In this week’s video, I show you how I made a no filter low tech bowl for a group of Thai Micro Crabs. My goal was to keep it really simple with easy techniques and minimal materials. I think the result is a pretty neat little setup that showcases these incredible little critters. What do you think? Going the low-tech route is pretty easy if you design things with that in mind. Utilizing riparian plant growth (above the water) is a great solution. As I’ve explained, these plants are extremely effective at filtering the water. They act like a sponge and pull all sorts of harmful compounds from ..read more

The Inspiration About a month ago I built a pond for my parents. While I was doing that, I found a few pieces of driftwood in their yard. I believe they are the base of pine trees. Anyway, when I saw these, I know they would be absolutely PERFECT for a blackwater aquascape… so that’s exactly what I did. The Build As with a lot of my setups, I started by building a rimless tank with scrap glass from previous builds. It didn’t take long and I ended up with an awesome tank. While the silicone cured, I addressed the wood and botanicals (leaves and seedpods). I boiled all of those to get them water ..read more

We've made so many different projects over the years and many of those builds included isopods. Till now, you've mostly seen them in vivariums and terrariums, which were a lot of fun. Even still, I haven't made a dedicated setup for them yet. Why? I honestly don't really know. Now seemed like the perfect time though. I wanted to do things differently for this build. The enclosure itself is pretty standard, other than the sliding doors. I typically wouldn't use them on such a small enclosure. It worked for this because the tank is long. I also wanted to showcase how to make a clay background. A ..read more

In this one, I make a unique type of aquarium that I've had in concept for awhile now. It uses a few of the concepts from the Upflow Overflow Aquascape, but with its own sort of twist and flavor. As you well know, I really like the idea of using riparian (emersed) plant growth to filter my tanks. They're very effective at doing so and look great in the process. In this instance, I decided to create an upflow filter system with a few glass orbs and other materials I had around the house. I've also seen a few comments recently that wanted me to outline the deconstruction and build process of mak ..read more

In this week's video, I address a lot of things that I've needed to take care of for a while. I've had big plans for both the 75 gallon and 150 gallon tanks cube for months, but I had to marinate on my ideas. Both visions have changed a lot over that time, so I'm glad that I've waited this long. The main focus of this video though, is DIY fish portals. Although I love having duckweed in some of my tanks, it's become a nuisance while feeding. To help out with this, I decided to make a few portals. They were super easy to make and look pretty cool. All that you need is some airline tubing, which ..read more

Whenever I'm out and about, I preemptively buy containers and other unique materials that have potential for a project some day. I keep them stock piled in my storage area until inspiration strikes. For me, that's a totally random occurrence and usually happens long after I obtain a piece. In this case it was a hinged acrylic box. My brain thinks differently, so all I could see is an aquarium. In this week’s YouTube video I show you how I turned said container into an awesome aquascape for a few snails I gathered from other tanks. It was a challenging project because of how tiny it is, but it ..read more

What happens when you combine the terrarium and aquarium hobbies together? Well you can end up with a riparium, paludarium, or this case, a Wabi-Kusa. Wabi-Kusa is a type of nature design that was developed by the late Takashi Amano. The term “wabi-kusa” is derived from the Japanese term “wabi-sabi”, which is a philosophy centered around the ephemeral, imperfect beauty of life. In this week’s video I showcase I think is a great introduction into nature design. It’s a lot of fun, fairly inexpensive to do, and beginner-friendly. It's also a fun option for someone who's already keeping aquarium p ..read more

The Beginning Just under a year ago, I released a video where I made a computer desk. This wasn’t just any computer desk though. This desk was built exclusively from reclaimed materials and features a large, forest-themed terrarium. As I’m writing this, the video has amassed 1.8 million views. I’m ecstatic that the video did well, but it wasn’t without critique or skepticism from some viewers. “Is this viable as a long-term piece?” “How will the plants survive?” “Will the live edge cut up your arms?” Etc. I try not to look at the comments after the first few days for my own well-being, but I h ..read more