Tools for your aquarium - what do you need to consider?

For manual or artistic work, the right tools are a great help. They let you optimize your work processes. Some tools have become indispensable to us humans - after all, who wants to drive in a nail without a hammer or dig a hole without a shovel? In the aquarium hobby, too, suitable tools are a valuable aid. So-called aquascaping tools are used above all for setting up and maintaining elaborately designed aquarium layouts. These special tools make it easier for aquarium owners to set up their tank, maintain it and, above all, shape their aquatic plants. There are various plant scissors, such as wave scissors or spring scissors, which are specially designed for trimming carpeting aquarium plants. Longer scissors, whether straight or curved, are ideal for trimming plants in larger aquariums. Short, maneuverable scissors are great for use in small nano aquascapes.

Long tweezers of various kinds are also used in planted aquariums and aquascaping. They make it much easier to insert aquarium plants when setting up a new tank, but they also help to remove fallen leaves, food leftovers or anything else you want out of the aquarium.

Typical aquascaping tools also include so-called sand flatteners. These gravel or sand spatulas are ideal for shaping substrate structures, for example to form or restore slopes, hollows or hills. Blade cleaners made of stainless steel or other materials are useful aids for cleaning the glass panes of the aquarium. Of course, tools commonly used in other areas of the aquarium hobby, such as fish nets and catch nets, are also part of the aquascaping tools.

In this section of the Aquascaping Wiki, we take a closer look at the various aquarium tools, their areas of application and the best way to work with them.