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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

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

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.

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?

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.

Hi guys!

I'm new here, but not entirely new to planted tanks though I've been out of the hobby for the better part of the last decade between kids and moving a couple of times - but finally in a spot where I can do something again. I'm mostly going to be making things up as I go along, but plan on a lot of automation (I want to integrate everything into home assistant) and a lot of DIY as I love the challenge of building things out myself.

The starting point:

I picked up a 90P rimless, low-iron tank on a great deal.



I have a rough idea in my head for a stand to be built from plywood - just have a couple other house projects to finish off before starting that built.

Wife says I can only have one aquarium, so for this tank, I want to go all out with a sump to allow for auto top off, and auto water changes, auto fertilizer dosing etc. etc. I have half a plan in my mind.

I've also started on the light fixture which I've modeled up in CAD, and plan on making out of an 8020 extrusion, and some 3D printed bits.

I'm using bridgelux gen 3 thrive CW (3000k) and WW (5000k) LED strips which have super high CRI at 98+ along with some specific XPE2 wavelengths that I'll solder onto some starboards. Far Red (730nm), Red (654nm), Cyan (495nm), Blue (455nm), Visible UV (415nm). Each segment of the white channels will be on its own driver so I can adjust left to right brightness in thirds, and each colour channel on its own driver so I can vary each channel on a time-based approach.

These will be run from a custom PCB board with Meanwell N-LDD drivers, and will run ESPHome on an ESP32 so it can link up with my Home Assistant installation.


That's it for now, this will probably be a very slow build so be warned if you follow along!

Santa came early this year with a new 75g tank. I've never owned a 4' tank ever been stuck on the normal 30" wide 29g and 20g's forever. I wanted the uns 90u 36x22x22 but 750.00 is nuts to me I don't have that much in all tanks and equip I own so went cheap route.
Saw the 75g at PetSmart the imagitarium brand for 150 on sale. Those cheapos have bad reviews on leaking and I believe it as I actually picked up a free leaky 75g imagitarium at petco last week and sold it for snake terrarium for 40.00. Went to petco they also have the 50% off sale on marineland and aqueon. The tank was 159.00 out the door. Got lucky the manager said take this set of new glass tops for free, were a return they cant sell it.I assume the made in USA marineland is a better tank than the other cheapos and I actually don't mind the black silicone.

Went to Lowes today for some wood 4- 2x4x8 and 2- 2x4x10 and sheet if 1/2 osb for top and bottom shelf and for extra strength. When I get done I'm sure it would hold a 300g tank. Will wrap the tank in either bead board wood paneling or 1/4" plywood with some nice moulding on corners. Def gotta make a lip to hide the bottom plastic rim as well so its not so ugly. probably build a hood to why not hide some rims! Just gotta build or find a pair of doors on something else I can steal and use for this stand. I don't plan on getting it setup for few weeks but want stand base 1/2 done now so I can try some diff dry scapes with wood and rocks in it. This will be replacing my 20long I was scaping in other journal its now a plant farm full of ludwigia and plants for sale.
Still not sure on the name on this tank, Whipple landing is where I took some pics I want to copy for the tank. Its feed by the great pee dee river here so name may change later.

His study answers many questions and is filled with data for folks to pour over.

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?

Ive reorganized the order of my tanks so I can better keep track of them ie. Tank 2 moss tank is now tank 3. This helps in any confusion I had when tracking tanks they are in a sort of order now. Rather than taking time editing my old journal id rather create a new thread. Pics will be current (for the most part) as they are posted. I am not aquascaping. I am just farming.