As the title says I am going to try to do a dry start with a monte carlo carpet for part of the scape. If you could choose one substrate to set yourself up for success what would you chose? I was thinking about trying to stay cheap with black sand over potting soil, but i haven't had much luck with carpets and I want this to go well this time.

Thanks in advance

Sean

The easiest is a commercial aquasoil. The cheapest is gravel/sand and use an all in one fertilizer like thrive in your water/sprayer for filling and misting the tank.