How Tank Talks makes money, what it means when we recommend a product, and what your rights and obligations are when you click through to buy something we've covered. Plain language because you deserve a plain explanation.
Tank Talks is a freshwater aquarium blog. Some of the links in our articles are affiliate links. If you click one of those links and buy a product, the retailer pays us a small commission at no extra cost to you. We use those commissions to cover hosting, image rights, plant purchases for our own tanks, and the time it takes to write what we publish. Without affiliate revenue this site couldn't exist in its current form.
We only recommend products we have personally used or that have a clear, well-documented track record in the hobby. Commissions never determine whether a product gets recommended, and they never determine what gets recommended over something else.
Amazon Associates. Tank Talks is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
We may also participate in affiliate programs with specialty aquarium retailers (Aquarium Co-Op, Buce Plant, The Shrimp Farm, and similar) where the relationship is appropriate. When we link to one of these retailers, the same disclosure applies: a small commission to us, no added cost to you.
When you click an affiliate link, the retailer's website logs that the visit came from us. If you make a purchase within a window of time (typically 24 hours for Amazon, longer for some other programs), we receive a percentage of that sale as a commission. The price you pay is identical to the price you'd pay if you'd typed the URL directly. Amazon and other retailers absorb the affiliate fee out of their existing margin; it does not get added to your bill.
You are under no obligation to use our affiliate links. If you'd rather visit Amazon or any other retailer directly, that is completely fine — we'd rather you make an informed decision than feel pressured to use our links.
You will see affiliate disclosures in three places on our site:
If you ever see a product link on Tank Talks and aren't sure whether it's affiliate, you can assume it probably is, and the disclosure above applies.
This is the part most affiliate disclosures don't explain, and we think it's the most important part.
Recommendations are based on use, not commission rate. When we recommend a heater, a filter, a remineralizer, or a plant, we are recommending the option we believe is genuinely best for the use case described in the article. We do not preferentially recommend products with higher affiliate commissions. We do not accept payment, free product, or any other compensation in exchange for recommending a specific product over another.
We sometimes recommend products that pay us nothing. When the best product for a given use case is not available through any affiliate program we participate in, we still recommend it. In those cases we'll mention it without an affiliate link. The recommendation matters more than the commission.
We try to recommend products at multiple price points. Aquarium gear ranges from inexpensive to genuinely expensive. Where it makes sense, we'll identify a "budget pick," an "editor's pick," and (where relevant) a "premium" option, with honest descriptions of what you get for the money difference.
We update recommendations when products change. Aquarium product quality is not static. Brands get bought, manufacturing moves, formulations change. When a product we previously recommended is no longer the best choice, we update the article. Each article shows its last revision date.
To be explicit:
Some products are especially important to get right because they affect living animals — heaters, water conditioners, medications, and bacterial supplements among them. For these categories we apply extra caution:
If you're treating sick fish or shrimp and our recommended product doesn't seem to be helping, please consult a qualified aquatic veterinarian rather than continuing to follow general guidance from any website, ours included.
If you've encountered something on Tank Talks that seems inconsistent with this disclosure, or if you've had a bad experience with a product we recommended, we want to hear about it. Email [email protected] and we'll respond within a reasonable time.
If you believe we've published incorrect information about a product, please tell us — we'd rather correct an article than have inaccurate guidance on the internet under our name.
Last updated: May 9, 2026.
Tank Talks is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.