Substrate

[Cjbear087]

So guys I am going to buy a 90gal tank (121x51cm) and I want to plant it. I would like fluval stratum on the bottom, fine gravel in the middle, and sand on the top. Could someone tell me how much of each layer I should use? Preferably in cm. Thanks

[knee]

You can do 3cm of aquasoil and then cap it with  6-9cm of sand. May I ask why you want gravel in between the sand and aquasoil? 
 

I’d also suggest putting the aquasoil in mesh bags before capping with sand incase you need to redo or breakdown the tank. Doing this will avoid mixing of the sand and aquasoil so you can reuse them for other projects or for a rescape. 
 

 

[Tony s]

On 4/5/2024 at 6:16 PM, Cjbear087 said:

would like fluval stratum on the bottom, fine gravel in the middle, and sand on the top

More than likely, those are going to mix. From top to bottom. Fish may dig, if you vac, you could mix, moving decor could mix.

i think @knee has the answer. 

[Cjbear087]

On 4/6/2024 at 3:33 AM, knee said:

You can do 3cm of aquasoil and then cap it with  6-9cm of sand. May I ask why you want gravel in between the sand and aquasoil? 
 

I’d also suggest putting the aquasoil in mesh bags before capping with sand incase you need to redo or breakdown the tank. Doing this will avoid mixing of the sand and aquasoil so you can reuse them for other projects or for a rescape. 
 

 

Yeah that’s a good idea, how many bags should I use for my tank? Also I wanted to do gravel because I have been watching a lot of MD Fish Tanks videos and it’s what he does

[knee]

On 4/6/2024 at 12:28 AM, Cjbear087 said:

Yeah that’s a good idea, how many bags should I use for my tank? Also I wanted to do gravel because I have been watching a lot of MD Fish Tanks videos and it’s what he does

You can do aquasoil and sand to make it easier on you. It’ll achieve the same effect plus sand is easier to plant in. Unless you have a concrete plan on how you want your tank to look, having gravel and sand might get messy when you’re starting to scape the tank. Both gravel and sand are inert so they’re not really adding or improving plant growth and health. 
 

When I scaped my 60 breeder I only put aquasoil towards the back of the tank. All aquatic plants feed through the water column so don’t worry too much if you don’t have the whole tank covered in aquasoil. 

Edited April 6 by knee

[Cjbear087]

On 4/6/2024 at 10:24 AM, knee said:

You can do aquasoil and sand to make it easier on you. It’ll achieve the same effect plus sand is easier to plant in. Unless you have a concrete plan on how you want your tank to look, having gravel and sand might get messy when you’re starting to scape the tank. Both gravel and sand are inert so they’re not really adding or improving plant growth and health. 
 

When I scaped my 60 breeder I only put aquasoil towards the back of the tank. All aquatic plants feed through the water column so don’t worry too much if you don’t have the whole tank covered in aquasoil. 

Ah ok, so how many kilos of soil would you recommend for my sized tank? Could i then spilt that between say 4 bags and cover with 8cm of sand (above the bags)?