Confused about capping.

[chinwag]

I'm a little confused about capping - I keep seeing the beautiful tanks, usually aquasoil but they never look like they've been capped.

I'm curently dabbling with lo/no-tech just getting a feel for things, keep having issues with the substrate ending up in the water!

Have substrates like aquasoil been developed to not require capping?

Thanks.

 

[foxfish]

Capping is normally done for one of a few reasons... to stop a very fine substrate (like garden soil) from spoiling or clouding the water. To stop fish rooting around & clouding the water, to stop a light weight substrate from floating or perhaps for atheistic reasons.
Aquasoil is designed to look nice & although some folk do cap it, or parts of it, Aquasoil does not require capping.

 

[ceg4048]

I agree with foxfish. ADA Aquasoil and other clay substrates do not require capping.

Cheers,

 

[kadoxu]

Yup, I've used Aquasoil without capping without issues. Just don't mess with it too much and you'll be fine.

 

[chinwag]

Cool, thanks a lot for the replies guys, and thanks for the explanation @foxfish.