ADM Team Florian Neumann: The River in Massa Gorge

In the post “ The Master School of Aquarium Design 2019: A Workshop With Six Experts " our outline showing all 6 aquariums has already given you the basics about this popular event. Now, by popular request from the myJBL community, we would like to go into more detail about each of the six masters’ aquariums. We asked each master the same set of questions and have summarised their answers in the post here, along with their corresponding pictures. Use the comments function for your questions about the aquariums or for any further information you need.

JBL hosted this event together with the companies Plants (provided the entire plant assortment) and (provided the aquarium combination JUWEL RIO 125 white).

Let’s continue with the aquarium created by Team Florian Neumann and his apprentices Pascal Gräber and Marco Dallmann.

About Master Florian Neumann

You might assume that this art is the result of long experience, but you’d be wrong. Florian has only been active in the aquascaping scene for 5 years and is still considered a newcomer. Through his fabulous work, his networking with other scapers and his online content, it seems like he has been there forever. Known for setting up aquariums he has not only won lots of competitions, but two years ago he even turned his hobby into his profession and opened a gallery, which unfortunately was completely destroyed during the heavy floods in Bad Salzdetfurth.

What is the basic idea of the layout and what does it represent?

In the middle of the Massa Gorge, with a view of the Valais Alps, there is a river which leads through a marvellous landscape with steep slopes and trees. In summer there is a beautiful green area with a fabulous view. It is not only an attractive destination in Switzerland, but also ideal for a reproduction of an aquarium landscape.

Name of the layout

The clear river in the Massa Gorge

What material was used in the hardscape?

As a hardscape we used 55 kg of the so-called mini landscape (Ryuoh Stone). We used a hammer and chisel to knock out many small stones of the large fragments in order to recreate the natural look. In addition, branches of Red Moorwood roots were sawn and cut and integrated into the layout. For this we used JBL PROHARU UNIVERSAL and JBL PROHARU RAPID as an adhesive. This helped us to place the elements where we wanted. The course of the river was modelled with JBL Sansibar RIVER . In order to structure the mountain landscape, we used JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO MINERAL as the shaping substrate. This was covered with a small layer of JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BROWN and sprinkled with JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO POWDER beforehand.

Which plants were used?

Florian's team had also drawn up a list of plants and sent it to us in advance, but unfortunately there was a mix-up at the exhibition and the plants they had ordered weren’t available. Improvising a little they substituted some plants and managed to round up other important ones.

  • Cryptocoryne parva (potted)
  • Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba' (potted)
  • Microsorum pteropus 'Trident' (potted)
  • Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow' (potted)

But honestly, who would have thought that the following plants were really missing in this layout? This showed him and his team that creativity alone is decisive for whether a layout succeeds or not.

  • Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini' 1-2-Grow!
  • Littorella uniflora 1-2-Grow!
  • Cryptocoryne x willisii (potted)
  • Pogostemon helferi (potted)
  • Taxiphyllum 'Spiky' (portion)

What are the special features of the layout?

It may not look like it, but none of the plants was conventionally planted in the soil. They were simply inserted between stones and roots and thus fixed. The substrate JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BROWN is touching the roots, allowing the plants to grow slowly. Otherwise the groundcover HCC would have had to be fixed with JBL PROSCAPE PLANTIS PINS .

The ferns, whose rhizomes tend to rot away when they are stuck in the bottom ground, were therefore deliberately placed in such a way that the rhizome was exposed and able to form roots.

Which other products were used?

In addition to the hardscape mentioned above we installed a CO2 system ( JBL PROFLORA u504 ). Apart from that we only needed a JBL Fish Net, fine to catch rising plant parts and the JBL WishWash to clean the windows. The JBL AquaEX Set 20-45 helped us to siphon fragments from the ground.

What difficulties did you have with the creation?

The big challenge with this layout was to create a high and stable structure which wouldn’t sink down. Here the JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO MINERAL turned out to be ideal. We filled the aquarium with it and its porous and angular structure made it particularly suitable for the rough mountain shape. The stones interlock, are already supplied with nutrients and minerals and ensure that the plants are ideally supplied over a longer period of time. The addition of JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO POWDER and the covering with JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BROWN give the aquarium a long service life.

What maintenance do you recommend for this layout in the start phase and as a routine afterwards? What needs to be considered?

A bacteria starter for the filter ( JBL FilterStart ) and for the water column ( JBL PROCLEAN BAC is ideal so that shrimps and algaevorous snails (Neritina) can be stocked promptly. For the first 10 days the aquarium is only supplied with CO2, but not yet fertilised. The plants have to adjust first and the JBL PROSCAPE VOLCANO MINERAL and JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BROWN will release nutrients at the beginning. This prevents the plants from becoming "stressed" and gives them time to acclimatise. 10 days after the start, 30 % of the water is changed every two days for two weeks. Then for another two weeks 30 % every 4 days. Once the initial phase is complete, a 50 % water change per week is sufficient.

Fertilisation with JBL PROSCAPE Fe +MICROELEMENTS and JBL PROSCAPE NPK MACROELEMENTS starts on the 14th day. Start with half the recommended dosage and slowly increase to 100 % over 3-4 weeks. The water values can be ideally checked and minor errors corrected with the test case JBL PROAQUATEST LAB PROSCAPE .

Tell us some anecdotes about the event day with the apprentices - where did you see them making progress, how did you work together, and what was especially fun?

As in the last years, I especially liked the great teamwork, not only within my own working group, but also between the groups. One of my students already had a bit more experience and so we were able to exchange ideas very effectively. For me, it was an absolutely successful event without any spats or issues, because it was not a competition, but a workshop for learning with each other - the master school.

We had a lot of fun making a lot of noise and drawing attention to ourselves, because the hammer and chisel really made a lot of dirt and noise. Our manual labours displayed a completely different view of aquarium design.

© 29.08.2019

More about this topic for you

The Master School of Aquarium Design 2019: A Workshop With Six Experts

A dream came true for the select twelve who got to learn first-hand from experts how to set up and maintain a nature aquarium/aquascape. They were introduced to the art of design and are now ready to try it out for themselves at home.
Read more

ADM (Aquarium Design Meisterschule) Team Garvin Borschewski: Eastwind

The basic idea for this year's ADM was for the apprentices to try out the (currently very popular) technique of gluing wood and stones with superglue and cigarette filters.
Read more

ADM Team Florian Junghans: The sky’s the limit with this aquarium

With this aquarium I wanted to show that you are not limited in height and can work beyond the frame. "Lost forest" was the motto, because behind all the plants you can only guess what is happening.
Read more

ADM Team Tobias Gawrisch „AquaOwner“: Rock Face

The original idea behind my layout was a massive rock face, completely filled and raised from behind with soil substrate, so that it covers the background completely. You can use small plants and even ground-covers at the top and back of the layout.
Read more

ADM Team Sascha Hoyer: Green Storm

With this layout I wanted to display a Nature Style Aquarium featuring roots, which is both easy to implement and attractive.
Read more

ADM Team Bernd Terletzki: Wind through the Tabletop Mountains

A deep gorge cuts through the middle of the tabletop mountains in Venezuela. The wind propels the rushing water and the fish play in the water currents flowing through the tiny crevices.
Read more
Matthias Wiesensee
Matthias Wiesensee
M.Sc. Wirtschaftsinformatik

Social Media, Online Marketing, Homepage, Kundenservice, Problemlöser, Fotografie, Blogger, Tauchen, Inlineskating, Aquaristik, Gartenteich, Reisen, Technik, Elektronische Musik

About me: Seit Teenagerzeiten mit Aquarien in Kontakt. Klassische Fischaquarien, reine Pflanzenaquarien bis hin zum Aquascape. Aber auch ein Gartenteich und Riffaquarien begleiten mich privat im Hobby. Als Wirtschaftsinformatiker, M.Sc. bin ich als Online Marketing Manager bei JBL für die Bereiche Social Media, Webentwicklung und der Kommunikation mit dem Anwender der JBL Produkte zuständig und kenne die JBL Produkte im Detail.

Comments

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.