Sooner or later every aquarist reaches the point where he wants more than "just" an aquarium with fish and plants. Perhaps he wants to simulate a landscape above water, such as a mountain range with woods or some special habitat (biotope), inside his aquarium. This is the first step to becoming a Proscaper!
Being a ProScaper will bring different requirements to being an average aquarist: You will be caring for more and also more demanding plants and you will have fewer fish to look after in your aquarium. And precisely this is where the main differences to “normal” community tanks lie: In a community tank the fish stock is generally higher and as a result is more highly fed. Thus a certain amount of macronutrients like nitrogen in the form of nitrates, and phosphorus in the form of phosphates is added. In a plant-based aquarium these nutrients are often scarce and need to be added separately (NPK fertilizer). In a community tank this would lead to an over-fertilization and is thus unnecessary. You can use tests to determine the individual fertilizer components in the water and thus adjust the dosage exactly for your aquarium.
Every ProScaper needs the right tools to work on their aquarium. There are also big differences to consider when choosing the substrates: Aquascapers use special burnt soils which are called soils ( Substrate ) . For aquascape aquariums without invertebrates there are soils full of plant nutrients ( JBL PROSCAPE PLANT SOIL BROWN ). For aquariums with invertebrates there is a second soil type, which is identical to JBL PlantSoil, except that it contains NO additional fertilizer.
Fertilisers and Trace Elements
As soon as an aquarist becomes a Proscaper, the stock of his aquarium changes. His Proscape aquarium no longer contains many fish and invertebrates (if any) and this affects the nutrient supply to the plants. Nitrogens, phosphorus and other minerals become rare and have to be actively replenished.
Professional Tools
Every ProScaper needs the right tools to design and maintain their scapes. Designed to fit perfectly to the requirements of professional aquascaping. Made of high-quality steel, made in Japan, (with an extremely smooth surface) for scissors with the best quality and the highest cutting precision. The pincers have crosswise fluted tips to reach the plants in an optimum manner and to prevent squeezing them. All tools are weight-optimized for fatigue-free working. They make working in the aquarium more fun!
Soils / Substrates
Ideal substrates for the professional care of plants and shrimps. Proscapers often use special substrates (soils), which have been especially adapted to their requirements. Unlike "normal" substrates (sand, gravel), soils are not water-neutral, but have a softening effect. They make the water softer and acidify the water just enough to slide the pH value slightly into the acidic range. The JBL plant soils are rich in nutrients and supply the plants with both nutrients and minerals, whereas the shrimp soils are free of nutrients.
Water Tests
The most important water parameters for plant aquariums with new, highly sensitive test sets. Proscapers always know exactly what’s going on in their aquarium. For this they need a water analysis! These tests enable every proscaper to analyse the most important water parameters in his water, to measure the exact dosage of the individual fertilizer components, and so on.
