There was a time I spent three non-consecutive days arranging a single piece of driftwood. As absurd as this sounds, I picked it up and turned it, placed it in the tank, filled the tank with water, viewed how it looked submerged, drained it, and then started from…

I have made a plethora of mistakes throughout the years of this hobby. For instance, I added a school of silver dollars to my carefully curated tank and woke up to what looked like an apocalyptic salad bar. Or the tranquil community tank that morphed into a water…

I will never forget how, about a year ago, I set up a Rio Negro blackwater tank in the waiting area of an upscale dental office. In one of my monthly maintenance visits, I had the chance to listen to one of the receptionists talk to a patient…

My garage resembles a murder scene… for rocks. The blue tarp on the floor is the specific color of cobalt, chunks of stone lay everywhere, and tools imaginable in a horror film lie in sight: chisels, hammers, and a strange serrated knife that I was foolish enough to…

Let me shed some light on the Halloween tank catastrophe of 2019. Imagine this: I spent the all the way from September 30th to Halloween crafting what was supposedly show-stopping a “haunted shipwreck” aquarium themed setup. A food-grade resin pirate ship with custom features, arcs of purple and…

Knowing how to multiply a single plant into multiple plants makes designing an underwater forest easier. After aquascaping for years, going through multiple failures, I have recently come to view propagation, albeit reluctantly, as a form of moving meditation. Being able to watch small tree cuttings grow into…