# Anyone done the pantyhose trick for hillscapes?



## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

Got some advice from a member here to use gravel filled pantyhose to create a hillscape or mounds and wondering if anyone has used this method. I'm trying to pull of a bit of a hill on the right side of the tank going up from front to back. I plan on having a few rocks placed on it and planted with HC. I'm new to the whole thing so was looking for a lil tutorial. I'm assuming I just fill up the pantyhose with different volumes of gravel and lay them on the bottom the shape I want then fill in with my substrate and rocks. I've been planning this for well over a month now and I finally have everything together so I'm just paranoid I will screw it up. I'm one of those people who can imagine what I want but always have a hard time pulling it off. I'd just hate for everything to wash away and find these panyjose filled balls exposed in my tank and lose anything planted around them. If it's tough maybe I'll just a gradual slope with rocks and HC.

Any advice would be appreciated as always.

thanks


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## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

Nobody? Am I going to the first to attempt this?


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## demonr6 (Mar 14, 2011)

Sorry but I don't have pantyhose and would feel kinda strange going to the store to buy some. I do it the old fashioned way and make a small gravel hill then use dirt and cap since I am mostly dirt tanks anyways.


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## dhg is my plant (Dec 19, 2010)

That's a pretty good idea I should have used that for my iwagumi when I was creating a slope but instead I used tons of aquasoil


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## ClintonParsons (Aug 22, 2011)

demonr6 said:


> Sorry but I don't have pantyhose and would feel kinda strange going to the store to buy some. I do it the old fashioned way and make a small gravel hill then use dirt and cap since I am mostly dirt tanks anyways.


Thank God for self-checkouts ;P


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## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

I hear ya. Luckily for me to support this habit I had to start robbing banks so I had a decent supply of pantyhose on hand.

The soil is a good idea but I have only eco complete.


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## outcast (Jul 4, 2007)

i take large pieces of granite to increase the elevation, joys of living on a mountain being developed constantly is there's a never ending supply of crushed granite hand sized or bigger


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## Eocsorymmot (Dec 23, 2011)

kevinmichael77 said:


> I hear ya. Luckily for me to support this habit I had to start robbing banks so I had a decent supply of pantyhose on hand.
> 
> The soil is a good idea but I have only eco complete.



ROFL...

I felt strange buying pantyhose at first too, I use them to cover intakes when fry are present in my tanks.

I have also used them to fill with lava rock to grow bacteria on for seeding "new" tanks!

Using pantyhose to aquascape is new to me but I imagine it would work very well, just be sure to cap it with a decent amount of substrate for your plants to root in and you should be fine.


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## ChadRamsey (Nov 3, 2011)

i would imagine that the covering substrate would eventually slide off of the panty hose mound. That, and i do not think that many plants would grow atop the mound very well.

I would think that the best way would be to get a couple rocks and place them in a way that they form a v-shaped void space between them. Then mound your substrate in the void. Not fool proof either. Fish could dig it out. Current could "erode" the mound and what not. But if it did hold up, it would support plant growth.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

I just did this for my 40gl last week










That is a support nylon. Wifey used to run marathons. It's about calf length. She calls then Granny Stockings. The mesh is a lot thicker, yet it could be used as a filter intake screen. It would remind you of a brine shrimp net. That one is full of pea gravel. I'm using it behind the rock to keep the MTS(dirt) out from behind the rock which will support a large Mopane stump.

Also, if I want to drain down the tank I can do that at in that corner and not disturb the MTS.


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## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

Thanks for the picture! But regular pantyhose would be safe in the tank and not break down?


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## leaa (Dec 16, 2011)

This is the neatest idea i've seen in ages! My house is full of tanks (under orders from hubby i can have no more), but if my son's daycare agrees to let me invade their kid room and set up a nano i'm going to try this with a small iwagumi.

Is this your idea? Genius.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

leaa said:


> ...Is this your idea? Genius.


My idea to go with the heavier nylons. But, this is very old school.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

kevinmichael77 said:


> Thanks for the picture! But regular pantyhose would be safe in the tank and not break down?


The cheap pantyhose you get at Walmart or a similar store would hold up fine. Nylon is pretty darn inert, there's some nylon eating bacteria but I hope you don't have much of that in your aquarium .

Been using the same 4 pantyhose rotation in my shrimp tanks for over a year now haha. Constantly submerged with water flow through it for ~2 weeks, then drying out for 2 weeks. Repeat. Good stuff.


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## leaa (Dec 16, 2011)

DogFish said:


> My idea to go with the heavier nylons. But, this is very old school.


Any other old school tricks to impart? 

My only curiosity is if any long rooted plants planted on top have a problem with the barrier to soil below? Are the roots able to penetrate the stocking? I'm assuming enough soil/substrate goes over the top of the mound to satisfy shorter rooted plants.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

leaa said:


> ...Are the roots able to penetrate the stocking?


 Yes,they will go right through. 

You can fill a nylon with dirt and use it to feed plants roots in an other wise non-planted tank. I've done that in the rock work in cichlid tanks. Either make small slice in the nylon and insert the plant or simply position the plant above the nylon soil bag. It's much easier to hide than a clay pot.


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## leaa (Dec 16, 2011)

Great, i'll be trying that one soon. Pics of your progress pls


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## MaStErFiShKeEps (Dec 6, 2010)

This is a really awesome idea. Thanks for sharing


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## ibmikmaq (Aug 19, 2011)

Great idea! I would totally try it but every time I get a pair I end up dressing in drag and since I am 6'4" my long legs end up ripping an tear the panty hose I never can use them for my fish tanks!


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## sick lid (Jan 13, 2008)

Of course.... N.S., lol


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## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

LOLOLOL...

none of u guys have friends who are girls that will get them for you? 

I always end up asking for some off them instead of going to get them myself.
The first time they will look at you funny like your some perv... once u explain to them what its used for, they understand.
Then they will probably want to check out your tank....


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## green_valley (Sep 14, 2011)

Yup, this idea has been used for a while to create mountain. You can check out how tall my hills and valley on my 140G scaping.

Nothing wrong getting pantyhose and you're a guy. I got mine at 99cents store. The cashier look at me strangely because I got like 10 pairs ...........LOL. So I told her, this one is for Tuesday, that one for Thursday, and this one is for Friday.......Muahahahah.


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## defiesexistence (Sep 13, 2010)

How durable is non-heavy pantyhose? Can it be used long-term?


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

defiesexistence said:


> How durable is non-heavy pantyhose? Can it be used long-term?


You can double them up if your using larger pebbles or you just not that careful. They are pretty tuff. i found some yesterday at a Chicago Area chain drug store for 59cents. They are in a little plastic ball. They are only calf length. Perfect for carbon bags. I've got too much tannin coming-out of some new Mopane wood.

I asked forth cheapest pair and told the woman I'm using them as a filter. She asked it was for tea. Makes me think we aren't the only ones with creative uses. I folder what for and she goes on to tell me she has a tank and is paying a lot of money for carbon cartridges. I told her how to DIY and really made her day.


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## defiesexistence (Sep 13, 2010)

NICE. I was thinking of sewing fabric screen like small pillowcases to hold gravel for mounds, but doubling layers of pantyhose sounds good too, thanks! Tea and tank tannin water, no difference :hihi:


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

This guy did an AMAZING scape. In one of the pics, you can see he used bagged gravel to help the mounds.

http://www.aquascapingworld.com/forum/41028-post26.html

I have a pretty nice-sized mound in my tank, without using any tricks, but it's not as dramatic as on that link above.


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## pagemee (Nov 29, 2011)

This gave me a funny idea for creating mountain ranges in a tank. The solid grey tops, the thick columns from the top to bottom and the bottom rectangle are cement. The thin grey lines are stainless 12g wire, the ones at angles are protruding forward or behind to make it a 3D mountain with the longer wire being towards the bottom and smaller up the mountain, maybe cap wire with silicon to make sure it's not too sharp to poke through. Then the spray of cream is nylon stockings that would connect somehow under the rocky tops of the mountain range and wrap under the base. Then you could fill the pantyhose with substrate and grow moss to be the greenery.


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## Fishies_in_Philly (Dec 8, 2011)

DogFish said:


> You can double them up if your using larger pebbles or you just not that careful. They are pretty tuff. i found some yesterday at a Chicago Area chain drug store for 59cents. They are in a little plastic ball. They are only calf length. Perfect for carbon bags. I've got too much tannin coming-out of some new Mopane wood.
> 
> I asked forth cheapest pair and told the woman I'm using them as a filter. She asked it was for tea. Makes me think we aren't the only ones with creative uses. I folder what for and she goes on to tell me she has a tank and is paying a lot of money for carbon cartridges. I told her how to DIY and really made her day.


i've been using pantyhose for cooking for years!! especially when making chili. i felt funny buying them at first, but after being married for 20 years and having bought countless boxes of maxi pads and tampons, the strange looks don't bother me anymore. lol
gonna be using the pantyhose/gravel method when i assemble my 75g. planning on some very ambitious scaping......lol


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## ChadRamsey (Nov 3, 2011)

zergling said:


> This guy did an AMAZING scape. In one of the pics, you can see he used bagged gravel to help the mounds.
> 
> http://www.aquascapingworld.com/forum/41028-post26.html
> 
> I have a pretty nice-sized mound in my tank, without using any tricks, but it's not as dramatic as on that link above.



I want the rocks in this guys tank. 

can anyone tell me what they are and if they can be aquired here in the US somewhere?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

It's seiryu stone, you can order it from AquaForest. I think someone sells it in the SNS too


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## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

So, yea, Great Idea! This finally gives me a basis of ideas to run with on my rescape of my main tank 

Know Im wondering what the best media filler would be?


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

How does one use panty hose in cooking chili?


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## Dave10910 (Nov 8, 2011)

Nubster said:


> How does one use panty hose in cooking chili?


I'm wondering the same thing. Anyways, this thread is pretty funny! I lol'ed.


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## ChadRamsey (Nov 3, 2011)

i plan to also use light diffusers along with the panty hose to make a large mound, to help support the rocks. 

im just going to cut them to size, stack them and zip tie them. them palce the panty hose around the diffusers and slap on the MTS and then cap it with flourite.


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## binako (Aug 8, 2011)

Nubster said:


> How does one use panty hose in cooking chili?


I've used cloth bags in my cooking to hold spices like whole cloves, nutmeg, or cinnamon sticks. It makes it easier to remove later on. I guess panty hose could stand in for cheesecloth or cotton bags.


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## Fishies_in_Philly (Dec 8, 2011)

oh.....when i make chili....i put habanero peppers in boiled pantyhose. nobody in my house likes the pieces of peppers so i can take them out, seeds and all. yummy!!


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