This is where to find a quick start guide for the scaping of an aquarium. Using pictures we show you in easy steps how to create your own scape and make your aquarium a perfect ProScape.
Clean the aquarium with JBL PROCLEAN AQUA . Never use household cleaners.
Pile up lava granulate ( JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO MINERAL ) to create a stable foundation for the stones or wood to be placed on. The lava granulate prevents the stones from subsiding when you add soil, which is less stable.
Spread lava granulate powder ( JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO POWDER ) over the entire surface of the aquarium base to provide the plants with a long-term mineral-based nutrient substrate with trace elements.
Now spread the substrate ( JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BEIGE or JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BROWN ).
Shape or use a spatula ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS SP STRAIGHT ) to smooth the soil into the appearance you want for the base.
Now put in stones and wood to scape your landscape. Remember to place heavy stones on a substructure of JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO MINERAL only and push them through the soil down to the substructure.
Now prepare the plants: using strong scissors ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS S STRAIGHT ), cut off the rock wool around the plant roots (here Hemianthus calithrichoides cuba).
Use the scissors to cut into the root area from below in a cross-cross shape. You can now “unhook” the plant from the rock wool using the tips of the scissors or pincers.
Use slender pincers ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P SLIM LINE ) to pull the rock wool remains from the water trumpet (cryptocorynes) roots.
Rinse out any remaining traces of the rock wool thoroughly. It is important to remove the rock wool completely because it is saturated in fertilizer, which could lead to algae problems.
With IN-VITRO plants, such as the Eleocharis sp. Mini here (kept wet in containers with culture growth medium), please remove the transparent culture medium as thoroughly as possible.
Please also squeeze and rinse these roots after you have removed them with the pincers.
Pull apart the single plants.
Using the slender pincers ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P SLIM LINE ), push the foreground plants into the soil.
Don’t forget to spray the plants with water regularly! This will prevent the plants from drying out.
Hygrophila corymbosa siamensis is particularly well-suited for the sides behind the stones.
For plants with longer roots it is helpful to push them deeper into the soil and to pull them out again to the right height (base of the leaf).
Be radical and cut off all the leaves from many plants, such as the cryptocorynes!
Every last leaf! The leaves often die after planting anyway and start to pollute the water. It is better to remove them beforehand.
Using curved pincers ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P CURVED ) put in plants which have strong and vertical roots, such as cryptocorynes.
You can use curved spring scissors ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS S SPRING ) not only for cutting mosses but also for the precise removal of individual plant leaves (here Cryptocoryne beckettii petchii). Here too it is important: it is better to cut off a few extra leaves than to have leaves dying in the aquarium after the plant has been moved.
With stem plants, such as the Cabomba, use spring scissors ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS S SPRING ) to cut off several centimetres of the lower leaves. This enables you to slide the stem deep enough into the soil, so that the plant won’t slip out again.
Don’t push more than 2 stems at once into the soil with the slender pincers ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P SLIM LINE ). The first leaves have to be above the ground.
Lay down kitchen paper and carefully pour in the water over it.
When you have reached a water level of a few centimetres you can remove the kitchen paper and continue filling with low water pressure. Please make sure you maintain a medium temperature of 20 -25°C.
This is the first time you see your scape with water. You can now assess the optical effect of the stem plants.
Shorten the lawn plants and the stem plants with the spring scissors under water and then remove the floating plant remains.
A newly laid scape never looks the same as the end result. Please be patient and give the plants time to grow.
Now for the technological side: install the filter, CO2 fertilization and lighting.
Your maintenance, especially in the first days, should include a partial water change, fertilization with NPK ( JBL PROSCAPE NPK MACROELEMENTS ) and water tests to determine the fertilization requirement.
Over the coming days you will see the plants growing and your scape becoming more and more beautiful.
