Trouble Deciding On Gravel

[Southyorkshirefishkeeper]

I want a fairly natural looking tank, my tank came with some white gravel, my lfs only does yellow, orange, red, blue and black gravel.

I was wondering whether white, black and yellow would be ok, any suggestions?

Thanks.....

 

[WILDER]

Coloured gravel usually looks tacky in tanks i'm afraid, go to another lfs and buy a natural coloured one.

 

[robertherrington]

White Or Opaque Color Gravel Seems To Look Much More Natural Then The Colored Stuff, And I've Actually Had Blue Gravel Leak Its Color Off Into My Tank Thankfully There Were No Fish In It At The Time As It Would Have Probably Killed Them. Otherwise There's A Million, And One Options Out There Maybe look online for something you like.

 

[Chrispixx]

I'm partial to white i have it in three of my tanks, it looks great with a black background. Whatever you decide just a few suggestions.

1. Make sure the gravel is inert and coated in a colorfast resin. Like this Gravel.

2. Get a small size the bigger sizes trap poop and crud and is hard to gravel vac, and the gravel vac pulls more water from the tank in the process.

3. Try to get the lightest (physical weight) gravel possible as it will also be easier to gravel vac.

You wouldnt belive how the weight of the gravel affects the vacuming but it does. Two of my tanks have the same gravel and it's a light weight kind. Gravel vac-ing those tanks is like a hot knife through butter, the gravel lifts in the tube easily and i can just move the tube around effortlessly.

My other tank has a heavier, gray rock chips type gravel, much heavier... man is that a pain in the arse to gravel vac.

 

[fishlette]

white is an awesome look in a tank especially, as someone said, if you have a black background and even some nice green plants...beautiful contrast

just remember a couple of things when deciding on gravel colour. from what ive seen (and this is only my experience) fish generally are darker or lighter depending on their gravel colour. for example, put a bristlenose catfish on the floor of a tank with white or light coloured substrate and he will get lighter. put him on dark substrate he gets darker and the colour looks better. but those coloured gravels!!! tacky and soooooo what a 10 year old would use

also, you want to try and make the tank as close as possible to the natural look of your fish' home in the wild. another reason why the coloured gravels are ridiculous. do some research and find out what the biotope is like in the wild and try to match that as close as you can

 

[Debbie_19]

I have black gravel in one of my tanks and think it looks really good. Some how it seems to make my fish colours seem brigher than what the paler gravel did and think it also shows up the green of the plants better too. Just what you prefer i suppose though.

 

[vinylman]

Everyone knows, of course, that fish can't blink. I wouldn't like to be constantly swimming over bright green or orange gravel.

 

[fishlette]

I have black gravel in one of my tanks and think it looks really good. Some how it seems to make my fish colours seem brigher than what the paler gravel did and think it also shows up the green of the plants better too. Just what you prefer i suppose though.

a nice black substrate is always an exeption

 

[orange shark]

Where abouts are you in south yorkshire and wheres your lfs.I go to sheffield aquatics, its great and they sell natural coloured gravel and sand, maybe you should try there if your in or around sheffield!

orange shark