Substrate quanity/ratio

[Fuzzyc00t3r]

Hey everyone. I'm currently building a 120 gallon tank for my dragon. We just got her a few weeks and I think i've done more research on proper care for her more than I did for any subject in school. One thing im having a hard time figuring out is the substrate. Becasue im building her tank and dropping a dumb amount of money, i'd like to go the DIY route and do 50% sand, 30% top soil and 20% excavator clay. I'm having a hard time understanding how much i'll need for the enclosure. The only thing I could go off of is Jurassic Sand has a formula for how deep you're looking to go and the size of your enclosure. I said I'd like it at 4" deep for a 4x2 tank and said i'd need about 266 pounds of their sand. Just using that number I came up with 133 pounds of sand, 80 pounds of top soil and 55 pounds of excavator clay. Does that sound right? Just want to make sure i get enough and not over/under buying.

 

[Chris.]

Well I'm used to the metric system but keep in mind you want to calculate a volume and not a weight. Sand will be much heavier than soil for the same volume.

 

[Fuzzyc00t3r]

Well I'm used to the metric system but keep in mind you want to calculate a volume and not a weight. Sand will be much heavier than soil for the same volume.

That does make sense. That's the other struggle. Some of these items dont say volume, it's just based off weight. I'll have to do some more digging to see how i can check on volume instead of weight

 

[Chris.]

Yeah and to top it off you also need to stick to the packagings they sell
I did go to the hardware store and carefully guess by eye. You can always top up later if you want it deeper and the percentages you mentioned are not set in stone. I did put in a big bag of sand and toped it up with soil until I liked the look of it