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…
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,…
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,…
Best LED Lights for Nano Planted Tanks Under 10 Gallons
I bought my first nano tank light because the little strip that came with my daughter’s 5-gallon setup was hopeless for anything green. The anubias I’d confidently called “bulletproof” turned…
Fluval CO2 Kit and Whether the Disposable Cartridge System Is Worth Bothering With
# Fluval CO2 Kit and Whether the Disposable Cartridge System Is Worth Bothering With I bought the Fluval CO2 kit on a Tuesday afternoon because my eight-year-old daughter pointed at…
Planted 5 Gallon Aquarium and What You Can Realistically Fit in a Nano
# Planted 5 Gallon Aquarium and What You Can Realistically Fit in a Nano I built my first planted nano when my daughter insisted we needed “a fish that could…
How to Set Up a Planted Aquarium Step by Step for Complete Beginners
# How to Set Up a Planted Aquarium Step by Step for Complete Beginners If you’ve ever watched someone’s planted tank and wondered how they made it look so effortless,…
Tropica Aquarium Soil and the European Option That Doesn’t Get Enough Attention
# Tropica Aquarium Soil and the European Option That Doesn’t Get Enough Attention I spent months reading forum posts about the “best” aquascaping substrates before I finally ordered a bag…
Barclaya Longifolia and the Red Crypt That Flowers Underwater
# Barclaya Longifolia: The Red Crypt That Flowers Underwater I bought my first Barclaya longifolia because the aquascaping forums wouldn’t shut up about underwater flowers. My daughter had been pestering…
Micro Sword and the Grass That Actually Looks Like a Lawn
# Micro Sword and the Grass That Actually Looks Like a Lawn I’ve spent years trying to get carpet plants to behave like actual grass. Most of them either grow…
Red Root Floaters and the Only Surface Plant That Gives You Actual Colour
# Red Root Floaters and the Only Surface Plant That Gives You Actual Colour I’ve kept a lot of floating plants over the years. Started with the usual suspects when…
Ludwigia Super Red and Whether the Tissue Culture Hype Is Worth the Price
I picked up my first Ludwigia Super Red because I was tired of explaining to my kids why our “red” plants kept turning green. They’d peer into the tank and…
Rotala Blood Red and the Stem Plant That Needs Everything Dialled in Perfectly
I bought my first pot of Rotala Blood Red because the photo on the website looked impossible. Deep crimson leaves that seemed to glow from within, like someone had backlit…
Vallisneria and the Background Plant That Does All the Work While You Learn
# Vallisneria and the Background Plant That Does All the Work While You Learn I planted my first bunch of vallisneria because it was cheap, looked green, and the shop…
Echinodorus Red Flame and the Sword Plant That Gives You Red Without the Effort
# Echinodorus Red Flame and the Sword Plant That Gives You Red Without the Effort I picked up my first Echinodorus Red Flame because I was tired of watching red…
Fluval Stratum and Whether the Budget Alternative Actually Delivers
# Fluval Stratum and Whether the Budget Alternative Actually Delivers I bought my first bag of Fluval Stratum because I was tired of fighting my tap water’s pH of 8.2…
Aqueon Plant and Shrimp Substrate and What Reddit Actually Thinks of It
# Aqueon Plant and Shrimp Substrate and What Reddit Actually Thinks of It I’ll be honest – I picked up a bag of Aqueon Plant and Shrimp Substrate because it…
Why I’m Obsessed with 5-Gallon Tanks (And You Should Be Too)
You know what’s funny? Most people assume the larger the tank, the simpler the task; however, I’ve found that my five-gallon setups (a 5-gallon) have taught me more about aquascaping…
How I Stopped Following Rules and Started Making Aquascapes That Actually Mean Something
What’s funny is I used to think of Aquascaping like underwater gardening with super specific pH needs. I had this little book full of all the plant species I was…
Hardscape Shrimp Tank and Creating Biofilm Surfaces That Feed Your Colony
For the longest time I tried to figure out why my first colony of cherry shrimp wasn’t growing. The water parameters were perfect, the tank was fully cycled, and I…
Aquarium Plant Maintenance Schedule and What Weekly Care Looks Like
Establishing a planted tank is one thing. Maintaining that tank is something else entirely. More often than not the tanks that stay stable long term have a predictable weekly maintenance…
Red Macroalgae in a Saltwater Display Tank and the Species That Actually Look Good
While many reef keepers associate macroalgae with refugiums, not display tanks. Growing it out of sight in its own chamber and utilising it to pull nutrients without competing with their…