Gravel Or Small Pebbles?

[omega59]

hello.

i have a question about Gravel. i heard that the gravel purchased contains dyes that is how they get their colours. So is Pebble rocks better to use in an aquarium, or is it just preferences or design? ty.

 

[DevUK]

It depends what you buy. I use "Pea gravel" which is just natural gravel shoved in a 15 kilo plastic sack. Some brands (gravel or rocks) dye their products. since when have you seen a neon yellow/pink stone in nature? Check what it says on the packaging.

My personal preference is something natural and not died. Hagen do a range of natural sands and gravels which look very nice. I'm considering the Black River Sand for my tank

 

[omega59]

oh i see, i have blueish-purple gravel atm in my tank, but i was just starting to wonder about it since i heard about them dying the gravel. maybe instead of gravel i can just lay a stack of smoothed out rocks around the tank, how well will that be for poo and dirt? lol

 

[Spooky76]

It would be a pain in the bum to clean.

I would get small (5mm) ish gravel, natural looking or sand. Some rocks (large pebbles) look good, and if you put them in such a way that your fish can get in, they like it.

 

[omega59]

i'd like to build up the tank eventually with some nice decorations for the fish to swim between of, so maybe some type of wood or rocks with holes.

 

[Straydum]

the dyed ones come off after awhile. i used to have small colored stones and after awhile most of them was half-white, half-colored. i'm not sure whether the dye harms the fishes or anything but better not take the risk.

 

[omega59]

yes, i noticed some of the gravel have become white