little river rock as gravel??

shuhu

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I came across this store that sells River Rock Gravel, almost rounded shaped of about 1.5cm, so, is this a good substrate for a planted tank??? or should I go for something slightly smaller???

:huh:
 
I prefer sand to gravel and would recommend the same. There are plenty of threads on sand vs gravel in this forum so I wont go into details.

If you still prefer gravel, I would recommend smaller sizes as this helps hold the plants better. Also less chance of too much fertiliser leaching into the water.
 
1.5 cm gravel for a planted tank would be way to big for it to be successful, it might be ok for some plants but it wouldnt be ideal, you should really try and get gravel around 2-3 mm and mix it with laterite.

Gravel by itself is inert and does not contain any benificial minerals that plant roots need, the best substrates for planted tanks are Seachem Flourite, Eco Complete or as i have said small gravel mixed with laterite, but the first two would be preferable.

If you only use gravel by itself you would probably have to provide root tabs and that may work for you, but smaller gravel is still preferable.
 
alright, thanks :#

It's good to know, because I was about to buy 3 bags when I saw it (really cheap price though), now I'm glad I've waited :) btw I know this river rock doesn't contain any beneficial materials, when saying "Good substrate" I was refering to the roots spacing for growth.

Seachem Flourite and Eco Complete are bit expensive for me, so I was going to go with the mix of laterite and gravel, but It's been difficult to find laterite around here, maybe I'm not looking at the right place, I guess its worth to wait. I might even wait longer and buy Eco Complete fro the whole thing (I've heard it last for years and still keep the nutrients) ;)
 

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