The substrate of your aquarium

The basis for your plants and the habitat

Breeders of ornamental fish mostly run their breeding tanks without a substrate to make the cleaning faster and easier. But an aquarium with substrate not only looks more attractive, it also functions much better because the substrate supports the filter with its own significant filtration effect. It is furthermore important for the plant roots, and quite a few fish species use it as a hiding place (flounder, loaches, catfish, rays).

These substrates are available

The different grain sizes of the substrate have different advantages and disadvantages.

Fine sand

Ideal for all bottom-dwelling fish which like scavenging or burying themselves. Plants also root perfectly in the sand but only have a good hold with well-developed roots. With the help of plant pegs ( JBL PROSCAPE PLANTIS PINS ) fixing of plants in the ground is much easier! Disadvantage of fine sand: You can’t create “mountains and valleys” because the sand levels off after a while. Fine sand is not suited for undergravel heating cables. The heat dissipation doesn’t really work in it.

JBL Sansibar SNOW

Snow-white substrate for freshwater and marine aquariums and aqua-terrariums

  • Very fine sandy soil for all aquarium types: substrate for fresh and saltwater aquariums as well as aqua-terrariums and terrariums
from 24,23 €

JBL Sansibar WHITE

White, fine substrate for freshwater and saltwater aquariums

  • Perfect hold for plant roots: substrate with 0.2 - 0.6 mm grain size for freshwater and marine aquariums and terrariums
from 13,83 €

JBL Sansibar RED

Fine, red substrate for fresh- and saltwater aquariums

  • Fine, uncoloured sandy soil: substrate for fresh and saltwater aquariums and aqua-terrariums
from 19,64 €

JBL Sansibar ORANGE

Orange, fine substrate for freshwater and saltwater aquariums

  • Fine, uncoloured sandy soil for freshwater and saltwater aquariums and aqua-terrariums
from 19,30 €
Fine gravel

Also perfect for bottom-dwelling fish species because it has no sharp edges. Plants quickly grow healthy and strong roots. For modelling the ground we recommend stones or wood to build terraces. Not ideal for undergravel heating cables, but okay.

JBL Sansibar DARK

Dark substrate for freshwater and saltwater aquariums

  • Perfect hold for plant roots: substrate with 0.2 - 0.6 mm grain size for freshwater and marine aquariums and terrariums
from 14,18 €

JBL Sansibar RIVER

Light, fine substrate with black pebbles for freshwater and marine aquariums

  • Substrate with 0.8 mm grain size for freshwater and marine aquariums and terrariums
from 13,83 €

JBL Sansibar GREY

Grey, fine substrate for freshwater and saltwater aquariums

  • Fine, uncoloured sandy soil: substrate for fresh and saltwater aquariums and aqua-terrariums
from 14,70 €
Medium-sized gravel

Often an inexpensive substrate, but unsuitable for bottom-dwelling fish. Due to its a bit coarser structure the waste enters slightly deeper and needs to be regularly siphoned from deeper layers with a gravel cleaner. Well suited for aquatic plants.

Coarse gravel

Unsuitable for bottom-dwelling and digging fish. Is often used with large fish to prevent them rearranging the tank all the time. Difficult to clean. For plants only suitable to a limited extent. Better insert the plants into small pots.

Natural soil

Just about the best thing there is! This natural substrate has no sharp edges and is ideal for bottom-dwelling and bottom feeding fish species, such as armored catfish. Plants grow roots very quickly and can be easily removed at a later stage without removing half of the substrate from the tank. The only disadvantage: The JBL Manado substrate is so loose that plants easily loosen themselves from the ground again during their insertion. With JBL plant pegs ( JBL PROSCAPE PLANTIS PINS ) you can easily and reliably attach new plants to any ground.

JBL Manado DARK

Dark natural substrate for aquariums

  • Perfect for the plant care in freshwater aquariums. Its porous structure promotes the growth of roots. Suitable for digging fish
from 13,95 €

JBL Manado

Natural substrate for freshwater aquariums

  • Optimal plant care through porous structure and nutrient storage function: substrate for freshwater aquariums
from 8,39 €
Lava substrate

Looks very natural but is totally unsuitable for bottom-feeders and digging fish! The animals hurt themselves on the sharp edges! Plants root very well inside and it is perfect for modelling the ground design. Lava substrate is often used for the design to form a solid foundation for wood and stones. Sand or gravel would sink or dug away by fish. The lava substrate becomes firmly interlocked and therefore aquascapers always use it as foundation.

JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO MINERAL

Volcanic natural substrate for aquascaping

  • Volcanic rock substrate as stable foundation for rock and root wood constructions: dedicated substrate for aquascaping aquariums
from 14,70 €
Soil

Aquarists who like heavily planted aquariums and are fans of sensitive plants have special demands on the ideal substrate: It has to consist of burnt soil and contain lots of nutrients. JBL offers two options: JBL PlantSoil is loaded with a lot of nutrients and ideal for heavily planted aquariums (aquascaping). Whereas JBL ShrimpSoil has not been loaded with additional nutrients and is perfectly suited for aquariums with invertebrates (e.g. shrimps) and plants.

JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BROWN

Brown freshwater substrate for aquascaping

  • Complete nutrient substrate for aquatic plants: special substrate for aquascaping aquariums
from 22,87 €

JBL PROSCAPE SHRIMPS SOIL BROWN

Brown substrate for shrimp aquariums

  • Soil without additional nutrients for shrimp aquariums: special substrate for aquascaping aquariums
from 26,10 €

The aquarium substrate: gravel, sand or nutrient substrate?

We show you all types of aquarium substrate from sand to coarse gravel with all their advantages and disadvantages. Why are some substrates unsuitable for undergravel heaters or for burrowing fish? What are nutrient substrates and soil?

How thick does the substrate need to be?

This question cannot be answered generally since there are very different types of aquariums. Generally the substrate layer shouldn’t be thinner than 3-5 cm. In a heavily planted tank, the layer thickness can certainly be 6-8 cm thick.

Try piling the substrate higher towards the back. This will make your aquarium seem more spacious and dirt is more likely to collect at the lowest point. However, it’s no use trying to form "mountains and valleys" with the substrate.

How does the substrate in the plant aquarium need to be layered?

For most aquariums with aquatic plants we advise following the framework: First a layer of long-term substrate fertiliser ( JBL PROFLORA AquaBasis plus ) and above a natural substrate ( JBL Manado ).

Only for extremly heavily planted aquariums (aquascaping) the structure is different: With the help of JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO MINERAL the landscape can be coarsely modelled. On this lava substrate you can directly place the stones or the wood. It prevents the sinking of the heavy decoration elements. Then everything can be covered with JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BROWN .

Does the substrate need to be completely renewed?

Sand, gravel and natural substrates, such as JBL Manado don’t need to be replaced. The regular siphoning of the substrate with a gravel cleaner ( JBL AquaEX Set 20-45 ) is a sufficient care measure.

In our experience soil substrates lose their positive characteristics after two years at the latest and need to be replaced. But since aquascapers are constantly recreating their “works of art” anyway, this is not really a disadvantage.

A word about cookies before we continue

The JBL Homepage also uses several types of cookies to provide you with full functionality and many services: We require technical and functional cookies to ensure that everything works when you visit this website. We also use cookies for marketing purposes. This ensures that we recognise you when you visit our extensive site again, that we can measure the success of our campaigns and that the personalisation cookies allow us to address you individually and directly, adapted to your needs - even outside our website. You can determine at any time - even at a later date - which cookies you allow and which you do not allow (more on this under "Change settings").

The JBL website uses several types of cookies to provide you with full functionality and many services: Technical and functional cookies are absolutely necessary so that everything works when you visit this website. In addition, we use cookies for marketing purposes. You can determine at any time - even at a later date - which cookies you allow and which you do not (more on this under "Change settings").

Our data protection declaration tells you how we process personal data and what purposes we use the data processing for. tells you how we process personal data and what purposes we use the data processing for. Please confirm the use of all cookies by clicking "Accept" - and you're on your way.

Are you over 16 years old? Then confirm the use of all cookies with "Noticed" and you are ready to go.

Choose your cookie settings

Technical and functional cookies, so that everything works when you visit our website.
Marketing cookies, so that we recognize you on our pages and can measure the success of our campaigns.

PUSH messages from JBL

What are PUSH messages? As part of the W3C standard, web notifications define an API for end-user notifications that are sent to the user's desktop and/or mobile devices via the browser. Notifications appear on the end devices as they are familiar to the end user from apps installed on the device (e.g. emails). Notifications appear on the end user’s device, just like an app (e.g. for emails) installed on the device.

These notifications enable a website operator to contact its users whenever they have a browser open - it doesn’t matter whether the user is currently visiting the website or not.

To be able to send web push notifications, all you need is a website with a web push code installed. This allows brands without apps to take advantage of many of the benefits of push notifications (personalised real-time communications at just the right moment).

Web notifications are part of the W3C standard and define an API for end user notifications. A notification makes it possible to inform the user about an event, such as a new blog post, outside the context of a website.

JBL GmbH & Co. KG provides this service free of charge, and it is easy to activate or deactivate.