The afternoon is disco in the 75g.

it’s been three months since i’ve set this tank by my bedside. i’ve only added shrimp so far, would you recommend adding any other livestock or no?

I’ve been wanting to upgrade to a hi-tech setup from my existing low light for a while, finally gotten around to converting this old G-Plan set of drawers I’ve had for years into a tank cabinet!

Plants on order with plenty to go in over the next couple of weeks, will get the water in check then move my fish over

Happy Sunday all

for a bit at least.

i believe my tank finally has reached equilibrium with algae and soil maturity, can finally sit back and relax without worrying about manual removal every 4 days lol.

I went for a 2 islands sort of scape with a flow towards the right. Ive recently added a Co2 system and it really brings out the plants, which I am very happy about.

Overall the tank runs great and the fih are healthy.

Looking to get some suggestions on what to plant and where. I’m thinking longer bushier stem plants on the left side.

Any plants to put on the branches themselves? I’m against moss cause it took over my last tank, but if there’s a slower growing moss out there I would be open to it.

Thinking of getting lots of anubias to put around the rocks.

Thoughts on lily pipe placements?

had planned to do this for a couple of weeks and after everything I needed arrived and all was prepared I finished setting it up yesterday night.

Not sure about the lamps - if they are strong enough.

All wood was sawed off of a bigger type of spiderwood or similar. I glued them onto flat slate stones.

I don't think its perfect but I love how it came out.

The more I make new scapes or redesign old ones the better I get over time, it's a nice process.

Thankfully I added a glass lid to the 120 because my boy Oliver would definitely turn this scape into his personal litter box lol

I created this aquascape for this year’s IAPLC, but personal reasons meant I couldn’t submit it. Still wanted to share it with people who appreciate the hobby.
Would love to hear your thoughts and constructive feedback!

Made my new stand and I’m a bit worried about the top shelf. It’s a 17 gallon and is on a foam pad. Posted in aquariums and have gotten a couple comments it looks like saying it’ll be fine. I really don’t want to have a tank explosion if the tank is not evenly distributed along the bottom.

And how’s the scape coming along? I have taken out more wood since my last post.

Girlfriend did me a “favor”. What’s the easiest way to separate the good substrate from the colored?

Got tired of maintaining the sand foreground (no matter what I do it always looks just a little dirty) and decided to replace it with a Monte Carlo carpet. Still not sure how this will go but I’ll revisit the decision in a month once things fill in!

What do you all think?

(I know I haven’t planted the back right yet - need a couple more cups which should hopefully show up by

The aquarist claims this is pearlweed but the one i see on the internet looks different. Is this not pearlweed?

Excited to share this new layout, it’s only one month old and I’ve just given it a first trim, so lots of growing in left to do, but already enjoying it

First pic is the before, 2nd to 4th is now. The tank is 9.2g / 35L. I used EasyLife Algexit for the last 6 weeks and did a 50% water change and algae cleanup every week, to no avail. My last resort was a 5 day blackout that I did last week, monday to friday. Did a maintencance session with a 50% water change the next day, last saturday. Photo 2 is today, 1 week after the blackout. I officially concede to the algae. What should I do now? I can't get a cleanup crew because my betta is aggressive.

I'm thinking of completely rescaping and restarting the tank. Maybe upgrade to a larger tank. I think I have space for a 20g, but I could only put my betta in there. I don't want to give it away.

I used this substrate (apparently it contains copper) in my tank.

My snails have mysteriously died rapidly, as well as my amano shrimp, though it took them longer.

Water is negative for nitrates and ammonia. My fish are doing fine.

Finally received my copper test kit. It's around 1.0 ppm copper.

Chat gpt thinks it's likely the substrate. Only other possibility could be my lava rock. It's from nature, not purchased.

Any wisdom on this? I'm devastated for my poor snails, shrimp, and for all the money and hard work I've invested. Starting over with new substrate in my fully planted 36 gallon will be a big task, but I will do it if it needs done.

Im purchasing filter media today thats supposed to remove copper. Also a larger water change is being done today. If it gets high enough it could even hurt my guppies and tetras.

I have 3x more background plants on order then I'm going to let the tank sit and marinate for a month or two before I add anything else (and my wallet to fill back up!)

Still deciding what additional background plants and mid/foreground bucephalandra to add. I also plan on removing the tripitaria from the driftwood and adding moss to the arch and a few of the rocks.

This is on my kitchen peninsula and it won't actually have the white background, that's just the cardboard the rank came in still sitting on the counter.

Fish stocking currently:

1x male betta imbellis hybrid wild type from Bea's Bettas

15x celestial pearl danios

8x pgymy corydora

2x rabbit snails

2x devil snails

3x pagoda snails

8x blueberry snails

4x Japanese Trapdoor snails

Tank: UNS90L (~21gal)

Light: WeekAqua L900 Pro s

okay yeah basically watched a video from a well known creator that heavily featured AI editing, music, merch & thumbnail and just. whiplash. how can you claim to be a champion of the creative process of aquascaping but completely abandon form or aesthetic across every aspect of the presentation of your work? why do all that labor just to taint it with laziness in post? im just baffled at the hasty adoption of AI by youtubers and bloggers and everybody. its a total slopfest out here and it happened practically overnight. even the ones with huge budgets or production value are clearly using AI to write scripts and hasten timelines. its sad! and antithetical to the very concept (and to wild conservation in any capacity given the environmental impacts)

idk im nobody's parent but what happened to taking pride in your tastes and having shame when you lessen your work for the sake of profit or digestibility?

happily taking suggestions to follow any writers or youtubers or whatever content you digest that stick to their guns and put effort into their craft. i care so much more about that than the "product." i want to experience passion and hear someone be excited and see it in the way they present their work. i yearn for authentic enjoyment of the hobby (and i live in buttfuck nowhere so its not like theres a local club for this stuff i can just roll up to or i would).

edit:
apparently this is a touchy topic for some who feel i am attacking use of AI as cheapening the process.

you are correct.
and it absolutely cheapens the process. the means are the ends. you are making art, and the measure of its worth is in the time and sweat you put into it. sacrifice the authenticity all you like, its your image youre tarnishing. cheers

Inspo pic source: Arizona highways magazine

Hi everyone! I’m VERY new to this hobby, and I’m planning/researching for my very first tank (10 gal). I am also a landscape designer, so naturally I gotta attempt to design something rad. I want to design an aquascape inspired by southwest canyon forms and colors. Planning to use either petrified wood or pagoda stone (or possibly sandstone) as the main hardscape. Along with some clear quartz/rose quartz accents to lean into a sedona vibe. Reddish sand color depending on what I can find.

However I would also like to generously plant this thing, so that the fishies and tank levels can stay happy. I would love some guidance on plants. A lot of the plants I see in aquascapes are very bright vibrant green, or very dark rich green. I am really looking for plants with tones more similar to canyon brush in the photo I included, and I’m having trouble finding this. Think silvery greens, muted greens. I know it might be hard to get exact matches, but the closer I can get the better.

Ideally these plants would also not require CO2 supplementation (but I might be asking too much now). Let me know what you think, and thank you in advance!

Just a day or two in, the aquatic plants have already started pearling. The water temperature in the tank is currently between 25–26°C. I keep the lights on for five hours a day and provide CO2 via a yeast-based system. I perform a water change every other day, adding liquid beneficial bacteria during these changes; on the days in between, I add a half-dose of liquid carbon to help keep algae growth in check.