it shows which shop is the most affordable for that particular order, so you can avoid checking every retailer one by one.

This video shows the tool running through my most recent plant order. I have sped the footage up to keep the video short, but the process itself is very straightforward. Add the plants you are planning for your new tank, check the comparison, then use the URL shown on screen to try it yourself.

Bradders has also added a useful feature following some feedback: it now shows how much you could save by choosing the cheapest supplier. For my order, the exact same list of plants came to just under £68 with the cheapest option, while another option would have cost more than £114. That is £46 saved in a little over four minutes, and the higher-priced option was nearly 70% more expensive.

You still need to log in to the retailer you choose and add the plants to your basket manually. The tool is not a checkout service, but it gives you a genuinely useful starting point before you spend money on a planted tank.

It is especially handy when you are ordering several species at once, because the cheapest retailer for one plant is not always the cheapest place for your full list. Just remember to check delivery charges, plant availability, and minimum-order rules before placing your order.

Huge credit to Bradders for building and maintaining this for the UK aquarium community. If you are setting up a low-tech planted aquarium, upgrading an existing tank, or simply replacing a few plants, it is well worth checking before you buy.