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Will post this same post in both aquascaping and technical tinkering.

Does anyone know how or what to use for a retaining wall. slate is hard to come by here in S. Florida. I have been to garden centers rock quarries and LFS. I want the gravel to have 4" wall/step so the the front area will just be clover ground cover and the wall will have java moss on the top draped down. In the back area will java a chritmas tree moss wall. Looking for branchie peace of driftwood.I have not desided what to put in the upper level yet but still have time because I have to still order the plants. So any thoughts on that would be helpful.

I guess the question is has anyone seen or did similar tank. The tank is a 30us gal hex/flat back so I thought the wall would start at end of the bevel. I thought slate but can't find any. All gravel is black and would like to keep that. Need it to be thin because I want to plant the upper level.

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

Have you considered floor tile? It comes in many colors and textures as well as materials such as ceramic, granite and slate. Check your local home improvement or flooring store. Thick acrylic also works well. It can be gouged and sanded then painted. It also makes a good base to glue things on to like aquarium gravel or chips of slate or granite.

I once had a sheet of glass cut from a local glass place and that was inexpensive. Then I used aquarium silicone to cover it in substrate and mount it in place. Later, removing it with a hammer and pliers did not wreck the aquarium. Make sure to get the bottom corners rounded if going right across. The glass place can do angles etc too. Might not be what you want I know.

Some LFS's sell little plastic bamboo lookalike walls, but they're kinda... plasticky.

The above suggestions are pretty neat actually!

i have seen slate on ebay. as for the retaining wall im thinking of a similar setup. i gonna do it on my 10 gal to see how well it works. if all goes good ill transfer the idea to the larger 60 gal. i think what im gonna do is find a peice of rock (havent decided what kind yet) break it in to chunks to make a natural rock dam. then fill gravel around the terrace. i like fall outs idea. what about using really bamboo, and cut it to size.

*click *flash *click "whered he go???"

After all that work, (there are 5 big angular rocks siliconed to the wall in addition to the gravel) I hated the end result. The amount of food that will drift behind any bonded rocks is enough to drive you crazy. Prying the rocks off with a crowbar was fun; as was smashing the wall gently with a hammer. I scraped the silicone off with a blade, and just left some extra on the corner seals which you can't really notice.

Good idea to practice on a 10G I say!

i guess the look doenst really matter if its gonna be covered in moss. i think for the wall you could use small rocks and mimic a breaker wall at the beach.

*click *flash *click "whered he go???"