Aquascaping - Terraces?

[VickiandKev]

I'm getting a bit bored of sitting on my sofa and only being able to see the tetra and gouramies that swim higher up in the tank.

Currently our tank is all flat (like a patch of riverbed lol!) and this has it's attractions but I would love to have something a bit more visually pleasing.

I have been looking online for ideas and came across the idea of terracing tanks so they have deep substrate right at the back of the tank, and terraces to climb the levels and stop the fish shunting all the substrate back down flat.

I wondered if anyone had any ideas about what to use for terracing?

I have a load of clay roof tiles, which I believe Christmas Moss would grow on?

The tank is 8ft x 4ft footprint so it needs to be something realistically priced for a project this size, also is it okay to use pond soil underneath the sand for a planting substrate?

I want to be able to use terracotta pots etc for caves on a level with the terracing, so I need to be able to make gaps in the terracing to expose the openings.

Any ideas?
Anyone done this before? Pics?

 

[JoshuaA]

My LFS uses glass panels at different heights and each gap is filled with gravel each one further back is taller than the one before. However this makes a very flat stepped approach and looks like a flight of stairs. Not sure this is the approach you are looking for but could be an idea to develop on and I imagine anything able to act as a retaining wall such as glass would work well and you'd be able to put difference depths of planting material in each section for varying plants.

I'd be very interested to see how this plays out for you, please keep us updated

 

[doresy]

Check THIS out


and This

 

[VickiandKev]

Thanks for your replies guys

It would cost a fortune to do several terraces the full width of the tank with the Juwel things but it's given me some ideas as to how to make my own