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Inspired by @gnatster 's Black Friday thread HERE. I'm curious what's on everyone's list this year. I need to come up with a list for the significant other aquarium or not. Not sure of much I want. I do want a small rectangle little tank to do a succulent garden and light like HERE, but I'm not sure which one to get. What are you asking for?

Ludwigia repens, hairgrass "eleocharis palustris" and ludwigia glandulosa all found locally growing emersed beside water and all growing submerged in water. Nice freebys if they survive the transition theres 20,000 stems in this tiny little pond. all clean no bugs put in tank with no fish to be safe will peroxide dip it before moving into other tank. 1 bunch l repens last pic I picked 8 days ago grown 2" and top turning more red with no melt at all. Well see how it goes. All found beside my local Lincoln dealer parking lot lol.
I've got local emersed plants before I know where theres a storm of lemon bacopa and anacharis is. Seems it always melted badly to mush. These plants are growing emersed for a week then submersed for days when water levels go up. Maybe they are more hardy being grown above and below water over and over? They may all melt to turds in weeks lol.

This is the future home for the announcements when someone obtains an achievement badge. Let the games begin!

Received this email this morning, 9/2/2026

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Dear Customer,

After several years of serving aquarium hobbyists around the world, ChihirosAquaticStudio.com will officially close on September 6, 2026.

Before we close, we’re offering one final storewide promotion.

FINAL CLOSING SALE — 30% OFF

Use code:

FINAL30

at checkout to receive 30% off your order.

This is the final opportunity to shop at ChihirosAquaticStudio.com before the store closes. Stock is limited, and some products may sell out before the final day.

Store closes September 6, 2026.

Thank you for your support over the years and for being part of our journey.

----

This brings up a lot of questions.

Is it just the site ChihirosAquaticStudio.com that's closing?

What about Chihiros.com? Is that going away as well?

What about support, warranty, ongoing app updates, etc?

For those not aware, tomorrow is Waterbox Aquariums annual Blue Friday event. Their week long sales will go live (usually 15% off all tanks) and they give away mucho $$$$ in gift certificates during each of their live stream sessions throughout the day and have a $5000 gift certificate raffle at the end of the day. I'm not quite the fan I used to be as I've been a bit frustrated by the long shipping delays on some of their tanks and I think a few others here have dealt with the same, but the deals are still good and who doesn't like a chance to win free stuff?

Waterbox Aquariums Blue Friday

Just my pet peeves. I'm using ChatGPT to check my grammar as I’m not an English native speaker, so sorry for any mistakes.

I don't really understand the concept of a biotope aquarium.

Why do people intentionally add leaves and wood to an aquarium and call it a biotope? And why do they think it's better for fish than a planted tank? Also, why are biotope aquariums almost always tannin stained?

I've noticed this many times in biotope competitions. When people create a biotope, they often say that there are no aquatic plants in the natural habitat. But surely other biological components, such as riparian plants, trees, algae, and microorganisms, count too, right? I'm pretty sure that an aquarium I've left outdoors, filled with rainwater, is more biologically mature than one where you intentionally try to recreate and calling it biotope.

Now, imagine seeing a clear karst stream with all its natural diversity. But when it comes to recreating that scene for a competition, you choose a section full of leaf litter and fallen wood and call it a karst stream biotope. I'm not saying it's inaccurate, but these streams can be very large and diverse, so why do people tend to focus on that one particular type of scene? What's that all about?

Why are you intentionally trying to make an aquarium look unpleasant when you're supposedly recreating a chalk or karst stream and calling it natural? I honestly have no idea. Because I'm pretty sure that a planted aquarium, despite not containing exclusively native species, is biologically closer to the actual habitat than what people often call a "biotope."

Anyone agree?

I’m looking to try and grow Hygro Chai in my plant farm tank and was looking to see if any of you all who have attempted this could share any lessons learned and/or sources of the plant.

Hi all,

I have an Vulkan CO₂ dual stage pressure regulator lying in a cabinet for 10+ years, after 3-4 years in service after purchased brand new. I think it would need servicing (replacement of internal seals and diaphragms if necessary / overhauling) before I would put it back in use? Does anyone know what requirements would be for servicing a regulator? And it it required to be done by professionals?

Anyone knows or done such service?

Cheers!

As we all know, AI bots are all the rage now. As is usually the case, when new technology surfaces, people find nefarious ways to use it. I feel very negative saying that because I am an optimist by nature. Unfortunately, it's something to manage.

AI bots have found ways to function more like people and this is allowing them to bypass the SPAM measures that most forums have. You may have seen some new members that are posting very robotic replies to old threads. Sometimes it's very difficult to know whether it is a robot or not because some people use AI to clean up their writing before making posts, especially if English isn't their first language.

We have updated our sign-on Captcha to ask a question rather than simply require a click to prove you are not a robot. We also moderate a new member's first post as a backup measure. However, like I said, it's sometimes tough to tell. In such case, we usually send an email asking them to tell us about their tank(s) to see if that helps us spot a bot.

The risk is that if we allow that first post to go through, the AI member would be free to SPAM in the future instead of the current seemingly innocuous replies.

Anyway, no system is perfect. If you notice a post from a new member that seems to have that AI robot quality, please report it so we can check on it. We would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Art

Since these are starting, here's a thread.

Starbond, the makers of Cyanocrylate Adhesives, has a few items on sale. Black Friday Starts Early 2026 | Starbond. I'm a fan of their Clog Prevention Stoppers. There are some sanding discs on sale for the woodworkers in the crowd too.