Aquascape
Choosing substrate
Substrate is hard to redo at scale—swapping soil means tearing the tank down, and a bad mix bleeds or collapses. The aquascape studio uses four common options: aquasoil, cosmetic sand, stream sand, and a mix.
What each substrate is for
| Substrate | Fits | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Aquasoil | Carpets, stem plants; nutrients and buffering | May cloud early and soften water; do not dig it like filter media |
| Cosmetic sand | Iwagumi, open-sand layouts; light color under hardscape | Almost no fertilizer; carpets can live on liquid feed—local soil helps them root and grow faster |
| Stream sand | Stream and blackwater riverbeds; natural grain | Low nutrients; keep grades clean and low-dust |
| Mixed | Soil in back, sand in front—plant and keep open sand | Separate the join or keep slope, or soil bleeds forward |
By biotope
Planted freshwater
- Dense planting and carpets: prefer aquasoil or a mix (soil back, sand front).
- Iwagumi and wide open sand: lead with cosmetic sand; plant the foreground in sand with liquid feed, and add local soil only if you want faster, fuller growth.
Blackwater
- Often stream sand or darker fine sand—reads as a riverbed, not a black lawn.
- With few plants, full-tank aquasoil is unnecessary; litter and wood lead.
Stream
- Stream sand fits best: graded grains with cobbles in one language.
- Avoid a full bed of dark aquasoil—the riverbed turns into a mud lawn.
Rainforest
- Many epiphytes and a root mass: aquasoil or a thin soil layer plus a little sand.
- Stability and attach points matter more than a wide open-sand composition.
Mixing without a mess
- High in back, low in front: thicker soil in back for planting, thinner sand in front for open sand—separate the join or fill slowly, or soil will creep forward down the slope.
- At the join, use stone, wood, or mesh so fill-water does not push soil forward.
- Fill slowly against the glass or onto a bag so the bed does not erupt.
Avoid: a thick soil layer under cosmetic sand with no barrier—once soil bleeds up, the open face is stained and hard to clean.
Thickness (rough ranges)
- Front open sand: about 1–2 cm, enough to hide the glass bottom.
- Mid/back aquasoil: often 4–6 cm, thicker toward the rear.
- Too thick wastes material and goes anaerobic; too thin and carpets will not root. Adjust for tank height and plant choice.
After you choose
In the aquascape studio, pick the matching substrate and test hardscape on top. Changing a parameter is cheap; swapping soil in a real tank is not—try the ratio in a render first.
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2026-09-25