picking gravel- opinions wanted

[lyquidphyre]

I have a 75gal with a black spray painted background and right now it has black substrate.

Im not liking the substrate too much just because of its inconsistansy and its harder to gravel vac

So i was thinking of new gravel. I have no idea what I want. I know more of what I DONT want than what I do want-

I don't want brown
I dont want white or any "crazy" colors like hot pink, or blue or green
I want something more in pebble shape like this instead of something shaped like this this

Does anyone have gravel like the first link?? That might have pictures

I also like the berry mix as well

I want something to compliment these fish-
serpea tetras, hatchets/marble hatchets, greyish cory cats, a black red tailed shark, an angel, golden barbs, cherry barbs and blue rams

I was thinking black, but I cant find a black smooth pebble (other than the silvery grey pebble in the link above)

Sorry my question is so scattered, yet so specific... does anyone have any ideas or could show me their tank with nice looking gravel??

Also, i have plants.. so there is green...

 

[BrianNY]

For planted tanks Katy, you really don't want anything that size as a substrate. It's best to stay with a smaller piece of substrate as it's easier for the plants to take root. I'm using Eco-complete (which is black), and specifically sold for planted tanks.

 

[lyquidphyre]

Ack, i should have clarified, sorry

I want to put gravel OVER my substrate

hehe sorry!!

 

[FishLover14]

Hmmmm try premuim fishj gravel has like 25+ colors.

Dan

 

[lyquidphyre]

the top fin stuff?? I want more pebble like gravel

its not so much the amount of colors, its the right type of stone used

or something

 

[FishLover14]

Hmmm I am not that paticular in fact i have sand substrate tank used to have gravel but way too hard to vaccum and ugly too.

Dan

 

[draX]

I have epoxy coated black gravel / pebbles. smooth, shiny, not too big. looks great!

 

[FishLover14]

i heard somewhere that epxocy coated gravel can like come off over time and effect your fishes well being... dont know if this is accurate it was only one sites opinion.

Dan

 

[draX]

I don't know, I've never had epoxy coated gravel before this...hope it doesn't hurt my fish!

 

[zao]

I heard that epoxy coated gravel, it stops water from breaking down the gravel. I think that is what it was spouse to do. I am not really for sure that about, but I do know that it does not harm the fish.

On the gravel type, what I did, when I was helping my friend set up his tank, we took white gravel, and then mixed it with the brown natural looking gravel. It looked pretty cool IMO.

 

[chrism]

hmmm you sound a bit like me, know exactly what you want but dont at the same time i tried to find some black gravel when i was first setting up my tank, found a nice sized gravel smooth like the first link... got it home and it was purple so i soon ripped that out! and used a dark grey sand... looks nicer than gravel IMO

epoxy coated gravel might be the best way to go if you want black, have you thought about going for the natural look? small pea river gravel or something?

 

[wynn]

I'm using a mixture of volcanit and eco-complete on my new tank. It is a dark colored natural looking gravel (unpainted).

Here's a picture of what it looks like: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=6193

 

[Toirtis]

Personally, I like natural colours and black, but there are some nice dark greens on the market.

 

[TomK2]

I went with a gravel called "black forest" - it resembles mahogany wood chips, kinda the color of the red mulch people use in landscaping. Has some black in it as well. The red looks good with my office furniture. The pieces are not round, but flat. My lfs had a row of display tanks, each one with a different gravel and the gravel's name written on the tank. It was a great way to shop and pick gravel, since you would not have any idea what the gravel looked like by looking at the bag.

 

[grimlock3000]

Crappy expoxy coated gravel came come apart. I bought a bag of multi colored gravel from Wal Mart and in the span of a few weeks, my substrate was RUSTING and the color was flaking right off the rock. I had to do an emergency substate swap because of this I now use Este's brand colored gravel and it hold up just fine with weekly water changes.

 

[Guest]

Ever considered Tahitan Moon Sand? It's black and looks nice, as well. If I'm not mistaken, they have a gray sand also. Just a thought.

 

[pkremer]

I have heard that serpae tetras show their best colors against a reddish gravel, and I love my gravel! I bought a cherry wood stand with a cherrywood trimmed aquarium, and with this reddish gravel with black stones, it looks nice. I don't know where to find it besides my local pet store, but it is called Natural Wonders - Redwood Forest.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=4429&size=big&password=&sort=1&cat=all

Paul

 

[lyquidphyre]

Thanks for all the imput guys!

I still have been able to find anything other than the normal gravel at the fishstores. I know I don't want anything brown... i kinda like that Redwood Forest stuff pkremer! The only thing about sand is being able to clean the tank, im having a lot of problems cleaning with the substrate i have in there now

 

[SerLunchbox]

ok ... i had some gravel like what you are describing (i think) it was a natural looking gravel that was greyish/white and black and very small gravel. I had it in a 10 Gallon tank that i could change the colors on the lights ... anyways ... in any color spectrum that i could get, it looked fantastic. I will see if i can get the name and type of it again.

LB