Dustin's Blog — Planted tank

Okay, sure, the title sounds kinda clickbait-ish. Most people hear "fungus" and think either "athlete's foot" or "mushroom," but what if we told you fungi might help you grow aquarium plants?  Mycorrhizae: Pretty Fly for Fungi Land plants have a well-documented symbiotic (mutually helpful) relationship between their roots and a huge range of fungal species naturally found in soil called mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizae actually translates from Greek to "fungal root." The fungi infects the plant's roots, obtains "food" (carbohydrates) from the plant and, in return,  increase the plant's root absorption and nutrient uptake by increasing root surface area with small, thin...

It's funny Anubias (an amazingly easy aquarium plant genus) is named for the Egyptian god of funerals, graves, and the afterlife, Anubis - because these things are borderline unkillable. I like to think, somewhere, there's a jackal-headed death god trying to preserve dead plants named after him and getting annoyed he has to wait because they just won't die.  However, if our friend Anubis wanted to hurry them along to the underworld, there are a few ways he could do it. Here's your guide on how to grow (and how to kill) Anubias aquarium plants.  Anubias Species and Varieites The Anubias genus is packed with...

Freshwater aquatic plant anatomy and physiology, and how you can make easy botany work for your planted tank Welcome back to another installment of the Aquarium Science Series! Got some epic aquarium plants growing, but wondering how they work and why that matters? This post will give you an overview of some botany basics, with more specific posts on root physiology/Mycorrhizae, plant genetics,  leaf physiology and photosynthesis/respiration, etc. to follow later when we really dig into it. Aquarium Plant Classifications Scientific Names/Taxonomy Want to get to know someone? Start with a name. Aquarium plants are no different. A lot of...

Aquarium plants for cold water, crazy pH, giant tanks and nano tanks, evil fish, too little or too much light, and any other extreme you can throw at them Overall Tips for "EXTREME" Aquarium Plants (AKA the biggest piece of advice for planted tanks) The single most helpful tip we can give you on growing these plants, and any plants, really, is to study and imitate nature. If you're not sure if you can keep a plant in a certain tank environment (we're pretty awesome, but we can't list out every plant, here) look up where the plants are native and...

Welcome to part two of all you ever wanted to know about working with used fish tanks! In part one, we told you how to find them, buy them, and clean them. In this part, we'll show you what to do if you either buy a used tank with damage or an existing setup gets damaged.  How to Prevent Damage in the First Place The easiest way to keep your aquarium from getting damaged is to put it on the right stand, especially if you have a top-heavy vertical tank. Keeping the tank level, all the bottom edges supported on a surface...