Depth Of Gravel

[augustaranger]

I've seen a website that recommends that gravel be only 1/4 inch deep. It said that it would help with the bacteria. Any comments on this? Thanks.

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

my sands about 1 1/2 inches deep and ive had no probs

 

[paul_219]

My gravel is 3 cm.

 

[caboose_122]

my gravel is about 1 inch deep if it helps

 

[mark.w.jones]

my gravel is about 1 inch deep if it helps

Deeper gravel is better for real plants. Mine slopes up from 1" at the front to 2" at the back. However, deeper gravel will also accumulate more crap and leftover food etc. I gravel vac once a week but I would of thought that with shallower gravel you could get away with leaving it longer.

 

[paul_219]

The deeper is the gravel the better?

 

[chibi]

The deeper is the gravel the better?

Not exactly. You shouldn't have 10" deep gravel. It depends on the gravel, I think. My 29-gallon has 1.5" deep gravel and it's very fine. My 10-gallon has 1" gravel and it's larger and I always have problems with it showing the bottom of the tank. If your tank's gravel isn't fine and the rocks are a bit big, I'd reccomend even 2" of gravel. Finer gravel is okay at 1", but I like having a bit more than that.

 

[TerraDreamer]

I use an undergravel filter driven by powerheads in my 29 gallon tank. My substrate is 1/8" - 1/4" gravel and is 1" deep at the front and 2" deep at the rear. Some say sloping the gravel toward the front helps with collecting poo and other debris during cleaning, but I've never found this to be true, probably because of the size of my gravel. In using an undergravel filter, I chose the medium gravel size for higher efficiency with the powerheads. I also use an external AquaClear 50 to filter out free-floating debris.

I think only 1/4" of gravel, no matter what type of filtering used, is not deep enough, especially if you're planting with real plants. Even if you're using silk plants you'll have a tough time getting them to stand upright in only 1/4" of gravel. As well, most fish being the inquisitive little creatures that they are will have your tank bottom exposed in a short amount of time.

 

[Gatorbait]

I have just barely enough gravel to cover the bottom. If you don't have a UGF then less is best, imo.