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Received this email this morning, 9/2/2026

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Dear Customer,

After several years of serving aquarium hobbyists around the world, ChihirosAquaticStudio.com will officially close on September 6, 2026.

Before we close, we’re offering one final storewide promotion.

FINAL CLOSING SALE — 30% OFF

Use code:

FINAL30

at checkout to receive 30% off your order.

This is the final opportunity to shop at ChihirosAquaticStudio.com before the store closes. Stock is limited, and some products may sell out before the final day.

Store closes September 6, 2026.

Thank you for your support over the years and for being part of our journey.

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This brings up a lot of questions.

Is it just the site ChihirosAquaticStudio.com that's closing?

What about Chihiros.com? Is that going away as well?

What about support, warranty, ongoing app updates, etc?

Before taking up this hobby, I had a Creality 3D printer I used on rare occasions. I purchased it used and had problems with it from the start. It was supposed to be user friendly but that definitely wasn't my experience.

Once I put together my first scape and realized I could print some helpful parts and tools, I decided to purchase a new Bambu Labs A1 Mini. It opened my eyes to how easy and fun 3D printing could be. In the time since, I've been printing more and more items, not just for aquarium use, but stuff for projects all around the house. I decided it was time for an upgrade to something with a larger build volume. I was planning to move up to the A1 initially but then began thinking, perhaps having an enclosed printer might be smarter, to future proof my needs and desires going forward. After a lot of back-n-forth debating between the Bambu P2S and X2D, I ended up with the P2S this weekend. I have an expanding list of new aquarium related items I want to print

So what printers do others here use and what are your thoughts?

Tank: Waterbox 20 AIO
Return pump: AI Axis 40
Lighting: (2) AI Blade Fresh 12”
Dosing pump: Ecotech Marine
CO2 injected

The purpose of this tank is to maintain a healthy planted tank for at least 1 year. There is a stipulation that I must be able to do this using my tap water for water changes.

Inspiration, Goals, & Considerations

I've had an interest in aquariums since a young age and had my own aquarium with fish like Angelfish and Mollies around middle school. Growing up, my dad had a bigger tank with Blood Parrots and Silver Dollars. Over 10 years ago, I had a low maintenance 55 gallon planted tank. I was pretty proud of it, but always envied the high tech tanks I saw on forums/social media and told myself when I broke that tank down that the next time I set up a tank, it would be like what I envied. At the end of 2024, I set up a small low tech 5 gallon planted tank to help scratch my aquarium itch, which really only reaccelerated my desire for setting up a high tech tank. And now, here we are!

The size of the tank was mostly dictated by the space. I originally planned on something around 30 gallons, but my LFS had the UNS 75P in stock and after measuring and discussing with my wife, we agreed it would work for the space. The tank is between the kitchen and living room, which is essentially a play area for my son, so lighting needs to be adjusted to make sure he's not blinded by the light when looking up at the tank.

Generally, I'd like to have a visually pleasing aquarium with lots of fish and plants that's peaceful to enjoy. I'd like to automate / reduce as much friction as possible and I realize there's still plenty I need to learn, so I'll need to have patience when things go wrong. I want to keep away from anything that's hard to get out of the tank once it's in (duckweed, moss, pest snails, etc). I felt like sharing prices below might give value to anyone in the future that's looking to start where I did with a high tech tank.

Specs (prices include sales tax)
Tank:

Lighting:

Filtration:

Co2:

Inflow & Outflow Pipes:

Substrate & Hardscape:

Fertilization:
Battery Backup & Power

Other Misc Equipment:
Chihiros CO2 Drop Checker
5 x Oase ShutOff Valve 16/22
Inkbird WiFi ITC-308 - $38
SwitchBot Leak Detectors - $15 each

"Stand"
Because the guts are located in a kitchen cabinet, I didn't want to screw directly into it and damage it. I was also concerned silicone would not be able to dry and outgas properly when sealing the edges. I opted to line the cabinet with contact paper. It's essentially a giant sticker, so I lined the sides, bottoms, and a second layer over the bottom edges/joints. I built a 3 panel "stand" inside of the cabinet so I could house everything and screw into the plywood without any concerns. I used 1 sheet of 3/4" Maple plywood and coated 1 side with a latex primer followed by a layer of latex white paint. This is mostly for water resistance and not necessarily water proof. I placed a silicone cabinet liner under the right side equipment. I made a shelf to place the EcoFlow on so if there's a catastrophic leak it's off the bottom.

One consideration I hadn't thought about was how "cramped" the cabinet would be since I placed the EcoFlow on a shelf with a "wall", which essentially made the work area much tighter.

Cable Management: Raceway and cable clips
Water
Express Water RO5DX - $160
55 Gallon Brute Trash Can, 44 Gallon Brute Trash Can, 32 Gallon Greenmade Trash Can, and 2x dollys.
Plants (all UNS TC)

• Homalomena Sp Sekadau South (babysitter)
• Hydrocotyle Tripartita (potentially babysitter)
• Alternanthera Reineckii Rosanervig (initially planned as babysitter, but may keep some in long term)
• Hemianthus Callitrichoides 'Cuba'
• Rotala Rotundifolia Blood Red
• Anubias Nana Petite
• Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'
• Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini'
• Echinodorus Rose

Livestock:

Coming soon

• 25x Red Neon Blue Eye Rainbow
• 7x C005 Corydoras pantanalensis
• 3x C123 Yellow Cory 'Rio Nanay'
• Aphyosemion bivittatum 'Funge' Pair
• 5x Stiphodon rutilaureus Goby
• 1x True Siamese Algae Eaters
• 1x Bamboo Shrimp
• 8x Amano Shrimp

Cyanobacteria / BGA.

How do we get rid of it?
What are the causes?
Is there a fool proof treatment besides erythromycin?

BGA has been stubbornly showing in the substrate of my tank and creeps out when temperatures rise in summer. Is there a fool proof way to get rid of them?

Finally a journal.

I’ll soon be setting up two new tanks, a UNS 90p and a 50c. (Not so!) Patiently awaiting tanks and stands delivery.

They will both be middle energy tanks. I have lengthy periods of busy time and travel that mean the tanks need to survive without human intervention here and there. So plenty of automation is needed, and slow and steady wins over high energy. Or in BBQ smoking terms: low and slow.

Plans:

• Injected CO2, but less than 30ppm
• Inert gravel
• Tidal HOB filter and partial UGF plate.
• Less than EI ferts, but more than PPS pro.
• Tap water (my tap is 50 TDS and only 10ppm Ca) remineralized to 30ppm Ca and 3-4 dKH.
• Lower light levels: Week aqua L on 90p and Chihiros wrgb 2 slim on 50c.
• Easy slow growing plants, and a few fish. Thinking the 50c will be a shrimp tank.
• Some hardscape but nothing crazy

My last tank has had a rough year. Hurricane Helene meant two weeks with no electricity, and much longer without decent water changes.

Then last summer the tank developed a slow leak while I was out of town (ugh!). Had to fly home for a week to triage. Fish and plants have been in temporary tanks. Plants are struggling. Photo is when they had already been in temporary bin for over 6 weeks, I was surprised it didn’t look like an algae infested swamp.





Sooo ready for my new tanks! These are my first really nice tanks, I’ve only owned petco specials before.

For the new tanks I'm planning on over ordering plants since my surviving plants are clearly pretty weak at this point.

I’m often out and about working in the field and stumble upon breathtaking examples of often overlooked and under appreciated slices of nature that Florida has to offer.

My neck of the woods is filled with marsh/wetlands ripe with both native and invasive wildlife of all flavors; I want to start a thread where I can document and share.

I’ll update this thread whenever I capture something noteworthy. Much of what catches my eye is aquatic flora, but I try and document anything captivating. I hope you find this as beautiful and fascinating as I do.

@Sb1415 Apologies I totally snagged the format of your journal post for this so thank you!

Many moons ago I was an active and contributing member on plantedtank.net, I think at one point I had around 14 scaped tanks going before burnout and life changes. Instead of weekends consisting of maintenance I transitioned to camping/boating and life has been great. I’ve always missed it. After downsizing and making a move to a new home I kept only a small 12x12 cube tank that started life as an amateur iwagumi layout, Seiryu and hairgrass only. I put it on the nightstand beside my bed and added some of my favorite Anubias and crypts from taken down tanks. Its been sitting there running for 5-6 years now, low light, top offs only w tap. Maintenance when it got out of control. Super old aquasoil now flattened out to a thick 4-5 inch thick layer in a perfect line front to back.

In Aug/Sept 25 had a bit of a health issue that kept me in bed for several weeks recovering while I looked at this sad little cube, mostly healthy but not truly thriving. No fertilizer being added for years, GDA covered anubias leaves that also were many years old and I thought to myself I should make this better… that was the tipping point. OK I’ll do a deep clean on the substrate, get some stems to throw in there, maybe get a carpet going. Tissue cultures/stems ordered and I got to work. No more top offs, 10% water changes instead. TDS ~900 when I started. Ultimately everything melted back and didn’t grow well. I’d been keeping the lighting so dim all these years to maintain just the crypts/epiphytes without it turning into a mess and I was ok with it again. That was the spark.



I decided I wanted to build out a new tank, most of my old hardware/tanks I had let go of in a bulk way so I was going to have to start new with everything sans some 5 gallon buckets of Amazonia that I’d placed in the basement of the new house.. Phoenix rising from the ashes? Most likely more like algae emerging from the depths. I still consider myself a beginner and maybe amateur at best so yeah…

So I got to work again reading, researching, what’s new, what has changed since I’ve been out of the loop for so long? Ooo dark start that sounds much better, in line CO2 diffusers cool! CO2 reactors, pretty awesome sounding, 2Hr aquarist read every article, and I’m back in baby!

Tank inspiration

None really hence no name, it fit right into a slot to occupy my mind from a not so great situation that I was in and I’m ok with that. Ultimately I’d like this to be a low-mid energy tank that can have minimal amounts of weekly maintenance while still looking the part. I’d prefer to keep it as simple as possible while still having some high tech bits. Get all the equipment out of the tank, co2, low-mid level lighting, minimal/simple fertilization. I got busy ordering equipment and started brainstorming layouts and what hardscape materials I could find. Instagram was my friend for a while, seems that everything that kept grabbing my attention were island style layouts with a very thin layer of sand surrounding. I’ve also always been partial to big chonky pieces of driftwood, I thought to go the manzanita route but wysiwyg pieces were fetching stupid prices. I ran across this ironwood in a listing and couldn’t let it go. The deep lines in the bark were just calling me so I quick snap ordered it before my brain could process dimensions, I knew it would fit but didn’t fully visualise how much it would ultimately limit the layout. I wanted to stay mostly inert with stone and eventually/begrudgingly ordered the tumbled lava stone with the intention of keeping it to a island/river layout style and mimicking some of my found instagram muse tanks. It will mostly likely end up more nature style although the start will be more Willy Wonka than anything. Thanks @Burr740 for that, I shopped like a kid in a candy store.

Equipment

Tank

• UNS 90L
• 90 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm
• 79 liters or 21 gallons by volume, 62.5 liters or 16.5 gallons actual w hardscape

Filter

• Oase Thermo 200
• Replaced the charcoal media with more ceramic from Oase
• Replaced w Fzone stainless steel -Fzone glass Lily w skimmer ⅝”
• Replaced tubing with UNS pro tubing ⅝”
• Fzone Quick release ⅝” so Lily pipes can be cleaned without having to reprime filter

CO2

• Gla inline atomizer - replaced Fzone Co2 inline diffuser ⅝”
• GLA dual stage - replaced Fzone pro series dual stage regulator w/ 5lb tank
• Timed on 3 hours before lights on, off 1 hour before lights off

Water

• Using distilled by gallon, remineralized with salty shrimp GH targeting GH around 4-5
• Hoping for 0-1 KH
• Dark start cycled with prime dechlorinated Tap and APT Start

Substrate

• 80% old used ADA Amazonia v1, small bits sifted and bagged to create slight slope
• 2HR Feast topped to around 2 inches
• UNS Bora sand
• UNS Kona pebbles

Lighting

• Fzone Bright 90 - 90CM
• Before hardscape made rough par map using photone with diffuser iPhone 15 Pro
• At 100% top 404, mid 219, base 127 PAR
• At 50% top 190, mid 110, base 62 PAR
• Will be starting tank with 45-50% lighting intensity
• Timed at 3pm-9pm photoperiod with 60 minute ramps
• Current Colorcast LED strip w/frosted background
• Timed scenes for dawn (orange 1 HR during pre-ramp) /daylight (green during ON cycle) /sunset (red 1 HR during post-ramp) /night (indigo 1 HR after lights out)

Hardscape

• Arizona Ironwood
• Black tumbled lava stone

Ferts

• APT 1 and 3 dosed at recommended levels per calculator
• APT Jazz - in 3-4 months as Feast gives out
• Trying to keep it simple with fertilization to start

Current status, ending dark start, overcast next few days so removed the cardboard surround last night. Took today off work and anxiously awaiting a fed ex delivery with a big box o plants. Here it is in “night” scene mode.

I started my first tank as an adult about a year ago, and have posted updates on it in my other journal , the Beginner Scaper Journal. I had intended the other journal to be a journey for this new tank but there were so many variables and many questions about the other set up that i thought it would best to start this new journal.

I am going to hold on to my beginner/amateur flair to the post since I think this is such a great hobby and want newcomers to know that everyone started as an amateur

Tank Inspiration
Dennis Wong's planted tanks. If you guys don't know who this is, I have already served a good purpose by introducing you to the founder of the 2Hr aquarist. He has a scientific horticulturist approach to planted tank that resonates well to my scientific mind. He is one of the few that I have read and listened to who mentions the different schools of thoughts when it comes to managing planted tanks and does not stick with a single approach.

Anyways a long winded rambling to say that everyone should read through the 2hr aquarist website. His products are all called APT (Advanced planted tank), and i think that is what his company was called before. His current display tanks are all planted tanks, which are beautiful mostly without hardscape but with lush plant growth and do not follow the rules of Dutch scaping. To anyone who wants to understand his philosophy more, i would recommend in addition to the website watch some videos where he has been interviewed.

I wanted to re-create this type of tank, but obviously as a beginner/amateur. I am hoping to learn more about growing plants with my ultimate goal to advance to a next scape which might be more nature style where i can take the knowledge from growing plants and now incorporate hardscape to it.

Equipment
Tank
- Waterbox mini 25

• 60 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm
• 90 liters or 24 gallons
• This is a big upgrade from my 29 gallon standard tank. The silicone work is flawless.
• It does come with a leveling mat.
• It is deeper and slightly taller than a 60P or UNS 60U. I thought it would be useful to have more depth.
• Background - Thanks to @Jeff Miotke suggestion

Stand

• Waterbox stand - Black
• The main contention is that it does not come with side holes like some of the other expensive stands do.
• It just comes with opening in the back, so getting the tubing out is messy.
• The door attachment is a soft close but it needs to be leveled which can be finicky
• I did add a magnetic holder for tools and will add some light as well at some point.
• It does come with leveling foot holders.
• It is nicely built other wise.
• I wish it came with a pull out like the Oase stands but guess would be very expensive.
• Overall Ok, but nothing to highly recommend about.

Filter

• Oase Biomaster 350 thermo
• Replaced the biological media with Seachem Matrix
• Replaced one of the foams with Seachem Matrix as well.
• Steel lily pipes from GLA with extension. I think many of liked this company. But I personally would not buy anything again from them. They had quality control issues with this. One of the holders were metal and other acrylic and they would not send me another metal one. These are not the cheapest especially and you also have to buy extension separately. These are made by a chinese company and not made by GLA.
• I used to have glass lily pipes but got tired of cleaning them.

Skimmer

• I read many people commenting that using a skimmer attached to the inflow or outflow might be a pain to adjust, so ended up getting the Oase Crystal skim

CO2

• Fzone Co2 inline diffuser
• These work great and this is the second one that i have gotten. Trouble free but might need to replace parts of it if it gets clogged. Important thing is that it can be opened to clean.
• I have a Fzone dual stage regulator
  • Cheapest that i could find and works very well - highly recommend

Water

• I use RO water and remineralize it with APT Sky to a GH of around 4. Use the calculator on APT webpage.
• My goals are to have a low KH, and GH of around 4 - 5.

Substrate

• APT feast about 12 Liters
• You can read about my experience cycling it here using Dark Start (sort of)
• I did not want Aquasoil in the front of the tank and wanted a thin lining of gravel so used a gravel from Carribsea, and some smooth lava stones to separate them. More about this later but i don't really like the way it turned out.

Lighting

• Chihiros WRGB II - 10th anniv edition - 60 cm.

Plant List (Links provided to their care on the 2 hr Aquarist website if interested)

Background

• Left - Rotala blood red
• Middle - Rotala Tulunadensis (From Burr Aqua)
• Right - Alteranthera Reineckii Rosaefolia

Midground

• Left - Blyxa Joponica
• Middle - Ludwigea Arcuata, Pogostemon Decannensis, Rotala Florida, Staurogyne Repens
• Right - Syngonathus Belem/Macrocaulon(From Burr Aqua)

Foreground

• Left - Lobelia cardinalis mini
• Middle/Right - S.Repens and Montecarlo
• Still to come - Eleocharis Aricularis mini (in the place where the stones are)

Misc

• Clump of Hydrocortyle Tripartita to absorb nitrogen - Trust me you do not want this plant for any other reason, will take over your tank and get everything into a tangled mess.

Fish List (Preliminary)

• 4 Rasbora espei
• 2 Otos
• Will be adding more from my prior tank

Maintenance Parameters

• Lighting - 30% - 8 am - 3 pm
• Co2 - 40 ppm by Hanna co2 kit, 5 am - 3 pm
• Fertilizer - APT 1 - Still not settled on a routine but the recommended dose for daily dosing would be about 2.3 ml and i do about 2-3 ml every 3 days.
• Water changes 75% every 3 - 4 days, will make it weekly in the next couple of weeks

Photos
photo 1 - Day 11
Photo 2 - Day 20
Photo 3 - Day 21 - Current - Testing - Ammonia 0, Nitrate about 10 on API kit - Changed filter outlet location to get reduced current
Photo 4 - Day 21 - Side view

Thanks for reading so far!

There has been some good growth, some expected filamentous algae/diatmos and some melting, all expected hopefully this would not get too bad.
The Rotala blood red, Florida and Ludwigea arcuata are doing great. Both the florida and Arcuata seems to do much better on the aquasoil than on my prior intert substrate.
Blyxa melted a little but getting better, the Tulunadensis is struggling. The rest holding stable.
Interesting observation - The Rotala blood red, started putting out lot of roots and side shoots which i think is mainly because the plant was being pushed by the current to almost bend sideways and I believe it is thinking that it close the surface and doing its thing. With the changed filter outlet location I am hoping that it will be more erect and when i cut and replant there will be less roots. 2hr aquarist has written about this as well, but i think the bending sideways leading to rooting is not mentioned.

I am not liking the layout as much as i thought i would. Have been discussing with BurrAqua and have some suggestions but still thinking about this. Thoughts and suggestions welcome. Hopefully lot of people with (@Burr740 , @Dennis Wong @Art @techman81 @Pepere @Unexpected @Naturescapes_Rocco @Jeff Miotke @BenB @DutchMuch ) and without experience will follow and share this tank journey with me.

This is a great forum and i have tagged people that i am familiar with on the forum who have answered my questions and helped.

I am working on my mistakes…. The next one will be huge.

Instead of continuing the old build thread, I wanted to make a new one. This build might go just as terrible, but I want to put the old one behind me. I really wish I had given myself a month or two break because I feel like I have algae PTSD. I’m pretty burned out, and I sort of dread trying again. Oh well, too late now.

I wanted to try 2Hr Aquarist stuff, but already had the Controlsoil. I bought it a year prior (see previous journal) and decided to go ahead and use it. Hopefully I’ll make a successful transition to nutrient depleted aquasoil, and then restart with the 2Hr stuff later.

I didn't plan on starting a new journal until about a month in, but since my aquasoil is already starting to give out of ammonia, I need to get it going to get help making the transition to full NPK dosing.

With that said…..

Ben’s Plant Pharm 2.0
(BTW, in case you were wondering, I’m a pharmacist. Hence the pharm)

Setup Date
8-11-25 (Day 0)

Goals
Enjoying some farming.
Successfully navigate the different stages of aqusoil nutrient release and subsequent depletion.

Tank
ADA 60p

Light
Chihiros WRGB Pro II
Starting out at 40% of the Fish setting
Red 53, Blue 34, Green 55, White 23
PAR 105 under the light (estimated)

Substrate
UNS Extra Fine Black 1 x 10L bag

Plants
From Previous Build
Xiris Red from S21 Aquatics
Eriocaulon quinguangulare from Cherries Nature Aquarium

TC plants from Buce Plant
Cryptocoryne parva, Pogostemon helferi, Rotala Sunset
Came in in questionable shape despite paying extra for insulated box. Were very jumbled.

TC from The Fish Room
Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’, Rotala macrandra, Gratiola viscidula, Rotala wallichi, Lobelia Cardinalis ‘Mini’

From S21 Aquatics
Synogonthas Vichada, Centrolepis drummondiana (Blood Vomit)

From Aquatic Plants Factory
Pogostemon stellatus Dassen and Rotala Florida? (TBD)

Fertilizer
Micros: Burr Aquatic Trace (BurrFertz)
Macros: DIY- dosages to be determined
PO, K, Mg at the beginning. Been adding about 2-3ppm PO4 daily
Transition to the addition of NO3 as aquasoil depletes

Filter
Oase HOB BioStyle

CO2
Injected via GLA regulator
Bar type diffuser placed inside the HOB filter

Livestock
None

Notes

• The Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’ was in bad shape when I opened the container. Might have been bad when I got it and then it was a week before I used it.
• 8-15-25: Added Synogonthas Vichada and Blood Vomit. Checked NO3 for the first time. It was 40. Started making twice weekly water changes.
• 8-18-25: Increased light to 45% of the full “Fish” setting. PAR should be just about 114
• 8-23-25: Pogostemon stellatus Dassen and Rotala Florida added
• 8-29-25: Discovered my NO3 was 0. Aquasoil is giving out way earlier than I expected
• Had a short diatom period, but it seems to be resolving
• I had planned to increase my light to 50% of full "Fish" setting which would be a (tested) PAR of 126, but right now, things are going so good, I don't want to mess it up. We'll hold off for now.
• 8-31-25: Starting to dose my own mixture of NPK and Mg. I really need to determine my actual water volume. What I am trying to dose, and what it tests as after I dose it are a good bit off.

Day 0






Day 1


Week 1


Week 2


Week 3






Here you can see the older Rotala Sunset on the left. On the right is supposed to be Rotala Florida, but it is looking a lot like the Sunset did at the same stage. Argh!


Pogostemon stellatas Dassen changing from emersed to submersed form


Syn Vichada is doing pretty good. It is growing slow. The new growth is all green and the old growth is dying off. I want to cut old leaves and clean it up a little, but right now, I don't really want to disturb it. I watch it every minute. I loving having it.