Dustin's Blog — Aquarium Tip and Tricks

Read Time: 8 minutes So, you've found a crusty, old fish tank and have no idea if it, or your plans for a new tank, will hold water. It's easy to see a grimy tank on the curb and think, "Well, that thing's never coming into my house." But it could be a diamond in the rough. Here are tips and tricks for finding and buying secondhand fishtanks, cleaning them up, and getting them in shape for new fish and aquarium plants. For a more detailed post on fixing up cracked/broken aquariums, check this blog post out! Biggest tip we...

Read Time: 5.5 minutes Plant Placement 101 Figured out you want to grow some live aquarium plants, taken the plunge and ordered some, and staring at a fistful of plants you don't know what to do with? Been there. Fortunately, most aquatic plants can be broken down into four categories of where to place them: foreground, midground, background, and floating plants. Some plants overlap into more than one category depending on how you want to grow and trim them, but generally, you can gauge where to put something based on how a species falls into these. If you ever hear...

Read Time: 7 minutes It's the most frustrating thing ever: you get these rich, deep red and purple plants, all is right with the world, and then one day you look at your tank and they're barely pink, if not completely green. Want to turn your green plants red again? Here's how to keep your red aquarium plants from fading, and a guide on which red plants are right for you and your tank. Why Are Some Plants Red?  Before you can fix the problem, you have to understand why red plants are even a thing to begin with. The easiest way...

Read Time: 6 minutes 7 Tips and Tricks for Keeping an Aquarium with a Cat The only cat rival as iconic as the mouse is the fish.  Can you keep a fish tank with a cat? Absolutely. You just have to outsmart the cat first (sometimes easier said than done) and understand a little bit about cat behavior.  Cats are obligate carnivores: they have to have meat and protein to thrive. Though hunting instincts differ from cat to cat, they all share a relatively strong prey drive that causes them to chase and track down food (even if they already have food in their...

Read Time: 6 minutes If we had to pick the easiest category of aquarium plants to grow, it'd be this one. Floating aquatic plants grow quickly, they propagate quickly, they come together quickly, they don't need a lot of work...you don't even have to plant them since you can just toss them into your tank. It doesn't get much better than that. Not sure which one you want? Welcome to Floating Plants 101. The Do's and Don'ts of Floating Aquarium Plants DO: --Imitate nature when trying to grow them. Most of these grow on or close to the surface of...