Plant care
Your plants need a bit of love - the plant care
With the right fertilisation and light your plant will grow vigorously and healthy. But like in the rainforest there is a battle for light. Everyone wants to be the first and get the best place. Now it’s your turn to be an arbitrator. Many stem plants become long and only develop beautiful leaves in their upper regions. Other plants reproduce through stolons and grow in areas where they don’t belong. On some plants individual leaves will die off, whereas others grow so closely that they obstruct each other. Then action is required:
Trim off long-stemmed plants, insert them again and remove the “unsightly” lower part. These measures are most easily and accurately done with a pair of scissors angled at the front ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS S CURVED ) and long pincers ( JBL PROSCAPE TOOLS P STRAIGHT ). Once you have worked with these two tools, you will never again try to shorten and plant plants with your fingers. And you will really save a lot of work!
Thin out plants which are too close together and have hardly any leaves left, to give them more space. When buying new plants in bundles, always remember to separate them from the bundle and plant them a little distance apart. Then problems arising from aquarium plants standing too close together will not occur so quickly.
Cut off dead plant leaves at their stem to remove them. As soon as leaves of aquarium plants become light green, brownish, translucent or holey, they need to be removed completely. As they decompose they release the phosphates and nitrates bound in them back into the aquarium water and thus promote algae growth. Always follow this by an investigation into the cause: Light-coloured leaves indicate mineral deficiency, mostly iron deficiency => increase fertiliser quantity. Brown leaves can have many causes. Often it is just the change from overwater leaves to underwater leaves. Translucent leaves occur when brown leaves are not removed and the leaves decompose more and more. Holey leaves indicate herbivorous fish such as long-whiskered catfish or loaches.
Cut off leaves covered in algae to remove them. Plant leaves covered with algae will anyway die sooner or later. You can try removing the algae by hand. This is easiest with the JBL care glove ( JBL PROSCAPE CLEANING GLOVE ). Hold each leaf between two gloved fingers and simply brush off the algae.
Cut off and remove stolons, if necessary. In principle, plant stolons are something positive, because the plant is multiplying and with lawn plants this is absolutely desirable. However, large plants such as Amazon swordplants also reproduce through their stolons and then grow close to the front glass, for example. This can stop you from seeing into the aquarium. So be careful which plant forms stolons and where they grow!
Carry out basic fertilisation weekly with JBL PROFLORA Ferropol . With this basic supply, about 90 % of all available aquarium plant species will grow excellently and not show any deficiency symptoms such as light green leaves (chlorosis). Reddish and other very demanding plants have a higher need for CO2 and mineral fertilisation with JBL PROFLORA Ferropol . They also need a larger amount of trace elements, which can only be covered by additional fertilisation with a daily fertiliser ( JBL PROFLORA Ferropol 24 ).
Weekly maintenance: Plant care, water testing
We explain everything that needs doing once a week and show you how to do it properly: the care of your aquarium plants and the most important water tests.
Carry out daily fertilisation with JBL PROFLORA Ferropol 24 . As explained in point 6, red and other demanding aquarium plant species need daily fertilisation in addition to the basic fertilisation. Some trace elements react more quickly with the oxygen in the water and can then no longer be used by the plants. The JBL daily fertiliser contains these sensitive minerals as well as potassium and iron, which are particularly important for fast-growing, red and sensitive aquarium plants. By adding them daily (instead of weekly), the plants can extract the minerals from the water before they are oxidised by the oxygen in the water to insoluble compounds (colloquially: before they rust).
Apply root fertiliser monthly with JBL PROFLORA Ferropol Root and every six months with JBL PROFLORA 7 Balls . Most aquatic plants also absorb nutrients through their roots. The more extensive the root network, the more nutrients are absorbed through the roots. Therefore, these aquatic plants need to be provided with fertiliser through their roots. JBL PROFLORA Ferropol Root supplies the plant roots with minerals for about one month, while 7 Balls supplies the plant roots with clay minerals.
Monthly maintenance: filter cleaning, plant fertilisation, pane cleaning
We explain everything that needs doing once a month and show you how to do it properly: cleaning your filter, fertilising your plants and cleaning the panes.
And that's it! Plant care is not very extensive, but it’s still really important to keep your plant stock healthy and beautiful in the LONG-TERM.