Themeworld

Aquarium equipment

Setting up your aquarium is this easy!

You can decorate and furnish your home to your taste with table, chairs, carpets and cupboards without needing to hire an interior designer or to purchase expensive art. The same applies to your aquarium!

The equipment in your aquarium is dependent on two factors: What demands will your fish have and what suits your personal taste? Let’s start with the second factor. What fish species would you like to keep? Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi? Then you need a rocky reef aquarium. Goldlfish? Then hardy plants are the only option. Or a jungle aquarium with a shoal of tetras, catfish and a pair of dwarf cichlids? Then you need wood and a lot of plants

What aquarium type suits you?

In “Essentials” you will find 4 themed aquariums with all the information you need, including a film, a setup guide, a shopping list and the electricity consumption.

Jungle aquarium type JBL Rio Pantanal®

A bit of jungle river in your living room. Lively underwater action! No problem with the JBL Rio Pantanal® aquarium

Rocky reef aquarium type JBL Malawi Rocks®

The fish of Lake Malawi are as colourful as the fish in the coral reefs. This aquarium brings a bit of freshwater reef into your living room

Goldfish aquarium type JBL Goldfish Paradise®

Lively goldfish in the aquarium enhance any room perfectly! Invite some new flatmates into your home with this goldfish aquarium.

Aquascaping aquarium type JBL Dreamscape®

Mountains, valleys, meadows and fish! Create your dreamlike landscape under water with the Dreamscape® aquarium

General tips

And if you can’t find what you need with our theme aquariums, here some general tips to set up an aquarium:

Fish stock

First, stock your aquarium with fish that are mutually compatible, which you like and which are suitable for your aquarium size.

First select fish stock with species which are compatible and that you like. Keep in mind their suitability for your aquarium size.

Which fish are suitable for my aquarium?

Fish communities in the aquarium: Which aquarium fish are NOT mutually compatible and why not? Which criteria should you follow when selecting fish? What demands do aquarium fish make on your aquarium and on you? Using examples we explain which fish fit together and why certain fish species should not be kept together.

Substrate

Your selection of fish now determines how fine the substrate needs to be and whether it can be sharp-edged or not in the case of burrowing fish.

Your selection of fish now determines your choice of substrate: Substrate how fine the substrate needs to be and whether it can be sharp-edged or not when choosing bottom dwelling fish. You are totally free in your choice of colours since fish really don’t mind either way. If you want to insert a lot of plants we recommend you add in a long-term substrate fertiliser ( JBL PROFLORA AquaBasis plus ). Put a layerof the substrate of your choice over the substrate fertiliser. The ground may be flatter at the front than in the background area of the aquarium. With the help of a dedicated spatula ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS SP STRAIGHT ) you can perfectly and simply design or smoothen the ground to the desired look.

You will find a selection of substrates here: Substrate

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?

Stones and roots

Now you can put in stones and/or roots. Feel free to choose whichever layout you wish. Don’t forget to include a few hiding places for your future aquarium dwellers where they can hide.

Now you can put in stones and/or roots. You are free to choose the layout. Remember to create a few hiding places for your future aquarium dwellers where they can withdraw. Please add larger stones BEFORE you pour in the substrate so that they can’t slip later. Please glue together higher stone constructions with JBL PROHARU UNIVERSAL or JBL AquaSil transparent to prevent them from falling apart. Please take also into account that you can hide technical equipment with stones and wood (filter inlet, heater, CO2 diffuser, surface skimmer) inside the aquarium. A lot of roots are buoyant. You can test this using a big bucket. If your root is floating you can tether it to a stone with a nylon thread. After about 4 weeks you can carefully remove the thread.

Wood and stones for the aquarium. Things to bear in mind.

Can you put in stones and wood you have collected? What types of stones are there and which are suitable for your aquarium? How can you check stones to see if they contain lime?

Installing technical items

Now install the technical items. Attach the filter suction pipe (for external filters) or the complete filter (for internal filters) to the aquarium.

Now install the technical items. Attach the suction pipe of the filter (for external filters) or the complete filter (for internal filters) to the aquarium. Then, please attach the water-return pipe (filter outlet) to the same side of the tank in order to optimize water circulation in the aquarium.

Installing aquarium technology, where do the heater and filter go?

What goes first: the technology or the setup? We show you the first steps in setting up your aquarium. How do you position the filter suction and return pipe to create the correct flow in the aquarium? Where does the heater go?

Pouring the water in

You have now set up your basic framework. You can now either pour in the water or insert the plants before the water.

The basic framework has now been set up. You can now either pour in the water or insert the plants, before filling with water. This is a matter of opinion. We find it more practical to add the plants first because you can see at once how the plants unfold in the water and how much space they need.

Inserting aquarium plants and adding the water. Here’s how!

How are aquarium plants correctly inserted? What can you do about plants that won’t stay in the soil and keep floating up? How do you add the water without disturbing your arrangement?

Adding plants

When inserting the plants, please remember how tall the plants will grow and how much space they will take up at the sides. Plants that remain flatter should be placed towards the front pane, while taller plants should be placed towards the back.

When inserting the plants please take into account how high the plants will grow and how much space they require to their sides. Lower remaining plants should be at the front, whereas higher plants are better positioned in the background. You can purchase a lot of plants in plant pots at specialist shops. Please remove the wool-like material from the plant roots and prune the roots with scissors ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS S STRAIGHT ). Then carefully insert the plants into the soil. Sometimes the plants get out as quickly as you insert them. A good help here are plant clips ( JBL PROSCAPE PLANTIS PINS ) and long pincers ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P STRAIGHT ).

Inserting aquarium plants and adding the water. Here’s how!

How are aquarium plants correctly inserted? What can you do about plants that won’t stay in the soil and keep floating up? How do you add the water without disturbing your arrangement?

Special cases

Many labyrinth fish build foam nests and need floating plants on the water surface. Burrowing fish such as loaches and armored catfish need "soft" substrate, which means not sharp-edged grit or lava soil!

A lot of labyrinth fish build foam nests and need floating plants at the water surface. Bottom dwellers, such as loaches and armored catfish need a “soft” substrate, which means no sharp-edged grit or lava rock ground! Many cichlids are cave breeders and look for cover in a new home. To satisfy this need, coconut shells ( JBL Cocos Cava ) or other caves are available ( JBL Ceramic spawning cave ).

There are fish species for which every plant is seen as food. For these fish you unfortunately need to forgo plants or you have to rely on plastic plants. But for many plant-eating fish species it is also possible to take countermeasures with lots of fast growing plants. Fish also jump and unintentionally depart from the tank. A good cover or a securing of the corners and loopholes in the cover pane may help against “dried fish”. It is easy to plug such holes with foam.

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.
I accept the YouTube Terms of Service and confirm that I have read and understood the YouTube Terms of Service .

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.