thE TINT

the art and science of botanical method aquarium keeping.

  • THE “LIGHT STUFF…”

    We obsess over some crazy stuff in our world of botanical method blackwater/brackish aquariums, don’t we?  We touch on a lot of ideas and techniques on how to accomplish this process in our aquariums. However, one of the least-discussed topics is…lighting. I receive a LOT of questions about lighting…specifically about how you can grow plants in…

  • THE “P” WORD…

    Are you one of those people who loves to have stuff right now? The kind of person who just wants your aquarium “finished”- or do you relish in the journey of establishing and evolving your little microcosm?  I’m not sure exactly what it is, but when it comes to the aquarium hobby…I find myself playing…

  • MY, HOW THE “RULES” HAVE CHANGED…OR, HAVE THEY?

    If there is one thing that I find endearing about the botanical method aquarium, it’s that the practices and procedures which we employ are still very much evolving. There are no “absolute rules” that have been imposed upon those of us who play with leaves and botanicals. We haven’t gotten that stubborn. Well, I guess I should be a…

  • THE STUFF IN THE WATER…

    As many of you know, I’ve spent the better part of the past 10 years talking about every aspect of the botanical method aquarium that I can think of. I’ve talked about techniques, approaches, ideas, etc. And I’ve spent a lot of time sharing information about wild aquatic habitats that we might be interested in…

  • FEEDBACK.

    Our aquariums tell us a lot. They literally speak to us. They provide feedback. I’ll give you a very current example of this idea… As most of you know, I maintain a heavily-stocked soft coral reef aquarium. It’s well-equipped with some of the latest and greatest gear, and I am a religious water exchange fanatic.…

  • FOOD FROM ABOVE, BELOW, AND WITHIN: EPIPHYTES, MACROPHYTES, ALLOCTHONOUS INPUT, AND OTHER NATURAL FISH FOODS REVISiTED…

    As a hardcore “practitioner” of the botanical method aquarium, you’re more than well-attuned to the nuances involved in managing a system filled with decomposing leaves, seed pods, wood, etc. And you’re keenly aware of many of the physiological/ecological  benefits that have been attributed to the use of these materials in the aquarium. However, I am…

  • WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? WELL, I’LL TELL YOU…

    What if we’ve been all wrong about how we approach aquariums? Huh? I think that we set up aquairums to be the “finished product” right from the get go., instead of letting them become what Nature intends them to be… Yeah, let’s think about what it means when we assemble aquariums as ecosystems, rather than…

  • BEYOND “REALISM”- HOW I CAN GET MULTIPLE HOBBY GROUPS TO HATE ME IN ONE BLOG…

    Oh, today I’m likely to piss some people off. That’s nothing new, but it’s fun to “poke the beehive” now and then and have us look in the mirror a bit. As many of you know, I love to follow what’s up in the competition aquascaping world, even while avowing a total hatred of the…

  • A LITERAL INTERPRETATION? OR A REALLY GOOD REPRESENTATION?

    Tinted, turbid water. Sediment, biofilm. Decomposing botanical materials. Soil. A random scattering of branches covered in fungal growth. Stuff that has made aquarists’ heads collectively spin for years. Stuff that is, by many hobbyists’s standards, “sloppy, undesirable…even, gross!” To me, it’s freaking gorgeous. The idea of these things popping up and growing naturally in our tanks- as…

  • IS It THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE AQUARIUM HOBBY? YEAH, IT IS.

    Ahh, time to reflect just a bit. I remember as a kid, growing up in the late seventies/early eighties, I read a lot of aquarium books. Not just read them…but studied the shit out of ’em! Virtually memorized whole sections of them and absorbed the information in them like a sponge! My dad, who was…