Drainage layers are for supper wet tanks, like you see in dart frog enclosures. Standing water kills the bacteria and fungus you need to keep everything alive. The whole thing ends up smelling like a swamp if you can’t drain some of the water and let things dry out. Again I’m talking wet. Like 80-90% humidity.


bioactive just means it has living stuff in it. Isopods and springtails are all you really need. You can add hardy plants if you want and don’t mind adding lights. If you are careful with your watering I don’t see why you would need a drainage layer.