On April 13, 2022 in my function as a JBL sales representative I went to meet Konstantin Ruske the zoo manager of the animal, leisure & dinosaur park Germendorf. He wanted to set up a "Rainbow Fish Aquarium" project in the Australian house and was keen for me to get an idea of the conditions on site so we could discuss details and ideas.
I found an empty glass aquarium with the dimensions 200cm x 50cm x 50cm with a volume of 500 litres. This was standing at the bottom of a large space terrarium which in turn was inhabited by a few bearded dragons and a few finches.
Back home I started planning the technical components, the substrate and various water care products. Since the aquarium is on the ground, my filter couldn’t be an external filter, so I decided to use several JBL CRISTALPROFI i200 greenline internal filters, which were equipped with different biological filter media in the chambers, as well as a JBL ProFlow u2000 flow pump to achieve a better water circulation on the length of 2m. For the lighting I selected two JBL LED Solar Natur 68W. For the stones, roots and plants I needed some help and was competently supported by the aquascaper Markus Behse who organized and arranged the complete hardscape (stones / roots) and the aquatic plants.
On Sunday, 15th May 22 we headed again towards Germendorf. We met at 9:30 in the Australian house. We received active support from the two trainees Svenja Schulze and Darlene Gebert, who are currently training as zookeepers.
Ronny Thorhauer a former employee of JBL and I put ourselves in charge of training these apprentices and teach them the basics of aquaristics, plant care, and water chemistry. Markus had already climbed into the terrarium and started to set up the aquarium, but with an ambient temperature of 28 degrees and a constantly stooped posture, this was very sweaty work. He very quickly and skillfully arranged the root and stones. Then he brought in the already pre-washed JBL Manado substrate. As part of the training we freed multiple aquatic plants from over 80 plant pots and these were passed to Markus for insertion.
With various tweezers and scissors, the plants were prepared and inserted into the Manado substrate and the epiphytes were fixed with JBL PROHARU RAPID on the roots. After 4.5 hours it was done and we could start filling. Susanne Schaser from JBL's online marketing department captured the results and the day in multiple photos, as you can see here.
This also marks the beginning of a long-term cooperation between the Germendorf Animal, Leisure and Dinosaur Park and JBL. We are now waiting patiently for the aquatic plants to grow and are observing closely how the water quality and filter performance match up, so that we can start stocking the fish in 2 - 3 weeks. Everyone involved had a lot of fun designing and creating this aquarium project, which is now there for visitors to the zoo to enjoy.
If you're in the area, stop by the Germendorf Animal, Leisure and Dinosaur Park!
