Substrate

Now that we have a big glass box sitting on a supporting structure of some kind, we need to put down a layer of substrate to support everything else. This is one of the most important steps to get right, mainly because you can't change it later without stripping down your masterpiece. Your substrate will need to be deep enough to support your plant's roots and the grain size will need to be correct so that the roots can get a grip while at the same time not being crushed. I used the Hagen GEOsystem Fine Black River Sand substrate. I was about to buy Seachem Flourite (which I would still like to give a try in a future tank) but was lucky enough to spot several rather ancient-looking bags of GEOsystem under a shelf at the back of Sam's Aquarium. I bought all 28 kg, so I'm not sure if there will be any more available there. I have also seen it available at Elite Aquatics. I washed the gravel by putting it in a bucket with water, swirling it around by hand and pouring off the resulting murky water.

Underneath my substrate I used 2 kg of "Chinese special" Jin Di laterite from Pet Adventure. I also saw this available at Oceanson Aquariums. A friend had good results from this particular brand which is why I jumped at the chance to try it out. The instructions on the bucket were fascinating and included the directive to place the substrate in the rat. I came across a bottle of liquid fertilizer of the same brand earlier today which assured me that the contents would not harm my cows!

I mixed the laterite with about half of my washed gravel and spread it evenly over the bottom of my tank.

I then put the rest of the gravel on top of the mixture and sloped the gravel upwards towards the back of the tank to provide an impression of depth.

The substrate is probably the part of setting up the tank which involves the most work, so from here on its plain sailing. Allegedly.