Daniel Katcher

I've been keeping freshwater aquariums for over fifteen years, starting with a battered 10-gallon tank I inherited from a neighbor in college and never quite managed to stop upgrading from. What began as a way to keep a few guppies alive turned into a genuine obsession with planted tanks, water chemistry and the slow, patient work of getting a small ecosystem to balance itself.

By day, I work as a mechanical engineer, which I blame for my habit of over-researching every diffuser, filter and dosing pump before buying it — and for the spreadsheet I still keep of every water test I've ever run. That same instinct is what shaped AquaTankGear: guides that explain not just what to do, but why it works, so readers can make good calls on tanks I've never seen.

I currently run three tanks at home, including a heavily planted 75-gallon community tank that serves as the unofficial test bed for most of the equipment reviewed on this site, and a nano shrimp tank I describe as "more trouble than it's worth and worth every bit of trouble." Outside the fishroom, I spend my time hiking, restoring an old workbench in my garage, and answering aquarium questions from friends far more often than they probably expect.

You can read more about the site itself, including how guides are researched and kept up to date, on the About page.