what substrate did you use to make levels slopes and hills

[sammypenny]

just wondering because i am planning on having a false bottom with gravel on top then dont know the best substrate to use to landscape.

[RichFrye]

I use peat brick.

[markbudde]

Rich, do you know if peat brick is still available? It is no longer listed on the vivaria.nl site. I'm trying to get a sense of the tactile properties of peat brick. I have this concept in my brain that it is the texture of floral foam, where you can push your finger into it. Is this correct? Do you think brown floral foam would work?
Thanks,
Mark

[ChrisK]

I still got some, I used to use it as the sole substrate straight on the glass bottom years ago and it worked great, it's extremely dense and gets waterlogged so you cant really plant into it but roots of pothos type plants will grow down into it, how I was using them before they were really packed together against each other so you couldn't really push your fingers into them, I'm using clay soil now so I use them now as separators between substrate and water area, you can see how I did that here: http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/member ... -tank.html

[RichFrye]

Rich, do you know if peat brick is still available? It is no longer listed on the vivaria.nl site. I'm trying to get a sense of the tactile properties of peat brick. I have this concept in my brain that it is the texture of floral foam, where you can push your finger into it. Is this correct? Do you think brown floral foam would work?
Thanks,
Mark

Josh used to carry it, but may no longer. You'll have to check. I bought a bunch and still have a little left over.
There are several ways to use the brick. You can simply soak the brick and place it as a 'land mass'. It will hold it's form and be very dense at this point. You can soak it in hot water and then break it into large, medium , small, tiny, ect. chunks. It will crumble down to whatever consistency you wish.
Another great property of the brick is that it is very high in tannins and will consistently produce tad tea ,in-viv or out, years down the line.
I'm not sure what floral foam is , but it sounds synthetic.

[jehitch]

We have peat bricks that are very hard, even after soaking in water.
http://www.rainforeststationpets.com/zen...cts_id=356
I use them for embankments down to water features frequently. Moss grows great on them, and they hold their shape for years.

___
Jim

[jose408]

use peat

[RichFrye]

use peat

"Peat" can be many things. Peat moss, peat brick, ect. Or, more specifically , fibric, hemic, or sapric. All are used for different things, and can be used for different applications in a viv. I would absolutely not use strictly peat moss in a viv.