How many lbs. of gravel?

[PredatorFish]

I just got a new 90 gallon tank today. It will be a Lake Malawi Mbuna tank. How many lbs. of gravel do you suggest? The base is 48" by 18".

[BV77]

I think they would rather sand than gravel. Not much deeper than 1" , though.....to inhibit anerobic bacteria from growing in the sand or gravel bed.

[Ledslnger]

When I first started the hobby, someone told me 1 pound for every gallon. Now...I think that is a bit much. Actually, I use almost all sand now. But, I think 3/4 to 1 is a better rule. Say 75 pounds of rock for a 100G tank. Hope this helps. It also may depend on if you are using a UGF filter or not. May need a bit more if you want to try to cover up the white uplift tube bases.

[PredatorFish]

I will not be using a UGF. If I used sand how do you vaccum it or don't you need to?

[Matak]

Very gently and hold the intake end somewhat off the surface to avoid sucking sand.

[wetmanNY]

Whatever your mix, estimate your needs by the square inches of tank bottom that will be covered, rather than by tank volume— you'll need a bit more than 10 pounds of substrate mix for every 150 square inches of tank base-- or, by a very rough estimate, each five pounds of a coarse sand like Estes Black Sand will give you an inch depth per square foot.
--cut n pasted from www.skepticalaquarist.com

Do other folks agree with this rough estimate?

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by PredatorFish
I will not be using a UGF. Good idea....
Yes you do need to vacuum the sand / substrate. There are different ways to do this. Do you have a "Python"? (if not, it's a good idea to get one...)

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by Ledslnger
When I first started the hobby, someone ..... It also may depend on if you are using a UGF filter or not. Try 'NOT' to..



Look into Canister filters... before opting for the other..:eek:

[Matak]

Don't fall for the "no UGF" propogandists. It is an international conspiracy concocted by the big filter conglomerates to increase sales. Their puppets and stooges will tell you anything to steer you away from UGF's. Now take me. I have a Reverse Flow Under Gravel Filter on only one third of my tank and it gives me excellent biofiltration.

Here are the advantages:
absolutely silent
cleaning the filter takes less time than other filters
very low current flow that most plants and some fish demand
low cost, around $50.00 Cdn for the whole setup
no unsightly plumbing outside the tank (only one small electrical cord)
the water supply tube to the Under Gravel Plate makes a great CO² diffuser


Together, we can overcome this Great Conspiracy!:D

[Tyler718]

I don't have a problem with UGF's, but I saw where he was wanting to keep Malawi Cichilds. UGF's are not a good idea with these fish. I have a 60 gal w/ Malawis. They are diggers. Mine dig deep into the substrate to bottom sometimes.

So if you use a UGF w/ these fish they will dig to the grate for the UGF. Then you won't have the substrate to filter the water. The flow of water will go to where there is least resistance. So in the end it will be useless. So in the end, it will be $50 wasted.

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by Tyler718
....So if you use a UGF w/ these fish they will dig to the grate for the UGF. Then you won't have the substrate to filter the water. The flow of water will go to where there is least resistance. So in the end it will be useless. So in the end, it will be $50 wasted. But, the good side of this is, the fish just helped get to that grating so time to remove it and clean out what's underneath it! :D

[PredatorFish]

I deffinatly don't want to use a UGF with my Mbunas. I have a python. What type of sand is the best to use? I want it to be fairly large grained so it doesn't make the water real cloudy if it gets stirred up. Does that Carib Sea sand work well?

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by PredatorFish
I deffinatly don't want to use a UGF with my Mbunas. ....Does that Carib Sea sand work well? That Carib sand looks great! I don't know much about it though. I'm sure someone will give you pointers on the sand... :)

[Tyler718]

Originally posted by PredatorFish
I deffinatly don't want to use a UGF with my Mbunas. I have a python. What type of sand is the best to use? I want it to be fairly large grained so it doesn't make the water real cloudy if it gets stirred up. Does that Carib Sea sand work well?

A friend of mine uses sand blasting sand from Home Depot. It looks really good. Sand blasting sand comes in varieties of sizes. From vary fine to larger grains. It would be up to you to find the exact granular you want.

Another advantage of this is that you'll pay A LOT less than ordering online or buying it from a LFS.:)

[Matak]

FromTyler 718
I don't have a problem with UGF's, but I saw where he was wanting to keep Malawi Cichilds. UGF's are not a good idea with these fish.

Couldn't argue with you there. Also, you can't do much terrascaping or decoration adding with UGF's. It seems that they can cause dead spots and short circuits. Oh well, nothing is perfect.:o

[appaloosatb]

Just a note: no matter which sand you choose, make sure to rinse it very well before adding it to your tank, it will really help in not making your water too cloudy! There will be some initial cloudiness when you fill the tank with water, but if you've done a good job choosing your sand and rinsing it well, it should disappear within an hour or so.

You can either rinse sand by putting it in a pillowcase and running water over (the fine grains go through the material) or just putting it all in a bucket and filling the bucket with water until the water you pour out is clear. I've used both methods with a good deal of success, although I liked the bucket method better (I was able to stir the sand while I rinsed and I didn't ruin a pillowcase ;) ).

HTH! :)

[Ledslnger]

UGFs are not the best filters when raising cichlids. That is just a fact. Especially large cichlids. Many like to dig and it negates the effectiveness of the UGF. If you use sand, I just try to suck up the visual waste. Every so often I mix the sand around a lot to get it suspended in the tank's water. Then I siphon and let my external filters suck the junk out.

[OrionGirl]

Instead of rinsing the sand, try putting the sand in first, the slowly adding the water by pouring it into a plate so it floods the sand without stirring it up. We've used this method on 3 SW tanks, and 3 FW tanks without any clouding at all. You want to keep the variety of particles, including the little bitty ones. The small grain sizes provide a huge amount of surface area for bacteria to colonize.

And, wetmanNY's advice sounds about right. We used about 75 lb's of sand for the 3 SW tanks. Each one had 5-6 inches of sand, and is 18" X 36". (No, you don't want that much sand in a FW tank, but it's perfect for SW!)

[Sumpin'fishy]

I went to Lowes (similar to Home Depot) and bought commercial grade, medium Sand bye Quickcrete. It's 100% silica sand (safe for fish) and the medium size ranges from about 1mm to 3mm. It's a very uniform light tan/brown. I rinsed this stuff in a bucket three times and the water was very clear afterwards. When added to my aquarium it didn't cloud at all and immediately sinks to bottom. Not a bit of floating/suspended garbage! I am really happy with this sand and will suggest it to anyone interested. It's in a concrete mix looking thick paper sack. It's exactly the same makeup as playsand, just it was a larger size. The playsand is very dusty/dirty from what I've heard numerous times, and when I looked in the bag it was very fine grained. Try the Quickcrete medium sand. It's for all types of general use (sandbox, concrete foundation, leveling, commercial use, etc.)

[Matak]

Sandblasting sand is 100% silica and comes in different size grades, depending on what you are looking for.

[Heady]

How do you know what grade is what size when buying from a hardware store?

I would like a dark charcoal substrate if I can find it cheap. (Onyx is nice but expensive. Also it has just a little smaller size than I'd like.)

[Woozledad]

I went to Lowes (similar to Home Depot) and bought commercial grade, medium Sand bye Quickcrete.

I used the same stuff, came out perfectly.... But, I sifted out the smaller particles and used the coarse remains...50lb bag for about $3....Cheap enough....