Aquarium substrates

Aquasoils, sands, gravels and base layers, with nutrient content, pH effect, grain size and whether they leach ammonia at first.

48 entries, grouped by type.

Aquasoils 17

Baked soil granules that hold nutrients and pull pH down. Most of them leach ammonia for the first weeks.

Base layers 3

They go under a cap, never on their own.

Clay and lava gravels 6

Inert, porous and cheap. They hold no nutrients, so root feeders want tabs.

Sands 12

Fine and inert. Easiest on fish that sift the substrate, hardest for carpets to root in.

Gravels 8

Inert and coarse. Debris falls into it rather than sitting on top of it.

Dirted (Walstad) 1

Garden soil under a cap. Cheap and long-lived, messy to rescape.

  • Walstadnutrient-rich · leaches ammonia

Specialty 1

Everything here has one specific job.