thE TINT

the art and science of botanical method aquarium keeping.

  • NATURE WILL SORT IT OUT.

    I think that there is something inherently wonderful about doing the aquairum hobby on a “basic” level. You know, real simple approaches.  One of these is the idea that excessively intervening in your tank’s function, or even looking at every deviation from what you’d consider to be “acceptable” is somehow a “problem” that we need…

  • TREES OF LIFE? THE “FUNCTIONAL AESTHETICS” OF WOOD IN OUR AQUARIUMS

    Just about everything that we play with in the botanical method aquarium world- leaves, seed pods, bark, stems- has its origin in…trees. And trees, of course, yield wood. Trees are perhaps one of the most important influences on the dynamic tropical habitats we are fascinated by- perhaps second only to soils. Virtually every time we plan…

  • WHEN THE FISH HOOKS THE MAN…

    There are numerous approaches to utilizing botanicals in our aquariums, ranging from the purely aesthetic idea of “tossing in a few leaves and seed pods”, to a full-blown biotope-inspired aquarium, painstakingly thought-out to recreate the function and form of a specific habitat. Of course, we’ve talked a lot about creating aquariums to replicate specific habitats…it’s kind of…

  • THE UPSIDE OF DETRItUS?

    Detritus. The very mention of the word can send most aquarists into a cold sweat. The definition of this stuff, as accepted in the aquarium hobby, is kind of sketchy in this regard; not flattering at the very least: “detritus is dead particulate organic matter. It typically includes the bodies or fragments of dead organisms, as well…

  • THE BIOME

    As we’ve all started to figure out by now, our botanical-influenced aquariums are a lot more of a little slice of Nature that you’re recreating in your home then they are just a “pet-holding container.” Our aquariums are actually a form of biome. BIOME: (bi·ome) : A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna…

  • “The operating system”

    It’s time to move beyond just the pretty look of the botanical-method aquarium, and venture into a deeper stage of understanding how our aquariums function as miniature ecosystems. Part of the whole “game” of the botanical method aquarium is understanding how, why and what happens to terrestrial materials when they’re placed in water. Nature has…

  • “ENVIRONMENTAL INTIMACY” AND THE CASE FOR KILLIFISHES

    Killifishes are beyond fascinating for me. Not only is their life cycle amazing, the fact that they are so closely connected to their environments perhaps more than almost any fishes we’ve worked with in the hobby is an amazing ‘unlock” for so many things we want to do as hobbyists. And the annual varieties, in particular,…

  • BOTANICAL METHOD “MENTAL SHIFTS” WE HAVE TO MAKE: ACCEPTING “THE BIG THREE”, and the “gospel” according to scott..

    Every once in a while, I need to get a bit preachy to get my points across. It almost always ruffles a few feathers…But my intentions are good, I promise. Sometimes I need to give the hobby a bit of “tough love.” The aquarium hobby tends to latch on to all kinds of ideas, practices,…

  • a bit more on water Clarity and color…I call it “flavor.”

    One of the interesting “side effects” of writing a blog called “The Tint”- or having owned a company called “Tannin Aquatics” is that you give everyone the impression that all you specialize in is creating aquariums with lots of leaves and stuff and golden-brown, tinted water. Makes sense, for sure. And yeah, like to think…

  • water colors?

    One of the most common misconceptions about botanical-method aquariums is that they must absolutely be filled with deeply tinted water and replete with fungal-and-biofilm-encrusted decomposing leaves, twigs and seed pods. Remember, this is a methodology, not a “style of aquascaping”, and the reality is that you can have an aquarium which fully embraces the ecological aspects…