# Mountains / Large Sloped areas?



## humdingerx (21 Feb 2015)

I'm a bit new to aquascaping but after watching numerous youtube videos might want to add a large slope or mountain. I have several rocks but not any really huge ones.

I noticed several people simply piling up large amounts of substrate or sand to create a large bank, and using rocks or plastic inserts to hold it in place.

My question is: is there any danger to doing such a thing? Like compression or the bad kind of bacteria developing with such deep levels of substrate?

What about if I just use fine dirt? I am thinking of using Wickes Graded Top Soil (it's cheap and lime free) maybe filter/strain out larger pieces. Could I safely just build up a mountain/pile of it?

If it's a problem what about a big pile of pool filter sand? How are most making such slopes and mountain scapes?


----------



## naughtymoose (21 Feb 2015)

I used small lava rock. I put some in filter net bags and built up a mound.

See Troi's excellent tutorial:

the-soil-substrate-or-dirted-planted-tank-a-how-to-guide


----------



## Julian (21 Feb 2015)

Don't use fine substrates for making banks else they wont last very long. The only thing you have to worry about is flow (and making sure your rocks dont fall over and crack your glass).


----------



## PARAGUAY (21 Feb 2015)

Looking at the complexity of  some contest aquascapes and Amano scapes he appears to throw it in in large volumes of soil his methods seems to go against general advice that it could cause sulphide  spikes etc Depth of inert gravels or soils should not be too deep.Using large pebbles under the soil to reduce the chances of this ?


----------



## humdingerx (21 Feb 2015)

Yes exactly. I was watching some of Amano's tanks, and some really big ones too where really large amounts of fine looking soil were being used. I also saw various contest videos which showed tanks with (for example) large amounts of sand piled up in corners - so much so that it looked kind of like deep sand beds and you could see layers of bacteria.

These kinds of videos really make me wonder hence the questions about how safe they are (or not) and why so so much soil/sand being used to build up large slopes/mountainscapes...


----------



## Ady34 (22 Feb 2015)

I'd say for plants with deep penetrating roots it will never be an issue as they will aerate the substrate. However if you are planning an iwagumi style scape with hc for example which has very shallow roots it could become an issue in deep substrate areas. In this instance using a larger cheap 'filler' substrate such as lava rock, gravel etc could allow for better water movement and less compaction. Another reason for not piling in expensive soil substrates is simply cost.....for amano I don't think this will be an issue


----------



## humdingerx (22 Feb 2015)

How about using polystyrene? Like you get in packing boxes? I was thinking it could be used in one corner since my tank is positioned in such a way the rear and one side isn't visible. Has anyone used that kind of foam? Maybe cut it to shape, put some ridges/plastic holders in place and pile up some substrate on top?

Lots of gravel sounds like a good idea but if you want soil/sand on top it would surely sink through the gravel?


----------



## Another Phil (22 Feb 2015)

Hi humdingerx,




humdingerx said:


> How about using polystyrene


 
It floats too easily so you need a lot of weight to hold it down (more than you'd expect), and it's difficult to find a glue that sticks to polystyrene and glass.
You can use a brick or 1/2 brick, or ceramic tiles as an alternative.
cheers phil.


----------



## humdingerx (23 Feb 2015)

Brick won't leach anything into the water? Gives me an idea though, maybe cut up polystyrene slope/mountain and then make a recess on the back in which could place a brick or other heavy rock to weigh it down!


----------



## Another Phil (23 Feb 2015)

Hi humdingerx,
Our bricks (Exeter area) are sandstone based and don't leach, I assume the majority of modern house bricks are ok ( I'd be wary of using a random found brick) .

I'm guessing you've got spare polystyrene so you can make a recess and put a rock/brick in, but you have to be careful it doesn't tip and drop the brick into your tank, try it in a bowl of water and check.
   I've done similar but with a spray-can of expanding polystyrene foam, and with 2-3 times the volume of foam to brick it starts to float .
cheers phil


----------



## Christos Ioannou (24 Feb 2015)

Hi I am using *corrugated plastic* to hold the slopes.




You can cut it at size very easily. It comes in a variety of colors to choose from, to make it less visible in the substrate.
I used it to separate sand from planted part of the tank as well, and to border hair-grass. It tends to float, but is easily held down when plunged into the substrate so you should not worry.


----------



## humdingerx (24 Feb 2015)

Thanks that's a good idea too, will look into it!

Basically what I wanted to try and get would be something similar to these







 

Maybe not quite so many rocks or such big rocks but to try to get a built up corner sort of like the first pic right hand side, or a mound like the second one. If it can be done safely using soil/sand and some kind of support underneath that would be great.

My concerns are about anaerobic bacteria in very deep piles of substrate. Also what happens if I have water underneath somewhere which has very low/no flow, would that stagnate and cause other problems? i.e. like if it managed to get inside a hollow structure?


----------



## Julian (24 Feb 2015)

If you keep on top of your water changes, you won't have to worry about it stagnating. 

Not sure where your concerns about anaerobic bacteria come from.

Another thing you could do in order to achieve high slopes, buy some stockings and pack them with gravel.

Is that a carpet of Glosso in the second picture?


----------



## humdingerx (24 Feb 2015)

Note sure, just picked some random pics from google  But that is a really good idea with the stockings. As I already have inert gravel to hand that might be the easiest solution so like naughtymoose's link I think:

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l313/intelthug/hybid energy planted tank/Soillayerwithmoundinlay_zps985e52ab.jpg

The bacteria concern was mostly from if there's a big pile of substrate and it compacting at lower levels but with gravel or some kind of brick support I think this could work ok. I've a spare tank to try it out on. Thanks everyone, really good ideas!


----------



## Rahms (2 Mar 2015)

Julian said:


> If you keep on top of your water changes, you won't have to worry about it stagnating.
> 
> Not sure where your concerns about anaerobic bacteria come from.
> 
> ...




Does it matter what the stockings are made from? Or, maybe more accurately... what do people prefer?

I remember people saying cotton thread rots, wouldn't want the same happening with the pebbles underneath!


----------



## Julian (2 Mar 2015)

Rahms said:


> Does it matter what the stockings are made from? Or, maybe more accurately... what do people prefer?
> 
> I remember people saying cotton thread rots, wouldn't want the same happening with the pebbles underneath!



Not sure about cotton, but Nylon should last quite a while. Probably want to double it up.


----------



## naughtymoose (2 Mar 2015)

Rahms said:


> Does it matter what the stockings are made from? Or, maybe more accurately... what do people prefer?



I'm a great fan of black fishnets myself... but then, I'm old-fashioned!


----------

