# Riparium substrate?



## Flippy (Apr 19, 2010)

What do you use as a riparium substrate? Would eco-complete work?


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Pretty much anything you want. 
If you have larger animals that dig you probably want to avoid dusty substrates like sand or Turface, but EC ought to be OK. 

If you are building walls for a 'land' area you might want to use expanding foam filler (There is a black one designed for ponds). I have found that silicone does not seem to stick to rocks very well. 

If you are creating a waterfall effect then you might want a few rocks for the water to land on so it won't plow up the substrate.


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

For riparium it's best to use light color substrate, sand, gravel, etc. Once the plants start to fill in then they'll cast shadows over the water and dark color substrate will not show up.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Ok, here is the low down. For the tanks substrate, go with something lighter because the shadows of the rafts and such will greatly darken the water area. For the Riparium Supply Planters, you can use just about anything. Flourite, Eco-complete, MTS, or Riparium Supplys planting material will work. You want the Planter substrate to be darker, so that it blends in with the backround.
Regards,
Jake


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## Flippy (Apr 19, 2010)

Thanks! I'll use light sand for the bottom, and I'll just use eco-complete for the planter cause I can find it locally!


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