Two types of substrate, separated by rock boundary?

[EchoPear]

Hey everyone. Had a weird idea. Planning a fluval evo 13.5 and thought about having two different substrate "zones" separated by a shallow rock barrier, similar to how some reptile terrariums are set up. In my main tank I have a lot of caribsea ocean direct, which is relatively fine with some larger pieces here and there. In my small 10 gallon mangrove temporary tank, I have some larger "gravelly" looking substrate kind of like crushed coral but not as large pieces that is mostly aragonite and crushed shells that were allegedly pulled off the seafloor somewhere (I got it second hand, from a person who got it second hand from another dude who was a diver).

My thought would be to lightly silicone some rocks to the bottom to make a barrier, somehow filling the gaps with something else maybe marco cement or epoxy covered in crushed marco rock powder or something.

Has anyone tried this? I do not want to just mix the two substrates together but have a "sandy" area and a "rocky" area. I'll see if I can source some pics...

Thanks!

 

[EchoPear]

Hey everyone. Had a weird idea. Planning a fluval evo 13.5 and thought about having two different substrate "zones" separated by a shallow rock barrier, similar to how some reptile terrariums are set up. In my main tank I have a lot of caribsea ocean direct, which is relatively fine with some larger pieces here and there. In my small 10 gallon mangrove temporary tank, I have some larger "gravelly" looking substrate kind of like crushed coral but not as large pieces that is mostly aragonite and crushed shells that were allegedly pulled off the seafloor somewhere (I got it second hand, from a person who got it second hand from another dude who was a diver).

My thought would be to lightly silicone some rocks to the bottom to make a barrier, somehow filling the gaps with something else maybe marco cement or epoxy covered in crushed marco rock powder or something.

Has anyone tried this? I do not want to just mix the two substrates together but have a "sandy" area and a "rocky" area. I'll see if I can source some pics...

Okay similar to this (red rock line in middle separating sand and bedding) but instead of putting plants on it I could put some micromussa or softies or something. Like a coral "ridge". Credit for pic to GoHerping Youtube channel

Thanks!

 

[EchoPear]

I also think it would be cool to potentially raise one zone over the other, like maybe have the sandy area be higher than the rocky area to give the bottom of the tank two different elevations

 

[BristleWormHater]

I suspect there will be bleed over overtime but I think that would look great, I would try to make the barrier maybe a zig zag of sorts to make the split look more natural.

 

[mmorrison55]

I had to do something similar because my fine sand was being blown around by my back side mp40 wavemakers. So I added a more rocky sand bed in the from of my tank and then places some rock structures to kind of act as a barrier reef to keep the rocky and fine from mixing . So far it’s worked fine.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I also think it would be cool to potentially raise one zone over the other, like maybe have the sandy area be higher than the rocky area to give the bottom of the tank two different elevations

I think you'd have better luck making the rocky area higher than the sandy area. Rocks arent going to move as much as sand will.

 

[Peace River]

Understanding the dynamics of Murphy's law, the substrate will get mixed (or maybe I am just the unluckiest person alive). I have tried this multiple times and the question is more how long until not if. Be very careful with water changes and anything that impacts or redirects flow. I'm certainly not saying you shouldn't do it, but realize that it comes with challenges. You can always vacuum it out and reset when (if) necessary. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[EchoPear]

I think you'd have better luck making the rocky area higher than the sandy area. Rocks arent going to move as much as sand will.

Hmm this seems logical... the theoretical higher side would be towards the AIO false wall where a mangrove is going to be, so I could see that being good for the roots. Only concern is flow will be only a strong DC return with RFG and so sand at end of peninsula might mean I'm blowing sand

 

[JumboShrimp]

Just being honest here... I'm just not feelin' it.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I think to do this the sand half would have to below the rocks, and you would need a acrylic wall hidden underneath.