Dirt and aquascaping

Hi all, I'm about to convert to dirt in setting up a brand new tank. I have a question about the dirt level in respect to aquascaping. I'd like to have some hills and valleys in my tank, and I'm wondering if the dirt level needs to have the hills and valleys as well as the gravel, or should it be just one level of dirt that slopes a little toward the front with only the gravel contoured on top. Any ideas? Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Walter Hundt on December 30, 2011 at 10:01am

Anyone?

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Permalink Reply by Ammie on December 30, 2011 at 1:32pm

as far as i know yes u want to keep the lvl of dirt and gravel the same lvl so if u have a 1" of dirt in one spot and 1" of dirt and if on spot if the dirt is 3" and the gravle to be 3" hope i'm not being confussing

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on December 30, 2011 at 2:09pm

You can create hills and valleys with your substrate, but in my experience over time they will mostly level out unless you use some sort of retaining walls.

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on December 30, 2011 at 2:45pm

you can scape the dirt to your liking before you add the gravel and the gravel will take the form of the dirt.

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Permalink Reply by Jason DuBois on December 30, 2011 at 4:18pm

Keep in mind some plants want a substantial substrate (Amazon sword ) so you'll want a deeper substrate in those areas.

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Permalink Reply by Walter Hundt on December 30, 2011 at 7:57pm

Thanks for the input! I'm not planning on doing large hills in the aquarium, but have several large rocks that I can set and back fill with the dirt. Thanks for the advice.