How to Balance Light and Nutrients to Stop Algae Before It Starts
# How to Balance Light and Nutrients to Stop Algae Before It Starts The worst part about algae outbreaks isn’t scrubbing green slime off your glass every week. It’s watching…
Hydrogen Peroxide and Aquarium Plants and Whether Spot Treatment Is Safe
# Hydrogen Peroxide and Aquarium Plants: Whether Spot Treatment Is Safe If you’ve noticed black beard algae spreading across your carefully maintained plants or bacterial bloom clouding your water, hydrogen…
String Algae in a Planted Aquarium and Manual Removal vs Chemical Treatment
# String Algae in a Planted Aquarium: Manual Removal vs Chemical Treatment You’ve probably seen it growing on your plants like green dental floss, stretching between your hardscape, or forming…
Cichlid Tank Plants and the Species That Can Handle Being Dug Up Every Day
# Cichlid Tank Plants and the Species That Can Handle Being Dug Up Every Day If you’ve ever tried keeping plants with cichlids, you’ll know the frustration. You spend an…
How to Get Algae Off of Aquarium Plants When Scrubbing Doesn’t Work
# How to Get Algae Off of Aquarium Plants When Scrubbing Doesn’t Work I’ll admit it straight up: I lost a perfectly good Anubias nana to algae in my first…
Angelfish in a Planted Aquarium and Which Plants They Won’t Destroy
# Angelfish in a Planted Aquarium and Which Plants They Won’t Destroy Keeping angelfish with live plants isn’t just about creating a prettier tank. It’s about understanding why these tall,…
Terrestrial Plants as Aquarium Filters and Building a Plant Based Filtration System
# Terrestrial Plants as Aquarium Filters: Building a Plant-Based Filtration System I spent my first six months in this hobby throwing money at every bit of kit the aquatics shop…
How to Make Aquarium Plants Thrive When Nothing Seems to Work
# How to Make Aquarium Plants Thrive When Nothing Seems to Work You’ve followed the guides. You’ve bought the expensive substrate, installed the CO2 system, and your lighting schedule is…
How to Plant Potted Aquarium Plants and Getting Them Out of the Rockwool
# How to Plant Potted Aquarium Plants and Getting Them Out of the Rockwool I remember the first time I brought home a batch of potted aquarium plants from the…
How to Plant Java Moss in an Aquarium and Get It to Actually Stick
# How to Plant Java Moss in an Aquarium and Get It to Actually Stick Java moss floats. That’s the problem most people run into when they first try to…
House Plants in an Aquarium and What Terrestrial Species Can Handle the Water
# House Plants in an Aquarium: What Terrestrial Species Can Handle the Water Your standard aquarium setup doesn’t have to end at the waterline. Some of the most effective natural…
Discus Tank Plants and Why Discus Keepers Argue About Whether to Bother
# Discus Tank Plants and Why Discus Keepers Argue About Whether to Bother Walk into any aquarium shop and mention you’re thinking about planting a discus tank, and you’ll get…
Algae Eating Fish and Shrimp for Planted Aquariums and Which Ones Actually Help
# Algae Eating Fish and Shrimp for Planted Aquariums and Which Ones Actually Help Walking into an aquatics shop with a green tank and asking for help, you’ll get pointed…
Cichlid Tank Plants and the Species That Can Handle Being Dug Up Every Day
# Cichlid Tank Plants and the Species That Can Handle Being Dug Up Every Day Picture this: you wake up on Saturday morning, walk over to your carefully planted cichlid…
Pothos in an Aquarium and the Filter Hack That Actually Cleans Your Water
# Pothos in an Aquarium and the Filter Hack That Actually Cleans Your Water If you’ve been fighting nitrates in your fish tank and getting nowhere with water changes, there’s…
Tropical Fish and Aquarium Plants and Matching Species to Temperature
# Tropical Fish and Aquarium Plants: Matching Species to Temperature I thought I understood temperature until I lost £200 worth of livestock in a weekend. My first tank setup looked…
Goldfish Planted Aquarium and the Plants That Survive Being Constantly Eaten
# Goldfish Planted Aquarium and the Plants That Survive Being Constantly Eaten Most people think goldfish and plants don’t mix. They’ve watched their prized Amazon sword disappear overnight, leaf by…
Black Spots on Aquarium Plants and How to Identify Black Beard Algae
# Black Spots on Aquarium Plants and How to Identify Black Beard Algae You’re looking at your carefully curated planted tank and there it is—dark, fuzzy growths clinging to your…
How to Plant Amazon Sword in an Aquarium Without Burying the Crown
# How to Plant Amazon Sword in an Aquarium Without Burying the Crown I learned this one the hard way. Three dead Amazon swords later, each one slowly melting from…
Aquarium Plants for Shrimp Tanks and What Creates the Best Biofilm Surfaces
# Aquarium Plants for Shrimp Tanks and What Creates the Best Biofilm Surfaces Setting up a shrimp tank isn’t like throwing together a standard community tank. Your local fish shop…
How to Clean Algae Off Aquarium Plants Without Killing the Plant
# How to Clean Algae Off Aquarium Plants Without Killing the Plant Three months after setting up my first planted tank, I watched in horror as my carefully chosen Cryptocoryne…
How to Pot Aquarium Plants for Easy Rearranging Without Uprooting Everything
# How to Pot Aquarium Plants for Easy Rearranging Without Uprooting Everything I learned about potting aquarium plants the hard way. After spending two hours carefully planting a Dutch-style layout,…
How to Plant Hornwort in an Aquarium and Whether It Should Float or Root
# How to Plant Hornwort in an Aquarium and Whether It Should Float or Root You’ve probably heard hornwort called the ultimate beginner plant, and there’s truth to that. But…
String Algae in a Planted Aquarium and Manual Removal vs Chemical Treatment
# String Algae in a Planted Aquarium: Manual Removal vs Chemical Treatment String algae can turn a beautiful planted tank into something that looks like it’s been abandoned for months.…
Bamboo in an Aquarium and the Plant That Only Works If You Do It Right
# Bamboo in an Aquarium and the Plant That Only Works If You Do It Right Walk into any aquatic shop and you’ll probably see some tall green stalks in…
How to Plant Lotus Seeds in an Aquarium and What to Expect
# How to Plant Lotus Seeds in an Aquarium and What to Expect There’s something almost mythical about growing lotus from seed in an aquarium. You start with what looks…
House Plants That Grow With Roots in Aquarium Water and How to Set Them Up
# House Plants That Grow With Roots in Aquarium Water and How to Set Them Up Getting houseplants to grow with their roots directly in your aquarium water isn’t just…
Best Plants for a Shrimp Aquarium and Creating the Perfect Shrimpscape
# Best Plants for a Shrimp Aquarium and Creating the Perfect Shrimpscape Building a proper shrimp tank isn’t just about getting the water parameters right and hoping for the best.…
Spider Plants in an Aquarium and Whether They Actually Survive Submerged
# Spider Plants in an Aquarium and Whether They Actually Survive Submerged I’ve been running low-tech planted tanks for three years now, always looking for ways to add interesting plant…
Algae Growing on Aquarium Plants and What Each Type Is Telling You
# Algae Growing on Aquarium Plants and What Each Type Is Telling You Nobody likes seeing algae coating their carefully chosen plants, but here’s something I learned after debugging more…
Betta Planted Aquarium and What Your Fighter Fish Actually Wants
# Betta Planted Aquarium and What Your Fighter Fish Actually Wants Walk into any pet shop and you’ll see rows of tiny cups with bettas sitting motionless at the bottom.…
Algae Eating Fish and Shrimp for Planted Aquariums and Which Ones Actually Help
# Algae Eating Fish and Shrimp for Planted Aquariums and Which Ones Actually Help When you’ve spent weeks getting your planted tank balanced and suddenly notice green fuzz spreading across…
Guppy Planted Aquarium and the Low Maintenance Setup That Runs Itself
# Guppy Planted Aquarium and the Low Maintenance Setup That Runs Itself Setting up a planted guppy tank that practically maintains itself sounds too good to be true, but it’s…
How to Propagate Aquarium Plants and Turn One Plant Into Twenty
# How to Propagate Aquarium Plants and Turn One Plant Into Twenty Most aquascapers I know started with a single Amazon sword or a few stems of hornwort and wondered…
30 Gallon Planted Aquarium and the Midsize Option Between Beginner and Serious
# The 30-Gallon Planted Tank: Finding Your Sweet Spot I bought my first 30-gallon tank because the 10-gallon nano was driving me mad and the 75-gallon seemed like something I’d…
20 Gallon Planted Aquarium and Why This Size Gives You the Most Options
# 20 Gallon Planted Aquarium and Why This Size Gives You the Most Options I’ll admit it – I set up my first 20 gallon because it was the biggest…
The 10 Best Planted Aquarium Setups by Tank Size and What Works at Each Scale
# The Ultimate Planted Aquarium Size Ranking: What the Crew Actually Recommends Right, so we finally sat down to hash this one out. Took us four sessions and Juan nearly…
Green Spot Algae on Aquarium Plants and the Phosphate Connection Nobody Mentions
# Green Spot Algae on Aquarium Plants and the Phosphate Connection Nobody Mentions Walk into any aquarium shop and mention green spot algae, and you’ll get the standard advice: reduce…
How to Clean Aquarium Plants Before Adding Them to Your Tank
# How to Clean Aquarium Plants Before Adding Them to Your Tank When I started teaching biology, I thought the hardest part would be explaining cellular respiration to thirteen year…
Easy Green and the Aquarium Co Op Fertiliser That Simplified Everything
# Easy Green and the Aquarium Co Op Fertiliser That Simplified Everything I spent my first year of planted tanks mixing my own fertilisers. Had a spreadsheet, three different bottles,…
Guppy Planted Aquarium and the Low Maintenance Setup That Runs Itself
# Guppy Planted Aquarium and the Low Maintenance Setup That Runs Itself Setting up a guppy tank shouldn’t require constant intervention, expensive equipment, or a degree in aquatic chemistry. After…
Hardscape Cichlid Tank and Building Caves Without Wrecking the Layout
# Hardscape Cichlid Tank and Building Caves Without Wrecking the Layout Building a proper cichlid hardscape feels like architectural engineering with the added pressure that your livestock’s lives depend on…
Planted Aquarium Trimming and When to Cut Back vs Let Things Fill In
# Planted Aquarium Trimming and When to Cut Back vs Let Things Fill In Getting your first proper planted tank growing well is genuinely exciting. You’ve got the light working,…
Small Planted Aquarium Ideas for Desktops and Shelves
# Small Planted Aquarium Ideas for Desktops and Shelves I’ve got five tanks running in my student flat right now. The biggest one is twelve litres. The smallest sits on…
Paintball CO2 Systems and the Budget Pressurised Option Nobody Tells You About
# Paintball CO2 Systems and the Budget Pressurised Option Nobody Tells You About I spent my first eighteen months in this hobby getting lectures from aquatics shop staff about how…
Seiryu Stone Hardscape and Building an Iwagumi Layout Step by Step
# Seiryu Stone Hardscape and Building an Iwagumi Layout Step by Step Building your first Iwagumi layout feels like trying to paint with three brushstrokes and making it look effortless.…
How to Create a Planted Aquarium Using Only Low Tech Equipment
# How to Create a Planted Aquarium Using Only Low Tech Equipment The most expensive planted tank builds get all the attention online, but some of the most beautiful and…
Hardscape Nano Tank and Creating Impact in a Small Space
# Hardscape Nano Tank and Creating Impact in a Small Space Getting serious visual impact from a tank that sits on your desk and holds less water than most people…
Aquarium Plants Growing on Top of the Tank and the Emersed Setup Guide
# Aquarium Plants Growing on Top of the Tank and the Emersed Setup Guide There’s something deeply satisfying about watching an aquarium plant break the surface and start reaching for…
How to Grow Aquarium Plants From Seeds and the Few That Actually Work
# How to Grow Aquarium Plants From Seeds and the Few That Actually Work If you’ve spent any time browsing aquascaping forums or eBay listings, you’ve probably stumbled across sellers…