Gravel and out!

[AquaBarb]

Each to their own and im not knocking anyone who does, but how can people use gravel as a main substrate. I cant deal with it!

I like to use gravel for detailing but I thought id try to do a bigger section in a re-scape im doing. It only lasted 2 days lol

Quite liked the look but it just traps crap. I thought to myself give it time and see how it goes over a few weeks with maintance etc but it was just eating at me and it had to go.

 

[Ram419]

Started out with only gravel or pebbles. Didn't work out for same reason as you said. Was always fighting the nitrates. I added sand to the existing gravel/pebbles and it helped alot.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. Polished pea gravel is a very good substrate. It looks good, easy to clean and can't pile up and create voids that can cause water chemistry problems. But, an even better bottom material is the Exotic Pebbles brand of the polished black gravel. Looks great and is large enough that water moves through it easily and the bottom fish like Plecos and Corydoras thrive in it. So easy to vacuum if needed and the color goes with any color plant or fish you want. Here's a picture of the pebbles in a 55 gallon Glofish tank.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[AquaBarb]

Started out with only gravel or pebbles. Didn't work out for same reason as you said. Was always fighting the nitrates. I added sand to the existing gravel/pebbles and it helped alot.

I had very fine black gravel in my first ever tank years ago which wasnt too bad but i moved over to sand and never looked back really. I think it looks more natural and it is much easier to maintain.

Only did a small section of nordic gravel in this new scape which looked good tbf but i know it would be a pain to keep on top of.

Glad yours worked out

 

[AquaBarb]

Hello. Polished pea gravel is a very good substrate. It looks good, easy to clean and can't pile up and create voids that can cause water chemistry problems. But, an even better bottom material is the Exotic Pebbles brand of the polished black gravel. Looks great and is large enough that water moves through it easily and the bottom fish like Plecos and Corydoras thrive in it. So easy to vacuum if needed and the color goes with any color plant or fish you want. Here's a picture of the pebbles in a 55 gallon Glofish tank.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

Thats a very nice tank the plants look good with the dark pebbles

 

[sharkweek178]

Started out with only gravel or pebbles. Didn't work out for same reason as you said. Was always fighting the nitrates. I added sand to the existing gravel/pebbles and it helped alot.

I think it's because sand has more surface area for beneficial bacteria and because uneaten food, poop or dead plant matter doesn't slip down in between sand, unreachable by bottom feeders or vaccuuming where it festers in the water.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Sand > gravel

Sand holds nutrients, gravel holds gunk

 

[10 Tanks]

Thats a very nice tank the plants look good with the dark pebbles

Thank you. It's not mine. it's a tank in a government office. Here's a better picture, so you can see the Glofish. I was surprised at how nice the Glofish looked in the tank. They have a Pleco in the tank too. One of the nicer tanks I've seen in an office.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[10 Tanks]

I think it's because sand has more surface area for beneficial bacteria and because uneaten food, poop or dead plant matter doesn't slip down in between sand, unreachable by bottom feeders or vaccuuming where it festers in the water.

Hello. Actually, the food and plant material dissolves in the tank water. So, by simply removing and replacing most of the tank water weekly, you remove everything that has dissolved in it. If you don't feed the fish too much and do a good job of keeping the plants trimmed, there won't be anything to accumulate in the bottom material. There's nothing that accumulates in the tank in this picture and the pebbles really look really good.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I have black Limpopo sand...its like a fine gravel. I like the look of the soft sand but hate looking at the poop and crud that just lays around on it. A good flow would lift it up into the water column and into the filter I guess but the darker the substrate the better in my opinion. I love not having to vacuum it

 

[plebian]

I think it's because sand has more surface area for beneficial bacteria and because uneaten food, poop or dead plant matter doesn't slip down in between sand, unreachable by bottom feeders or vaccuuming where it festers in the water.

This is false. Bacteria require oxygen. Sand does not allow water to circulate, so the bacteria can only populate the surface. Gravel allows water to circulate to several centimeters depth depending on how coarse it is.

A fine gravel substrate will provide greater usable surface area for bacteria. There is no better general purpose substrate than fine gravel. Even coarse gravel provides greater total usable surface area for beneficial bacteria than sand. The problem with coarse gravel is that it requires deeper vacuuming. So long as you do that, even coarse gravel is not an issue. On the other hand, sand has a propensity to get into filters, where it can cause problems with pump motors.

Fine gravel substrate will not allow uneaten food to slip beyond the reach of bottom feeders. My corydoras, red lizard catfish, dwarf spotted catfish, and bristlenose catfish have no problem scavenging up left over food. I do a 50% water change once a week and my nitrates never exceed 20 ppm.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. There's a bit of a problem with sand. It's a very fine material and doesn't allow much in the way of water circulation. Voids or pockets of uncirculated air can be very toxic. A substrate of some sort of polished gravel or pebbles is really much better. These allow water and oxygen to move freely around the tank.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Ram419]

This is false. Bacteria require oxygen. Sand does not allow water to circulate, so the bacteria can only populate the surface. Gravel allows water to circulate to several centimeters depth depending on how coarse it is.

A fine gravel substrate will provide greater usable surface area for bacteria. There is no better general purpose substrate than fine gravel. Even coarse gravel provides greater total usable surface area for beneficial bacteria than sand. The problem with coarse gravel is that it requires deeper vacuuming. So long as you do that, even coarse gravel is not an issue. On the other hand, sand has a propensity to get into filters, where it can cause problems with pump motors.

Fine gravel substrate will not allow uneaten food to slip beyond the reach of bottom feeders. My corydoras, red lizard catfish, dwarf spotted catfish, and bristlenose catfish have no problem scavenging up left over food. I do a 50% water change once a week and my nitrates never exceed 20 ppm.

In my experience I have much less nitrate after putting in sand and I don't have to take longer vaccuming all the substrate. Also, the sand helps keep plants planted better. I wouldn't suggest anything else other then a deep substrate with dirt and/or sand.

 

[Byron]

There is some important misconceptions in a couple of posts. First on the waste bacteria,

These species of heterotrophic bacteria break down dead organic matter like fish waste, dead fish or plant matter, uneaten fish food, dead bacteria, etc. Some are aerobic, but many species are facultative anaerobes, able to live with or without oxygen. Like all bacteria, they colonize surfaces, and these are most prevalent in the substrate and the filter media. Many species can survive complete drying, allowing them to remain potent even when filter media that has been previously used is completely dry.​

​

These bacteria have only one requirement to appear and live: organics. They compete with autotrophic bacteria for both oxygen and surface area; studies show that even in relatively clean environments, they occupy more than 50% of the available surface area. And given that they can reproduce within 15-60 minutes—compare this to the 12-32 hours required by nitrifying bacteria—you can see how easily these heterotrophic bacteria can overwhelm the system. In a filter, if sludge is allowed to increase, heterotrophic bacteria will multiply so fast they actually smother and kill the autotrophic nitrifying bacteria.​

​

Heterotrophic bacteria cannot synthesize their own food so they need organic material such as fish waste, dead bacteria, fish and plant matter, etc., and while some are aerobic, many are facultative anaerobes, meaning that they can survive in either the presence or absence of free oxygen. Anaerobes are organisms that do not require free oxygen for growth.​

Second, sand is overall the best substrate because it is natural. Substrates in the water courses of South America for example are sand, or a mix of sand and gravel (thse are very, very few), or mulm/dirt/mud with or without sand in the mix. Often covered by leaf litter. All aquarium plants will grow as well in sand as any other substrate, some will weaken in larger gravel. Water does percolate through the sand due to invection currents especially where there are plant roots. And these bring oxygen because during photosynthesis the plant releases excess oxygen as a by-product and it is dispersed mainly through the plant's roots. Snails especially Malaysian Livebearing can also sweeten the sand. The only time sand will be detrimental is if there is too much, overstocking, oveerfeeding, no plants, insufficient water changes with or without a sand vacuum depending. My 5-foot and 3-foot tanks with Corydoras never saw the sand touched by me, and in five-plus years this had no detriment.

Gravel is proven to cause bacterial issues for Corydoras, sand does not all else being equal. Barbel loss is more often due to bacterial issues in gravel than roughness. Anyone wanting to debate this scientific fact, please try your luck disputing this with Ian Fuller, not me.

 

[10 Tanks]

In my experience I have much less nitrate after putting in sand and I don't have to take longer vaccuming all the substrate. Also, the sand helps keep plants planted better. I wouldn't suggest anything else other then a deep substrate with dirt and/or sand.

Hello. Nitrate levels depend on the amount of water you're changing and not aquatic plants or the bottom material. As for vacuuming, everything in the tank dissolves, so by just removing and replacing water, your remove whatever has dissolved in it, including fish and plant waste material. So, you don't really need to vacuum unless you like doing that sort of thing.

10 Tanks (Now 11)