Best place to get gravel?

Byron

This is the sand I have:
Quikrete | Playsand 30kg | Home Depot Canada

Without seeing what the sand you linked actually looks like, I couldn't say if it is similar or not, or better. "Tan" is what the store calls the Quikrete play sand I believe, but again I would want to see it before I bought it.

CinBos

Yeah they have that same one at Lowes. So I will go and check that out today.

CinBos

So this is good for soft bellied fish? And how did you prep it, did you just rinse it off?

Byron

The playsand is fine for all fish. I have my corys and loaches over this, they love it.

Takes lots and lots and lots of rinsing to remove all the dirt. But in the end, worth it.

CinBos

Sounds like a plan

fish monger

Byron, your tanks are absolutely beautiful. Of course, I expected that.

The substrate in your photos looks like small gravel to me. Is this just a matter of terminology, or what ? The Play Sand at my Home Depot (I work there) is tan and has the consistency of beach sand.

Byron

If it is Quikrete Play Sand, that is what I have in the tanks pictured in this thread. The sand looks different wet under daylight tubes than it does dry, but it is quite a nice sand.

And thanks for the compliments.

Byron.

fish monger

Well, I've always wanted to try sand, but I think that wasn't considered to be a good idea in the old days. Something about it compacting too tightly around plant roots. Your plants prove that wrong.

Byron

I held off trying sand for just this reason. And there is validity in the compaction issue, if one is not careful. Any substrate will compact, and the finer the material the more it compacts. But plant roots (substrate plants) work against this, as do Malaysian Livebearing snails. My sand substrates are shallower than my gravel used to be.

fish monger

I used to have the Malaysian Live-bearing Snails. We called them horn of plenty snails. Can't even remember how I acquired them; however, I remember that we always thought that they were part of the secret recipe for healthy plants. When I say we, I'm talking about two old friends and I back when we were teenagers...a million years ago. You could plant a 29 gallon aquarium luxuriantly for about $10 back then.