the latest question - substrate

[Chris Palma]

Hi.

Thanks to everyone for being patient with me -- I'm really excited to be
back in the aquarium community, if you couldn't tell from my flood of
questions lately. Thanks to everyone who responded to my recent question
about filter media. I just added more stock today - 6 featherfin
rainbows. They are great, and I think I'm probably going to add another
few of them (for those keeping score, so far I only have the 6 new
featherfins and 8 dwarf honey gouramis).

I've been slowly adding decorations to the tank. I have two large rocks,
5 silk plants, 2 live plants, and 3 plastic plants that I'm letting float
for the gouramis. I'm going to add some driftwood soon, too. My
substrate is gravel I bought from a garden center that is a mix of whitish
yellow stones. I put some (only a few here and there) polished river
stones in, too. My question is, my wife *really* likes the darker river
stones in contrast to the light colored gravel, and thinks that we should
add a bunch more. These river stones are pretty large (about 2-4 cm
long). Are they good surfaces for beneficial bacteria? That is, if I
cover more surface area of my small gravel with these larger, smoother
stones, will it not affect the bacteria colony at all, or will it have a
negative impact?

Any advice appreciated.

--chris


| Chris Palma, | The preceding was a work of fiction, |
| University of Virginia Astronomy | any similarities to persons living or |
| | dead, places, or events is purely |
| www.astro.virginia.edu/~cp4v | coincidental... |

NB: This email address is dead. If you would like to email me directly,
please use: cpalmaATSYMBOLastro.psu.edu

[NetMax]

"Chris Palma" > wrote in message
tro.Virginia.EDU...
> Hi.
>
> Thanks to everyone for being patient with me -- I'm really excited to
be
> back in the aquarium community, if you couldn't tell from my flood of
> questions lately. Thanks to everyone who responded to my recent
question
> about filter media. I just added more stock today - 6 featherfin
> rainbows. They are great, and I think I'm probably going to add
another
> few of them (for those keeping score, so far I only have the 6 new
> featherfins and 8 dwarf honey gouramis).
>
> I've been slowly adding decorations to the tank. I have two large
rocks,
> 5 silk plants, 2 live plants, and 3 plastic plants that I'm letting
float
> for the gouramis. I'm going to add some driftwood soon, too. My
> substrate is gravel I bought from a garden center that is a mix of
whitish
> yellow stones. I put some (only a few here and there) polished river
> stones in, too. My question is, my wife *really* likes the darker
river
> stones in contrast to the light colored gravel, and thinks that we
should
> add a bunch more. These river stones are pretty large (about 2-4 cm
> long). Are they good surfaces for beneficial bacteria? That is, if I
> cover more surface area of my small gravel with these larger, smoother
> stones, will it not affect the bacteria colony at all, or will it have
a
> negative impact?
>
> Any advice appreciated.
>
> --chris

To answer your question, I think that they would result in a net decrease
in the amount of bacteria occupying your substrate, as larger stones the
less surface area (especially smooth river stones). The overall effect
will probably be zero to the tank, as most of the bacteria are in the
filter, and if you make the substrate a less desirable location, they
will migrate elsewhere.

You can get some detritus collecting around stones. I push a lot my
river stones either half into the gravel, or they sit on top of others,
so the water and small fish can go through. You want to minimize pockets
where detritus collects without being exposed to fish or to turbulence
where filters can pick it up.

The smooth river stones are a great look. Mix it up with smooth smaller
stones (#5 red or yellow pebbles) for a natural look. I once made a
set-up with a 'river' of red stones winding across the bottom of the
tank, surrounded by the grey/black/brown pebbles. The mid-background was
all petrified wood sticking up out of the pebbles. Sweet :~)

NetMax

[Polarhound]

NetMax wrote:

> To answer your question, I think that they would result in a net decrease
> in the amount of bacteria occupying your substrate, as larger stones the
> less surface area (especially smooth river stones). The overall effect
> will probably be zero to the tank, as most of the bacteria are in the
> filter, and if you make the substrate a less desirable location, they
> will migrate elsewhere.

Between the primary substrate still being the gravel, plus the filter
media, along with all the plants, it seems there would still be more
than enough surface area to hold bacteria.. Have to count the glass too!

Keeping a tank is a matter of balance. I would say it is safe to keep
adding the stones as long as your Ammonia and NO2 remain at zero.