gravel size

[Billy]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
| OK, another question.
|
| I've got one aquarium with plants and am starting another.
Everything I
| read says use fine gravel or sand. None of the local stores have
"fine"
| gravel, it's all 3/16" or even larger.
|
| I can get sandblasting sand in various sizes, but only if I buy 100
| pounds :-). And I'm worried about the sharp edges.
|
| I used Eco-Complete for the first aquarium mixed with play sand.
Seems
| to be working, but I'd like to avoid the expense of EC this time.
|
| Some of the clay products seem to be fairly small, but maybe too
dusty?
| I've also seen something called onyx sand. Anyone used it?


Yes, I've used the onyx sand, and in the long run, the Play Sand from
the home improvement store is just as good, and much cheaper. I
really don't like sand for plants anymore, unless mixed with the EC
or laterite, or similar. I feel the straight sand compacts heavily,
and IME many plants have difficulty getting roots through it as
easily as they should.
I also, have never seen 'gravel' in sizes under 3/16".

billy

[Larry Blanchard]

OK, another question.

I've got one aquarium with plants and am starting another. Everything I
read says use fine gravel or sand. None of the local stores have "fine"
gravel, it's all 3/16" or even larger.

I can get sandblasting sand in various sizes, but only if I buy 100
pounds :-). And I'm worried about the sharp edges.

I used Eco-Complete for the first aquarium mixed with play sand. Seems
to be working, but I'd like to avoid the expense of EC this time.

Some of the clay products seem to be fairly small, but maybe too dusty?
I've also seen something called onyx sand. Anyone used it?

All suggestions appreciated.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[NetMax]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> OK, another question.
>
> I've got one aquarium with plants and am starting another. Everything
> I
> read says use fine gravel or sand. None of the local stores have
> "fine"
> gravel, it's all 3/16" or even larger.
>
> I can get sandblasting sand in various sizes, but only if I buy 100
> pounds :-). And I'm worried about the sharp edges.

Why is a hundred pounds a problem? Your tank is just too small ;~) I've
never heard concerns about sharp edges on sand but this might be valid.
I wonder if there is a practical method of rounding the edges down.

> I used Eco-Complete for the first aquarium mixed with play sand. Seems
> to be working, but I'd like to avoid the expense of EC this time.

ditto, I stopped buying LFS gravel a long time ago, but sometimes there
is no other option. My only recent exception was for a few bags of
flourite. I suggest that you keep looking (for a 1 or 2/16th" size),
other pet shops, garden centers, quarries and check with your local
aquarium society. Someone there will always know the best place to find
substrates and other minerals on the cheap. You might even check your
local beach or sand dunes.

> Some of the clay products seem to be fairly small, but maybe too dusty?
> I've also seen something called onyx sand. Anyone used it?
>
> All suggestions appreciated.

With a bit of silliness thrown in, but seriously, my last tank took 3
trunk loads of playsand and sandstone to fill (and I agree with billy,
the playsand just compacts too much).
--
www.NetMax.tk

> --
> Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[McEve]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> I can get sandblasting sand in various sizes, but only if I buy 100
> pounds :-). And I'm worried about the sharp edges.

I use sandblasting sand in all my tanks, and will never go back to gravel.
There are a few culprits with using this kind of sand though, as Billy
points out, it does compact easily, which leaves a risk of anaerobic
bacteria forming pockets of lethal gas.

I get around this problem with keeping a large amount of Malyasian sand
snails that keeps the sand in constant motion. The plants are growing like
never before (I do use a CO2 so it might be because of that as well), and
the (again) catfish, loves it as it's gentle to their stomach when the dig
in it, which they do a lot.

It's still harder to keep the tank clean than if you choose gravel, so the
choise you make will also need to include this disadvantage - do you want to
spend the extra time with maintanance? If you do, sand is a very good
alternative IME :)

[Larry Blanchard]

In article >,
says...
> Why is a hundred pounds a problem? Your tank is just too small ;~)
>
Must be nice to have lots of room :-).

> > I used Eco-Complete for the first aquarium mixed with play sand. Seems
> > to be working, but I'd like to avoid the expense of EC this time.
>
> ditto, I stopped buying LFS gravel a long time ago, but sometimes there
> is no other option. My only recent exception was for a few bags of
>
I will say that the EC completely eliminated cycling. I tested
religiously and never saw any ammonia. A very small amount of nitrite
the first couple of times I tested. If you've got the money, I'd say
it's well worth it. But as a retiree on a budget ...

I'll keep looking.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[Margolis]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> OK, another question.
>
> I've got one aquarium with plants and am starting another. Everything I
> read says use fine gravel or sand. None of the local stores have "fine"
> gravel, it's all 3/16" or even larger.
>
> I can get sandblasting sand in various sizes, but only if I buy 100
> pounds :-). And I'm worried about the sharp edges.
>
> I used Eco-Complete for the first aquarium mixed with play sand. Seems
> to be working, but I'd like to avoid the expense of EC this time.
>
> Some of the clay products seem to be fairly small, but maybe too dusty?
> I've also seen something called onyx sand. Anyone used it?
>
> All suggestions appreciated.
>
> --
> Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description


traction "sand" sold at hardware stores is the perfect gravel for tanks. It
is 2mm in size and looks great. I just don't know why it is called sand
when it is really fine gravel.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[Larry Blanchard]

In article >,
says...
> traction "sand" sold at hardware stores is the perfect gravel for tanks. It
> is 2mm in size and looks great. I just don't know why it is called sand
> when it is really fine gravel.
>

Now that's worth checking out. And I can probably find it. Thanks.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[Robert Flory]

Take a look at the blast sand. Many areas use rounded blast sand.

Bob
"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> OK, another question.
>
> I've got one aquarium with plants and am starting another. Everything I
> read says use fine gravel or sand. None of the local stores have "fine"
> gravel, it's all 3/16" or even larger.
>
> I can get sandblasting sand in various sizes, but only if I buy 100
> pounds :-). And I'm worried about the sharp edges.
>
> I used Eco-Complete for the first aquarium mixed with play sand. Seems
> to be working, but I'd like to avoid the expense of EC this time.
>
> Some of the clay products seem to be fairly small, but maybe too dusty?
> I've also seen something called onyx sand. Anyone used it?
>
> All suggestions appreciated.
>
> --
> Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[Robert Flory]

The proper term is pebble ...

Geologically .....
Wentworth Scale
Name Diameter
clay less than 0.004 mm
silt 0.004 mm to 0.0625 mm
fine sand 0.0625 mm to 0.2 mm
medium sand 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm
coarse sand 0.6 mm to 1 mm
very coarse sand 1 mm to 2 mm
pebble (or gravel) 2 mm to 64 mm
cobble 64 mm to 256 mm
boulder more than 256 mm

"Margolis" > wrote in message
...
> traction "sand" sold at hardware stores is the perfect gravel for tanks.
> It
> is 2mm in size and looks great. I just don't know why it is called sand
> when it is really fine gravel.
You are right there ...
Bob

[NetMax]

"Robert Flory" > wrote in message
...
> The proper term is pebble ...
>
> Geologically .....
> Wentworth Scale
> Name Diameter
> clay less than 0.004 mm = 1.6 ten thousandth
> silt 0.004 mm to 0.0625 mm = " to 2.5 hundredth
> fine sand 0.0625 mm to 0.2 mm = above to 7.9 hundredth
> medium sand 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm = above to 23.6 hundredth
> coarse sand 0.6 mm to 1 mm = above to 39 hundredth
> very coarse sand 1 mm to 2 mm = above to 79 hundredth (0.079")
> pebble (or gravel) 2 mm to 64 mm = above (roughly 1/16") to 2.52
> inches
> cobble 64 mm to 256 mm = above to 10 inches
> boulder more than 256 mm = above 10 inches


That's a keeper, thanks Robert! I just don't know what folder to archive
the post under. I added an inch conversion. I thought it would be
useful, but in hindsight, it probably wasn't.

I think the aquarium trade needs the pebble definition broken down into
subcategories, maybe;
very fine gravel 1/16" to 1/8" (1.6 to 3 mm) or 2 to 3mm
fine gravel 1/8" to 3/16" (3 to 4.7 mm) or 3 to 5mm
medium gravel 3/16 to 1/4" (4.7 to 6.3 mm) or 5 to 7mm
coarse gravel 1/4 to 1/2" (6.3 to 12.7 mm) or 7 to 13mm
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Tedd Jacobs]

"NetMax" wrote...
> "Robert Flory" > wrote in message
> ...
>> The proper term is pebble ...
>>
>> Geologically .....
>> Wentworth Scale
>> Name Diameter
>> clay less than 0.004 mm = 1.6 ten thousandth
>> silt 0.004 mm to 0.0625 mm = " to 2.5 hundredth
>> fine sand 0.0625 mm to 0.2 mm = above to 7.9 hundredth
>> medium sand 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm = above to 23.6 hundredth
>> coarse sand 0.6 mm to 1 mm = above to 39 hundredth
>> very coarse sand 1 mm to 2 mm = above to 79 hundredth (0.079")
>> pebble (or gravel) 2 mm to 64 mm = above (roughly 1/16") to 2.52 inches
>> cobble 64 mm to 256 mm = above to 10 inches
>> boulder more than 256 mm = above 10 inches
>
>
> That's a keeper, thanks Robert! I just don't know what folder to archive
> the post under. I added an inch conversion. I thought it would be
> useful, but in hindsight, it probably wasn't.

.... and just when you thought it was all dirt and rocks... tune in next
week when we convert from wentworth to phi. ;-)

[Robert Flory]

God help us..... I'm too old of a geologist to want to get involved with
that stuff.. LOL
bob

"Tedd Jacobs" > wrote in message
...
>
> "NetMax" wrote...
>> "Robert Flory" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> The proper term is pebble ...
>>>
>>> Geologically .....
>>> Wentworth Scale
>>> Name Diameter
>>> clay less than 0.004 mm = 1.6 ten thousandth
>>> silt 0.004 mm to 0.0625 mm = " to 2.5 hundredth
>>> fine sand 0.0625 mm to 0.2 mm = above to 7.9 hundredth
>>> medium sand 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm = above to 23.6 hundredth
>>> coarse sand 0.6 mm to 1 mm = above to 39 hundredth
>>> very coarse sand 1 mm to 2 mm = above to 79 hundredth (0.079")
>>> pebble (or gravel) 2 mm to 64 mm = above (roughly 1/16") to 2.52 inches
>>> cobble 64 mm to 256 mm = above to 10 inches
>>> boulder more than 256 mm = above 10 inches
>>
>>
>> That's a keeper, thanks Robert! I just don't know what folder to archive
>> the post under. I added an inch conversion. I thought it would be
>> useful, but in hindsight, it probably wasn't.
>
> ... and just when you thought it was all dirt and rocks... tune in next
> week when we convert from wentworth to phi. ;-)
>