# Tropica soil on top of Tropica substrate



## Jørgensen. (16 Jan 2020)

Hello.
Can i use Tropica soil on top of Tropica substrate?- or will that just result in substrate in the water column?

Maybe there is a better combination?
It's for a heavy planted tank where i want to try to make some hills.

Thank you.


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## Simon Cole (21 Jan 2020)

For steep hills I use crushed basalt (top) - Tropica substrate (middle) - pumice (bottom).
For more heavily planted tanks I replace the pumice with Tropica soil. 
The benefit of basalt is the slope angle will happily stay at 45 degrees elevation.

I think that your concerns are valid, I think the Tropica substrate could plume up a bit when you replant because Tropica soil is a lot lighter than gravel.


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## Ryan Thang To (21 Jan 2020)

Hi
Yes it fine to add soil on top just make sure you drain the water before you add the new soil and fill it up slowly

Cheers
Ryan


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## Tim Harrison (21 Jan 2020)

Just to be clear, do you mean heaping Tropica Aquarium Soil on top of Tropica Growth Substrate?
Tropica AS is an all in one substrate solution, and Tropica GS needs to be capped with sand or gravel.
Personally, I wouldn't cap one with the other, it's unnecessary and there's always the risk it'll end badly.

If you want to create slopes I think the best and cheapest combination would be to use crushed pumice, like @Simon Cole mentions, or inert gravel in filter bags or nylon tights. Then cover with Tropica AS.


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## si walker (30 Jun 2020)

Hi.
Could I use a scattering of Tropica Growth Substrate under Volcano Mineral then my Tropica Soil? A kind of substrate sandwich!

I have some Tropica Growth Substrate that will possibly go unused, so was thinking of using it a little? 
Would it simply be too rich or actually quite useful?

My setup will be heavily planted. 

Thank you!
Simon


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## alto (30 Jun 2020)

si walker said:


> Could I use a scattering of Tropica Growth Substrate under Volcano Mineral then my Tropica Soil?


This works fine 

Tropica GS is a nutrient rich base layer, and as mentioned can “puff up” when plants are uprooted - I just add extra Prime (if you have a siphon running close by, you can remove most of this “cloud” as it’s released) and water change after/during any rescaping, plant removal 

I’ve run planted tanks with Tropica GS/Tropica AS layered, and just Tropica AS, both did well ... as I like to rescape, I switched to just AS 

If you’re intending a long term set up, I’d add a base layer of GS 
(you can also use Jurijs mit JS trick of opening and scattering Tropica Nutrition Capsules - he adds a thin layer of AS, then the capsules, then more soil)


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## si walker (30 Jun 2020)

Thanks Alto.
Thats great news and it will be a fun experiment.

Keep you posted how it goes.

Simon


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