[selty]

In the planning stages for my first large tank so doing lots of reading and thinking, plus browsing at LFS and hardware stores etc.

I was really drawn to the idea of terracing to create slopes. Looked up the drainage cell material people were using in the past and found (as many others have noted) that I can’t (easily) find it. Looked at a few other options (egg crate etc) and then just started browsing the isles at Home Depot over the weekend. Found some flat drainage hosing that I think could be rigged up as the initial support for terracing in a larger tank, but I can see a few potential downsides. 1) seems like substrate might just slide off (could work around that) and 2) worry that a big tube that’s basically closed off would be excluded from flow and would grow bad stuff.
Curious what those with experience think. Am I right that this would NOT work? Any ways to make it work? Picture below.

 

[JasonBD77]

Lava rock. It is inexpensive and can be stacked easily due to its rough texture. It is also a great surface for bacteria to colonize.

 

[selty]

Lava rock. It is inexpensive and can be stacked easily due to its rough texture. It is also a great surface for bacteria to colonize.

Yup. That’s my plan at the moment. More curious about how something like the above would work because I’m thinking through all the components. Victim of an overly curious mind!

 

[minorhero]

Anything that doesn't dissolve in aquarium water and leech stuff can work. I mean you are literally just looking for filler. My concern for this stuff is it collapsing in on itself when you put a bunch of heavy rocks on it.