How Much Gravel?

[Floyds mum]

I have a plain bog standard fish tank, 29L 18 X 10 X 10 inches L X D X H.

How much gravel do people think i'd need? woud a 3kg bag do without too much left over?
Also what colours do people reccommend? Royal blue, black, multi coloured etc aquarium gravel of course

I have a betta, white clouds and dwarf corys atm.

Also what are the correct water stats? as in pH, Nitrites, Nitrates, Carbonate, General Hardness, Chlorine levels

 

[Sofia]

With cory's I think you should consider sand as a substrate, it's better for their barbels and they will love sieving throuh the sand, some gravels can be sharp and cut the cory's up!

If you go for gravel I would use natural coloured gravel please dont use multicoloured gravel it looks terrible IMO but hey it's your tank!!! Do what you want!! I have no idea about how much gravel you would need weight wise I'm a visual person and just guess depending on the size of the bag.

 

[Floyds mum]

With cory's I think you should consider sand as a substrate, it's better for their barbels and they will love sieving throuh the sand, some gravels can be sharp and cut the cory's up!

If you go for gravel I would use natural coloured gravel please dont use multicoloured gravel it looks terrible IMO but hey it's your tank!!! Do what you want!! I have no idea about how much gravel you would need weight wise I'm a visual person and just guess depending on the size of the bag.

ok thanx, ive got my fish in a smooth gravelled tank atm and the corys seem to love the gravel cos they can work at getting the algae and they been in thattank for a few months. with sand how easy is it to clean?

 

[Sofia]

Fish mess just stays on the surface of a sand substrate you can clean the fish mess off the sand using a syphon by gently hovering the syphon above the surface of the sand, making a circular movement with the syphon helps lift the mess off the surface making it easier to syphon off.

Pretty simple tbh.

 

[Floyds mum]

Fish mess just stays on the surface of a sand substrate you can clean the fish mess off the sand using a syphon by gently hovering the syphon above the surface of the sand, making a circular movement with the syphon helps lift the mess off the surface making it easier to syphon off.

Pretty simple tbh.

hmm ok ty will have a look at sand then, do you know roughly what the correct water stats are?, so i can monitor my water

The dog in ur "signature" is it urs? very gorgeous if it is

 

[coldcazzie]

Also what are the correct water stats? as in pH, Nitrites, Nitrates, Carbonate, General Hardness, Chlorine levels

Nitrites and ammonia ideally need to be at 0ppm. Read the beginners forum for all the stuff on cycling the tank. (when people say cycling - they are talking about the nitrogen cycle)

Nitrates are safe below about 40-50 ppm (in a mature tank they will usually fluctuate between 10-20 depending on how long since your last water change).

Hardness and pH levels will depend on what is in your tap water - test it out of the tap to see what it is. With pH most place will advise you to aim for 7.0 which is neutral, but it depends on where the fish is from as to the kind of pH and hardness levels they prefer - eg. if they are from the Amazon they will prefer soft acidic water. There aren't really any "wrong" answers except for extremes of pH - a pH of 1 or 12 will kill all your fish, but it's unlikly you'd have water that extreme.

There should be no chlorine in your water, it's poisonous to the fish - add dechlorinator to your tank to remove it (there are other methods as well, but I have always just used a dechlorinator).

hope that helps!

 

[Sofia]

hmm ok ty will have a look at sand then, do you know roughly what the correct water stats are?, so i can monitor my water

The dog in ur "signature" is it urs? very gorgeous if it is

Thanks He is my dog yes he's alot bigger than that now though!!! There's some up to ate pictures of him in the household pets section of the forum.

As for water stats what coldcazzie has said pretty much covers things.

Goodluck and keep us all posted!

 

[Floyds mum]

Ok thanx ive got the tank set up with a homemade box filter attatched to an airpump with nothing else in, bought internal filter and it should arrive soon. but will do
How did u get ur gorgeous doggy in the pic? i want my baby in mine

 

[Sofia]

Ok thanx ive got the tank set up with a homemade box filter attatched to an airpump with nothing else in, bought internal filter and it should arrive soon. but will do
How did u get ur gorgeous doggy in the pic? i want my baby in mine

Looks like you figured it out! He is handsome is he a greyhound?

 

[Floyds mum]

Ok thanx ive got the tank set up with a homemade box filter attatched to an airpump with nothing else in, bought internal filter and it should arrive soon. but will do
How did u get ur gorgeous doggy in the pic? i want my baby in mine

Looks like you figured it out! He is handsome is he a greyhound?

Yep he's only 4 this sept but looks double that lol, i had a play around
Filter came today so i can get that in and have a look at substrate and prices