In the works

What we are writing next

We write when the hobby’s received wisdom and the actual evidence have come apart. Here is what is on the bench right now — what each piece settles, and when you can read it.

Today

Two keepers, opposite advice, both right

Fish quarantine: the science, and when it can be skipped

One keeper quarantines every fish for a month; another has added them straight to the display for fifteen years without an outbreak. Both positions rest on real biology, and the disagreement dissolves once you see what quarantine reliably prevents, what slips past it regardless, and why even a diligent three-week quarantine can end in an outbreak. You come away able to price the risk for a particular fish rather than applying a blanket rule.

Guide ·12 min read

Straight after that

Tomorrow

Carpet, climber or filler

Hydrocotyle tripartita 'Japan': the versatile trilobed creeper

Pinned flat and trimmed it makes a forgiving beginner carpet; left to itself it climbs hardscape and mounds into a bushy green filler. No CO2 required, and light is what mainly decides whether it stays low or reaches for the surface.

Plant profile ·6 min read

In 2 days

The filter clean that caused it

Cloudy aquarium water: what a bacterial bloom really means

Milky water sends most people straight for a deep filter clean, which is the one response most likely to prolong it. The haze is not dirt but free-floating bacteria feeding on a surplus of organics, so stripping the biofilm that was competing for that food hands them the advantage. This sets out which part of a bloom is genuinely urgent, which is only a warning sign, and why the cure is mostly patience.

Guide ·13 min read

In the weeks ahead

Guide Plant profile

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