JBL Tropol - 250ml

JBL Tropol - 250ml is a blackwater conditioner for freshwater aquariums and shrimp tanks. It carries humic substances from peat and tannin from oak bark, which tint the water a light tea colour. JBL compares the effect to a pair of sunglasses, because the tint holds back some of the light that algae depend on.

Key Features

• Humic substances and tannins: the same compounds that leach out of leaves and wood in a tropical stream, from peat and oak bark here.
• Tints the water: a light tea colour is the point of the product, not a fault with it.
• Works as a light filter: JBL's comparison is to sunglasses: less light through the water means less for algae to work with.
• For blackwater fish and shrimp: JBL lists it for freshwater aquariums and shrimp tanks, and says it helps blackwater species settle.
• Dose by water volume: work out the litres you actually have, not the tank's advertised size. Substrate, rock and equipment take up a surprising amount of it.
• 250ml bottle: used at water changes, so a bottle lasts a planted tank a while.

Good To Know

• Keep the bottle closed, upright and out of direct sun. Heat and light shorten the shelf life of any liquid water treatment.
• Keep it away from children and pets, and do not decant it into a drinks bottle.
• A water conditioner is not a medicine. A fish that is visibly ill needs a diagnosis, not a bottle of conditioner.
• Expect the water to go a pale brown. If you want colourless water, this is not the product for you.
• Tannins and humic acids tend to nudge the pH down in soft water. Test if your fish are near the edge of their range, and check carbonate hardness too, since low KH is what lets pH move.
• It reduces the light reaching algae. It does not remove the nitrate and phosphate that feed them.