Niade is a personal workbook and journal about two planted freshwater aquariums:  the Fireplace Aquarium and the Shrimphaus.  It records what has worked, what hasn’t, and has occasional guidebook-style investigations into plants, shrimp, water chemistry and aquarium equipment.

Fireplace Aquarium

Fireplace Aquarium after the rescape
post-rescape

The Fireplace Aquarium is a heated, CO2-injected, closed-top aquarium with lots of living plants and fish, and a few snails and shrimp.

Explore the Fireplace Aquarium

Shrimphaus

Shrimphaus as of 9-Jul-2026
Shrimphaus

Shrimphaus is a shrimp-only, largely unheated, “low tech” (no injected CO2), open-top aquarium.  Both Neocaridina and Caridina species breed successfully in the highly unusual water chemistry of the haus.

Explore the Shrimphaus

Planted tank investigations

What worked straight away, and what didn’t.  When things go sideways, sorting out why that happened and what actually fixes it.

Baby shrimp

Where they come from, why you might not be getting any, and what the water has to do with it.

Water chemistry, properly measured

pH, CO2 and alkalinity, and testing methods that work.

What actually works?

Products, practices and conventional wisdom tested against evidence.  Includes stuff that doesn’t work.

Navigational tips

  • You can also select from Categories and Tags below to find all categorised topics.
  • For a holistic view check the sitemap and the knowledge graph.
  • The search box at the very bottom of the page is also pretty good.

Recently updated reference pages

Latest journal entries

How Niade began:  the original Fireplace Aquarium and the later arrival of the Shrimphaus.