# soil depth



## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

sick1166 said:


> I am new to planted tanks and watching videos I see soil being stacked in the back up to 7" deep can I do that with eco complete
> Or what do I do to build up for my aquascape I thought going that deep will cause problems but most set ups and others really go thick for height in background what do I need or what am i missing going that thick.
> Thanks


you want to give your plants 2+ inches of soil for their roots to grow into. The deeper the soil the better. 

many people scape the back of the tank higher than the front. giving it VISUAL DEPTH. Yes, you can do that with your eco complete or any other substrate. the only problem would be dealing with landslides.

instead of making a whole mountain of 7inch deep of eco complete, you can use cheaper material as "filler". I used cheap decorative sand for the bottom half and good stuff on the top half.


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## BigMek (Dec 6, 2016)

You can also put cheap rocks (like lava rock, find it in the barbecue section at the hardware store) into mesh bags (like delicates bags for the laundry) to put under your substrate; it's a popular choice for making hills and such. Don't worry about your substrate being "too deep" and making "dangerous anaerobic pockets", anaerobic bacteria are very helpful in removing nitrates from the water. Just don't go stirring all your substrate up at once (or ever really, you don't need to). I would caution making sure the slope you create doesn't look out of place in the tank - going up 7" in a tank that's only a foot tall would look really weird IMO.


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