If I had to choose the most imporant 2 things....

[Puriti]

for a fish tank to have until next week would they be...

A. A heater
B. A filter
C. Substrate

X.x cuz I need to figure this out til I get my next paycheck..

 

[krap101]

okay substrate should be at most around 10$ filter for a 20 gallon 25ish i think. and a heater like 10ish. personally the heater and the filter are the most needed things.

are you thinking about buying a commercial substrate? cuz that'll be pretty expensive. (not REALLY REALLY, but just quite a bit more than like from home depot or something)

but substrate is also important to hold the bacteria while you cycle.

 

[Puriti]

Heater's gonna be about 7.64(75 watt, the 50 watt was like a dollar more o.o) cuz I just bought one today, filter... I have no idea I'm gonna get a HOB one though probably uness I find one cheaper...

I just want whatever gravel's cheapest X.x cuz I do know you need them for the bacteria. If worse comes to worse I could put some of the substrate that's in my 10 gal in the 20 but I dunno.

 

[Fluff]

I agree, filter and heater would be my pic as well.

 

[krap101]

just get like a handful of gravel from the 10 and put it in like a stocking or something or some container and leave it in the 20 gallon and it'll cycle faster. pea gravel would be a good choice. bought around 50 pounds for like 3-5$.

 

[Puriti]

Alrighty I'll try that to see if it works. I dunno if I'm going to get this stuff either tomorrow or wednesday... but I wanted to get essentials first and none of this stuff comes cheap, like I wont be getting a lamp head for a couple weeks >_<

(I'm replying so quickly cuz i'm looking at petsmart.com)

 

[Hrafnkel]

Filter media is more important than gravel, in regards to bacteria.

 

[Puriti]

Yeah I know.... I was looking at the filters I dunno which one to get thoug o_o

I have this one:

that my friend bethany gave me with the tank but that alone is $14
which isn't bad but I only have like 56 dollars until next week >_<

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Filter and heater. Gravel isn't really needed in a tank. It's all for asthetics. The fish don't have to have it. But looking at a bare bottom tank isn't always pretty. That's why people always put gravel/sand in their tanks.

 

[Puriti]

Yeah, I tried to get sand yesterday at home depot and all they had white play sand, can't use that. So either Home Depot lied to me in where the pool filter sand is or I'm gonna have to go find it somewhere else X.x cuz at petsmart it's 21 bucks for a 20 lb bag

 

[QTOFFER]

Filter definitely - in addition to removing wastes, it moves the water and keeps it oxygenated. Few fish will live long in unfiltered water.

Heater is second most important, but fish can survive suboptimal temps - what they can't tolerate is big temp swings, which is probably not a problem right now because it's summer.

Substrate is the least important of the three. It's a good place for beneficial bacteria to colonize, but so is a cheap sponge filter. Gravel, sand, and stone substrates are not absolutely necessary - they're there more for aesthetic reasons. Look at BrianNY's discus tanks - no substrate, and those fish are happy! http://www.aquariumadvice.com/download.php?id=15410

Check out http://www.bigalsonline.com for the best prices online.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Try hitting a pool supply store. A 50 lb bag of pfs is about $10 around here. You don't need that much, but if it's cheaper than buying it at the lfs, then go for it.

 

[Puriti]

T__T my mom won't let me buy onlinnneeeeeeeee........

Yeah I know I don't need it... I just rather see stones and stuff ^^; plus I have plants I can separate amongst the fish so, rocks or something to hold them down would be nice....

Heck yeah it's cheaper at a pool store X.x

 

[kimberly]

The gravel I have in my aquarium is from Home Depot. I bought it many, many years ago when I was a poor elem school teacher, so I know it was really cheap. And since I like the natural look, I think it looks really good.

 

[talloulou]

The substrate is the least important. Since it's still summer and your house probably isn't that cold yet I'd place heater behind filter in importance.

Whatever you do don't bypass getting the filter cause you don't like the look of no substrate.

 

[Puriti]

Whatever you do don't bypass getting the filter cause you don't like the look of no substrate.

O-O can you try that again?

 

[Puriti]

Oh wait, never mind lol I get it...

8O I won't do that talloulou! lol my male molly tank has 5 pieces of gravel in it and it's fine.