gravel

[dona]

I am in the process of setting up my 75 gal freshwater community tank with an eheim filter.my question is gravel.I was wondering if it is easier tyo use the larger stones in the bottom of the tank as apose to the smaller ones. I am thinking of cleaning purposes.
Every time I clean my tnaks now the gravel always get stuk in the siphon. I figuered maybe larger stones and it would be easier to clean and heavy enough no to get in the siphon. thanks dona

[K_S_W_I_S_S]

i only have one question, what size is your gravel now? is it like sand?

[famman]

Actually, I prefer to use the smallest grained gravel I can find.
It compacts better preventing debris from falling inbetween the stones letting your filter remove it.
Small grained gravel is also easier to gravel vacuum. The grains are too heavy to make it all the way up to the top of the gravel vacuum tube but light enough to go part way up and give a thorough vacuuming effect if you want to.
good luck
:)

[ChilDawg]

Just one caveat to what famman has stated: the compaction of gravel is not always a good thing, as it can make for highly anaerobic situations in the substrate and thus cause severe husbandry problems. Keeping such a substrate stirred up would not be a bad idea, but then I would suggest a mechanical pre-filter over all of your filtration so that it is not easily clogged.

I like pea gravel because of the natural aeration that even the bottom of the tank can get, and also because, even when it gets stirred up a little bit, it won't clog my filter.