Gravel

[cardinal sinner]

what size gravel should i use in my tank

 

[Glod]

Small, rounded gravel or sand if you want to have corydoras, loaches or similar. If the fish you want aren't bottom feeders it doesn't matter too much.

 

[BigIan]

as glod said depending on the species you have, and also wether you want plants ect.

sand take a little more looking after as the sand may well compact causing anaerobic areas (it`ll turn black)
so need stiring every time you do a water change, and also cleaning the poop out of the tank is harder as you have to hover the siphon over the sand but not touch it (its easy after you`ve done it a few tmes)

where as gravel is easyer to clean but just dosent look as nice in my opinion

 

[cardinal sinner]

hello again
i have got 6mm dorset pebble gravel but some one has said its better to get smaller stuff but then some one else told me that all the pooh n stuff will sit on the top and i dont want that shall i stick with my 6mm stuff i would like to grow plants at a later stage

 

[Nerwign]

The fish poop will go wherever it goes. It will go between rocks of any size. That is why you have bacteria in the gravel to eat it and turn it into less toxic things. You still need to clean the gravel with a gravel vacuum but you shouldn't worry too much about the size. Do not get loaches if you have big gravel or rough gravel. They are very sensitive and like smooth, small-sized rocks or preferably sand.

What kind of fish are you going to get? Make sure you read the topic about fishless cycling on the beginer thread. It helped me *so* much! I'm almost ready to add my fish and I can't wait!

-Nerwign

 

[mark.w.jones]

Large gravel like that is not great for plants. They find it more difficult to root successfully when there's such big air gaps between gravel. Less than 3mm is better. I also prefer the look of natural coloured gravel, rather than sand.

 

[Glod]

I just changed my small tank from dorset pea gravel to sand, you can take a look in this thread if you want to compare. Personally I would say smaller is better than 6mm. Maybe consider which fish you plan on getting before you choose ?

 

[cardinal sinner]

hi guys
thank you all so much for your answers got me thinking now might go out n get some smaller stuff i am hoping to keep a community tank i have just got a juwel vision260 (early crimbro prezzie from the loved one!)