The inundation cycle in the flooded forests of the Amazon is marked by an ebb and flow of life. Fishes enter formerly terrestrial habitats to feed, shelter, and spawn. And the trees, grasses, and plants of the forest floor adapt, survive, and thrive during both the inundation period and the dry season which follows. How do they do this, and what implications do their survival techniques have for us as hobbyists? What kinds of cool aquarium experiments can we do to replicate this cycle of life?

In another thought-provoking episode, Scott and Johnny answer some of your questions in their own unique way. We start off tackling the subject of maintenance of botanical-style aquariums. It’s not what you think. No “change 10% weekly and scrape the algae away” kind of talk here! Rather, it’s a deep dive into the way a botanical-style system functions, our philosophy on creating a successful microbiome, and how our interactions over time facilitate Nature’s processes.

And of course, we tackle more of our listeners’ awesome questions, and riff on some of the ideas that make the botanical-style aquarium so unique! A little something for everyone in this straight-up FIRE episode! (NOTE: We had a bit of a delay caused by remote recording, that made it seem like we were talking over each other at times. Sorry about that!)

We spend a lot of time talking about those dynamic, transitional habitats, which transform from terrestrial to aquatic at various times of the year. Let’s look at them from the aquatic perspective!

Every aquarium has one- a learning curve- a time to familiarize yourself with its subtle, and not-so-subtle nuances. It’s all part of a wonderful journey that can take you to amazing places..

Oh yeah, we’re dipping back. Into brackish water aquariums again. We as a community have a lot of experience in bringing a formerly mysterious aspect of freshwater aquariums alive. Time to apply this to the long-neglected and misunderstood brackish water world!

Limiting the diversity of the botanical elements in our aquariums isn’t just an homage to aesthetics. It’s an affirmation that Nature makes use of whatever is available to Her in crafting aquatic habitats1 even if it’s just a few things. We need to learn from this!

In this weird installment, Scott drops a little wisdom on wood, spreads hate about Manzanita, people who hate dark water, other vendors, and more! Just another day, huh?

We receive a lot of questions from hobbyists about the benefits of botanicals for shrimp food. We read about various botanical items and leaves being lauded for nutritional benefits they allegedly offer. And we take it all with a grain of salt.

How we start up our botanical-style aquariums is an important influence on the way they will ultimately operate and evolve. And there are a lot of ways to approach this. Like, curing botanicals “in Siri”, and other ideas. They’re worth experimenting- if you understand and appreciate our dependence upon bacteria and other microorganisms.

When things aren’t exactly where you expect they’d be, but you know that you’ve done all that you can to set your system up for success.. that’s when you need to stay calm; to trust Nature.