Polished Pebbles?

[wendy]

I was wondering about something...

I was thinking about changing the blue gravel substrate in the tank to a more natural look. I couldn't find anything that I liked, though, except for these 'Polished Pebbles' from Wal-mart. They are sold in the crafts section of the store, not in the pet section. They look like river rocks and they are all different colors and have a smooth, almost slick feeling to them. Do they treat these with chemicals? Would it be safe for a dwarf frog tank(2.5 gallons)?

Is there any way to check? Thanks for any replies.

 

[TankGirl]

What size are they? If they are large, like silver dollar size or so, I would not recommend them as waste falls down in between and can foul a tank relatively quickly, unless you rearrange them every time you do water change and get it all out. Many times these type of rocks are treated with an epoxy (like aquarium gravel is, often) and they are "probably" safe but I don't really know how you could check. It would be the kind of thing I would use sparingly in a tank as decoration, but not as the primary substrate.

Another important tip - when you change out your current gravel do it over a couple of days or three, so you don't upset the bacterial colonies. If you have a BioWheel on the tank that is less of a concern, but I had a mini-cycle when I changed all of my gravel once, and that was on a tank with a BioWheel.

There are a lot of natural looking gravels, which is what I use, and I generally can find them at PetSmart or other big chains. BigAlsonline has a very nice selection, but shipping is more expensive for heavier things like gravel.

Good luck!