Gravel

[freshwaterfishlover]

What kind of Gravel do you recomand for a 120 gallon?

[kimmers318]

Any kind that you want that is aquarium safe works fine. I personally love the black gravel as it seems to make the other colors pop out. Sand is also good IMO because the crap stays on top of the sand and doesn't get down into the gravel.

[Fishguy2727]

What kind if fish are going in it?

[cocoa_pleco]

What kind if fish are going in it?


That matters too. Stingrays like sand, corys like sand, cichlids like rocky sandy, and all that matters.

[hungryhound]

it also depends on if you are going to have a planted tank or not?

[freshwaterfishlover]

Fake plants no Cichlids.

[Lady Hobbs]

Then aquarium gravel will be fine. Don't get ugly colored gravel as it's expensive to start with and you will rapidity tire of it. As Kim mentioned, solid colors are nice like tans, browns or black and even the river rock is pretty which is assorted tans/browns.

[bettaboy691]

gravel or sand.
personally i would go with sand, more pros than gravel IMO.
but if gravel yours choice, go for a nice round, smooth natural color gravel.
aslso a side note, have a go at a few live plants, plants do well in both substrates and if starting with strong plants, its usally ok.
i recommend and moss (java moss, flame moss, christmas moss, moss ball. etc) and java fern. some good planted plants such as amazon swords would help too.

[freshwaterfishlover]

how much in cost is Sand over Gravel?

I am having Corys, Gouramis, Silver Dollars, Shrimp, Frogs, clams and Snails.

[cocoa_pleco]

ive found sand is about 2$ more per LB

[freshwaterfishlover]

I also may have a betta and Ghost catfish in the tank too.

[Fishguy2727]

Freshwater clams don't live long, our tanks are too clean.

[cocoa_pleco]

Like reptileguy said, they dont last too long. Theyre filter feeders and other fish need clean water.

[Chrona]

Go to Home Depot or a local pool place and look for play sand or pool filter sand. Should be 1-2 mm in diameter. Too fine and you'll get anaerobic pockets of toxic gases over time. Too coarse and you defeat the purpose of getting sand in the first place. Sand is real cheap from there.

[cocoa_pleco]

I was going to get 25lbs of playsand for 5$, but apparently it irritates fishes eyes

[Chrona]

I was going to get 25lbs of playsand for 5$, but apparently it irritates fishes eyes

You need to wash it thoroughly, and 1-2mm sand will not irritate fish's eyes unless you have some giant fish that like to burrow ;)

[Lady Hobbs]

My play sand stayed down nicely. I got put the vac right into it and it wouldn't pick it up. However, I didn't care of the b-o-r-i-n-g tan. If I was to do it again, it would be black sand. Even the white sand is nice but the play sand was a mistake for me personally. I mean, gray fish in tan sand? puke

[bettaboy691]

i bought 15kg for £2.49. ofcourse its different here in the uk, the prices arent the same
if your wanting cories, then sand is a must, sure some people say cories can live on gravel, but its not whats best for them
also frogs will like sand more i find with mine, they are easier to see and tend to be more active moving on the sand.
clams will need sand too to burrow. keeping clams is hard, but it can be done with target feeding, personally its too much work, you have to spend a while trying to feed them and you hardly ever see them as they hide under the sand.pointless IMO, but its whatever you like.some species can live up to 20 years, but most kept in aquariums dont make it past 3 yr.
are you willing to feed it every 2-3 days for 20 years?

[Fishguy2727]

I have always kept cories on gravel and have never had nay issues with it. I have read that it is not the substrate itself that can be a problem, but water quality, as well as gunk builing up in the gravel, that will cause barbel infections.

[cocoa_pleco]

The only substrate i care for is natural. My 20g long salt has crushed shell, my 10g high has green gravel which i hate, my 20g rec has natural tan pebbles, my 10g has white pebbles, and my 20g rec number 2 has green and white pebbles which i also hate. My 2g has a little bit of green gravel. My 5g hospital tank has black sand