MD’s Low-tech tanks….Thoughts?

[Nont]

Hi guys,

Recently, I've been watching a lot of MD Fish Tanks videos, I think his videos are super entertaining to watch, and I'm incredibly impressed by how he maintains low-tech tank and red plants without many issues or failure that most low tech people have. However, I'm also very skeptical about it because of that, what are you guys thought?

Also, keep in mind that the purpose of this topic is for discussion not to offend him.

 

[Nick potts]

Also a fan of MD's vids, I enjoy his scapes.

Red plants are possible in low tech tanks, it's just harder to get/keep the colour. The thing to remember with YouTubers etc is they rarely show failures and they don't run most of their tanks for very long.

 

[seedoubleyou]

He’s definitely found his niche within the hobby. I won’t bash him as he’s done really well for himself and the hobby.
My only reservation is that his tanks aren’t running for very long before they’re stripped down. So what’s their longevity?
The ones that are running longer than average are overgrown and often suffering from algae, again not bashing as I appreciate he’s a content creator and has a very busy channel.

Overall he get a thumbs up from me as he comes across as genuine and is happy to admit when he doesn’t know something.

 

[castle]

🤷‍♂️

Edit: my original post was more of a moan about him, than the tanks he creates and that isn’t what was asked for or needed.

As others have said, tanks are not long running and his tap water is plant elixir.

 

[Mattant1984]

I really like what he does and he is obviously a positive figure in the hobby, he also encourages many into fish keeping

He seems to have a very blasé way when it comes to ferts however it works for him (at least for the short term) and he is very lucky with his tap water.

He produces some amazing tanks and you don't see many issues with algae etc

Fair play to the guy

 

[MichaelJ]

When I rebooted the hobby some 3+ years ago I actually watch a bunch of his videos. I found his channel entertaining and inspirational... and his passion for the hobby really shines through... He is one of the best ambassadors for the hobby that I've seen on YouTube (admittedly I haven't seen a lot though) ... He gloss over a lot of finer points, but thats fine actually... I don't think the format works well for discussing the finer points of water chemistry, fertilization etc. and the channels that does are often tediously boring and, more often than not, just plain wrong anyway... In any event, I don't really think he know or cares much about the fertilizer and chemistry bits; he is blessed with perfect water for plants and his tanks are fairly short lived as mentioned. I haven't watched his show for a long time, so I don't know how it's evolved. Too bad he is not posting here any longer.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[PARAGUAY]

Yeh he's a hobbyist whose enthusiasm shines through, he will discuss his failures ,as often he gives a full tour of his aquariums. Don't think he knew how good his water was till George Farmer paid a visit and observed he alot of background CO2 an advantage, Since he moved into new studio tweaked his lighting ,more success, and his substrate method works and could be the answer to his lean liquid fertiliser regime, one to watch IMO

 

[Nont]

Thanks for all the opinions everyone.

 

[si walker]

I like him and it's YouTube!
I've been building a simple wooden stand for a 30ltr cube. It's crap and taken days. MD did it in 2 minutes and can hold a swimming pool.
I watched the one where George visited and was left feeling a bit sad for George. To me he dug him out testing his water. It was a cheap trick. Besides MD doesn't change water so I guess the Co2 levels mean little!
As I tell my students, I can nearly do everything I've seen on YouTube 😅.