Fungi. Reviled. Feared. Hated by anyone who’s ever cured a piece of driftwood for their aquarium. We need to change our thinking on these absurdly important and beneficial organisms. We need to get beyond their “looks” and understand them for the elegant and valuable organisms that they are!

We’ve been talking about the “Urban Igapo”- recreating seasonal inundation that occurs to forests and grasslands in South America- for years now. And the idea is catching on- lots of you are playing with this! Amd of course, there are a lot of questions as we explore this fun and fascinating approach to aquariums! Today, in the first of what will likely be many podcasts on the topic- we’ll address some of your questions!

Natural aquatic ecosystems provide an enormous diversity of foods for our fishes. Their diets adapt to seasonal abundance, and include a wide variety of stuff that we can provide them in our botanical-style aquariums!

We’ve talked about and shared some very different ideas over the years. We’ve talked about mental shifts, unusual aesthetics, and executions. Let’s share a few of our faves here that YOU should run with!

The funniest thing in the aquarium hobby, in my opinion, is that we constantly talk about how we treasure Nature- yet try to “edit” her processes and products at every opportunity. We need to understand, study, and observe.. we need to have more faith in Nature. Because Nature’s got our back

“How do YOU” use botanicals in YOUR tanks, Scott?” Well, good question! Let’s tackle this in part 2 of our series “This is How I do it!”

An aquarium is not just a static thing. Sure, we “build” it- or part of it. Yet, it’s a process- a slow, deliberate one- in which Nature takes the lead. To try to rich things is to deny our aquariums the chance to evolve as Nature intends them to...

Yeah, in 5 plus years of doing “The Tint”, I never did a series on how, specifically, I personally start and manage my botanical-style tanks! Let’s change that and start this party! We’ll literally start at the bottom- substrates, and my approach!

Okay, I’m no chemistry guru, but I do have a slight working knowledge about the topic as it relates to our botanical-style aquariums. Let’s touch on a couple of common water chemistry questions that we receive here...

It’s fundamental. Adding botanical materials to our aquariums is a way to replicate many functional aspects of Nature. We know this. The general hobby needs to know this.