Desert substrates

[Epiphile]

This is well out of my range of experience, and I'm hoping to get some suggestions on how to create a good-looking desert substrate.

I'm thinking of a mix of sand, clay soil and gravel at the moment, spread over and around some larger pieces of stone- I'd like it to be really coarse, but with a somewhat richer colour than that provided by the sand alone; hence the clay. The idea is to try and emulate a Central Australian desert- I'll be divulging more details as the project comes to fruition, but would love your thoughts as far as soil composition.

[beckdg]

you can get colored sand too. 3m colorquartz is a common one used in aquariums. they also sell drainage rocks for replacement for leca. the rocks aren't much heavier and are a little less likely to soak up moisture than leca. they do look a lot more natural in person though. i just don't remember their name. leaf litter looks good with sand too and you don't have to worry about it breaking down as fast when it's dry... but it's not so indicative of a desert. i think maybe a good clay to use would be red mexican clay. it air dries too so it should be fine getting a little set after that... not soaked though.