November 22, 2018

Baby Steps and giant leaps..

It's pretty apparent to me that the burgeoning interest in blackwater, botanical-style aquariums isn't jus some passing "fad" anymore.

It looks like there are so many "crossover" hobbyists looking to utilizing botanicals and leaves to foster more natural condtions in their aquariums- be they soft and acidic, alkaline and "tinted", brackish, or otherwise.

As we've discussed before, you can use botanicals simply to provide a unique aesthetic in your aquarium- or take it into a whole different direction and explore some new environmental conditions and their impact on your fishes.

That being said, I'm totally aware that not everyone wan't to jump in, "lock stock and barrel", as they say and just create a big ol' botanical style aquarium from the start. You want to ease into it... Maybe you want to experiment a bit with something really exotic...Perhaps an extreme type of environmental simulation (a desiccating temporal pool, peat bog, etc..) and you just don't want to commit to a 50 or 75 gallon tank to do the job...

Enter the nano tank!

I can't think of a better way to execute "proof of concept" ideas than with a little 1 to 5 gallon aquarium, Sure, you might have some issues in terms of scale, the number of fishes you could add, etc...but from a purely "test the idea" standpoint, utilizing a little tank makes a lot of sense.

You can keep the expense down, the focus tight, and the observations simple in one of these little guys. Sure, you need to understand the limitations, as mentioned above, but the idea of being gable to go from concept to execution quickly and with a minimum of expense, space, and let's be honest- commitment (in terms of a long-term use of valuable space/resources on an idea that has a good chance of bombing..), you can't beat a nano tank!

So I say, build that bog! Flood that forest! Manage that Mangrove! Ideate, contemplate...execute!

Take baby steps that can be scaled up to "giant leaps", which will benefit both you and the hobby for decades to come!

To that end, we're going to announce soon some stuff that we hope will enable all of you tweakers, experimenters, idea fiends, closet "mad scientists", and world changers to take on and execute some of these exciting challenges.

Dream big. Execute small.

Stay focused. Stay excited. Stay innovative. Stay innovative...

And Stay Wet.

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics