debunk the 1lb gravel for every gallon myth

[hc8719]

what ive been wondering, is why you guys all reccommend putting in a 1lb of substrate per gallon.

now this is before i had a gravel vac even, back in april, i hated having all the fish waste or left over food sinking way down to the bottom of the tank under 2 inches of gravel, it was a huge pain to clean up. but then i got a gravel vac, and its not so bad, but that may be because i have just enough rocks to scarcely cover the bottom of my 55 gallon.


and also, alot of people reccommend having one lb of gravel for every gallon, but 55 lbs for a 55 gallon seems to be way to much. and i noticed that the only diff between a 40g and 55g, was that the 55 was just 15g taller... it has its flaws, you obviously dont need that extra 15 lbs just because the tanks taller

i remember the look like 4 petsmart employees gave me when i purchased a 55 kit, and 6lbs worth of rocks, in fact they laughed, and i had had to tell them i had some rocks already at hom (which i did, but i wasnt going to add)

does anyone else not beleive in this 1lb per gal rule?

 

[WaterPond]

I have never heard of that rule. I just put gravel in until it gets to a height that i like. It all has to do with the look of the tank for me.

 

[joannde]

Don't ask me, I have a barebottom tank. Talk about easy to clean ! LOL

 

[Devilishturtles]

It's not a rule, but rather a guideline. The guideline is that 1 lb per gallon will get you (roughly) two inches of depth to your substrate. If you don't like that, go with less. If you want more, go with more.

 

[JRagg]

I'm sort of on the other side of the coin. I like a deep substrate. I have more to play with when making the ground not level.

I had 40 lbs in my 45g (1'x3' footprint) and it was deep.

I think it's more of just a rule of thumb for new people. I put 20lbs in my 10g, and i'd really like another 1/2" or so to move around. It's by no means perfect, but there are calculators out there to tell you how much of what kind of gravel you need to acheive a specific depth.

 

[joannde]

There are several substrate calculators out there. I like this one as it allows you to choose the type of substrate (sand, gravel, eco-complete)
http://www.plantedtank.net/substratecalculator.html

 

[fishfairy]

I always use about 5 lbs less than the gallons of the tank. For example, my 20g has bout 15 lbs of substrate and the 55g has about 50 lbs. This is just what looks good to me. And it really only comes down to what looks best in your opinion.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It depends what you like. I prefer a deeper substrate beacuse it allows me to play around with the landscape. I can easily bury plants without seeing the plastic bottom of the fake plant. I use sand so it's a different ball game, but when using gravel I always used 1 lb per gal.

 

[push350z]

I have 50 lbs of PFS in my 46 and I think it's perfect, depth varies from 1.5-3 inches so there are nice contours and makes it really easy to bury my right now fake plants.