Seachem Flourite Black Sand & John Innes

[Zervais]

Hello all,

I’m looking to redo the aqua scape in my tank and want to create a slope up one end. Seachem Flourite Black Sand is very expensive and I’d need a few bags to create this effect. I thought I’d use aquatic compost underneath but there’s a shortage. I saw that some people have used John Innes No. 3 as a substrate, but would this be compatible with a deep layer of Seachem Flourite black sand over the top? Or should I put something else underneath the Flourite to create a slope?

 

[sparkyweasel]

Shortage?
aquatic compost
You could also use an inert substrate under the Seachem, like coarse gravel or volcanic stone. If you have anything like that lying around, you could use what you have.
It's a good idea to put the bottom layer in bags (eg tights or filter medium bags) to reduce mixing of the layers.

 

[Zervais]

Shortage?
aquatic compost
You could also use an inert substrate under the Seachem, like coarse gravel or volcanic stone. If you have anything like that lying around, you could use what you have.
It's a good idea to put the bottom layer in bags (eg tights or filter medium bags) to reduce mixing of the layers.

Amazon wants £20 for a 2L bag when Westland do a 20L typically priced at £5; unfortunately there’s a shortage of this and I’d rather get more sand than pay £20 for compost. I’ll go for the gravel in a bag, thank you! I won’t need to ever clean this, will I? It’s going to be hard to remove after.

 

[sparkyweasel]

No, you won't need to clean it once it's in place.