In this studio vlog I’m dealing with a different kind of problem than the green water from the last video: one of my tanks from the back end of 2025 has just absolutely romped away. The plant that’s taken over is Potamogeton gayi (pretty sure that’s how it’s pronounced…), and it’s completely swallowed the foreground to the point where I can barely see the epiphytes and there’s hardly any open sand left for the corys. On top of that, after harvesting a load for my 2026 contest scape, I seem to have kickstarted a proper wave of hair algae as well. So the job today is basic, real-world low-tech maintenance: manual removal, trimming, and trying to get the balance back. I pull the plant back slowly to avoid wrecking the substrate, tidy up the roots (mostly by trimming rather than yanking), and then I cap the front with a fresh dusting of sand—because honestly, fresh sand covers a multitude of sins. I also use a little George Farmer tip and flip algae-covered rocks so the algae is starved of light. Along the way I notice loads of cherry shrimp babies thriving in the dense cover, and it’s a good reminder that comfort and habitat matter. I also rearrange the studio a bit—because filming is part of the hobby now—and call it a day, letting the tank recover after what is basically major surgery.