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The theme for this month's contest is: Algae Patina This one is going to be tough but I hope some of you take up the challenge. There is a fine line between algae on an object that makes it look natural and old (patina) and algae on an object that simply makes it look unkept and dirty. Who can strike that balance best?? Please take a picture of algae patina in your aquarium. Be as artistic and creative as you like. The rules: Submissions are allowed between September 11 and September...

I'm very excited to announce that we will shortly be debuting a new feature on ScapeCrunch. It's called ScapeBid and it's an online auction feature specifically for aquarium plants and hobby-related items. Why are we implementing an auction feature? Part of our mission is to foster the interaction between the planted aquarium community. Providing a platform for the "easy" exchange of hobby-related items furthers this mission. We hope that the auction mechanism presents a fun, exciting way...

Hi all, First of all thanks so much for the amazing threads and input from all the super knowledgeable and experienced scapers on here. My question and apologies if this has been specifically discussed previously, but I'm wondering if an RO system would be a worthwhile investment for a high tech planted tank. My town water which I currently use is not on the grid with the main city water supply that I used to access. Our town water is sourced from a creek, not a huge reservoir, and can...

This is an extension/excerpt from the longer nutrient stability article and why it matters : https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/fertilize-planted-tank/nutrient-stability-in-planted-tanks I have added a portion and simple guide for folks that are using hobbyist test kits to dial in their levels: To have stable nutrient levels, the goal is to have the same visual shade of color when using a nitrate test kit on your aquarium at any time of the week. To do this, you need to start by having...

About me: I've been keeping planted aquariums and shrimp breeding tanks for almost a decade and for the majority of that time aquariums were my primary hobby. In 2021 I had ~30 tanks running simultaneously containing almost 200 types of plants that I had collected over a 5 year period and more than a dozen types of shrimp. In this time, it was harder for me to not setup new tanks than it was to grow any aquatic plant sent my way. Below are some of the tanks I've kept over the years...

THE official "what did you do to your tank(s) today" thread! Let's keep it real by sharing our daily routine. Post daily if you want. It's nice to check in with fellow aquatic gardeners.

Main idea/inspiration: Since my main 150p aquarium is in our front room and is the first thing we and our guests see, I can't afford to experiment much with it. I also spent like $600 on aquasoil to fill it, so I thought I'd like to try something different. This tank will be 100% BDBS substrate, no fertilized substrate. No root tabs (yet), no aquasoil. Only water column fertilization, to challenge myself to see whether I can grow plants well without aquasoil or not! Inspired by the @Burr740...

I have always liked Rotala florida as plant due to its strongly colored leaves, but realized that I haven't actually aquascaped much with it - meaning to integrate it as part of a layout and not just growing a bunch of it in farm/collector style tank. Using plants in a layout in tighter bunches, and in competition with surrounding plants/hardscape is much harder than growing it farm style in a single patch - it also means be able to shape/trim the bushes to match the overall curves of the...

Hello all, I’ve been mentioning recently that I’m going to be restarting my tank and now that I’ve got what I need, let’s get this going. To start, as the title indicates, this is going to be a Mineralized Top Soil tank. I’ve mineralized about half a bag of Black Kow Top Soil that I happened to have in the garage and completely forgot about. I was hestitant to use it as the company is famous for their manure compost, but some reading around suggested otherwise for this particular product...

Version 1: Version 2: After finally buying our first house, I was able to live out my dreams of installing a large high-tech rimless aquarium. It has: RO-water lines in (one large one for water adding from the basement storage, one small one for the top-off reservoir and float valve) with leak prevention and redundancy. A drain-out in the wall behind the stand for easy water changes. A custom built ADA-style plywood stand stand. Skylight Hyperspot FM lights above. A GHL Aquarium Computer...

Hello all, my name is Mike and I just found this site by accident. I think @gjcarew told me @GreggZ had moved here but some how I failed to remember; so I'm glad I found this site today. I am a fan, as you can tell, of GreggZ. He taught me just about everything I know (through his journal on that other site) and I was also banned over a 0dKH discussion :oops:. So you know, I kind of feel close to the guy. Joking aside, I was able to go from this. To this within a short period of time...