can the following be used as gravel?

Mark, you explained that very well, thanks! How do you crush the lava though? Is it just a matter of putting it into a bag and hitting it with a hammer? Woudl that do that trick?

I'll read up on some of the other methods used, but I really like the sound of yours and think I will go that route. By the way, do you also add stuff to the water for plant health? Or do you not need to with the rich substrate?

When I have time I'm going to look back at your other posts and learn more about what all you do for your tanks. :) Do you have pictures posted under your profile? I'll have to look there too... thanks for explaining. It helped a lot.

Kim
 
I forgot to say that I used to live in Okinawa, Japan when I was a little girl. I was there for about 3 years. I was young but I still remember taking my pet chicken to a pet store there (I won it as a chick at a fair...it grew too big to keep). The owner, a lady, was so excited to get it. Looking back on it, we think that the pet store owner probably had chicken that night for supper, lol. That is totally unrelated to fish...but I couldn't help myself. :)

Kim
 
We flew to Okinawa once to play football. I grew up on the gulf coast of Texas and thought I understood the word humidity. That was before they depressurized the plane and opened the doors. It was like someone sucked all the oxygen out of the plane. I kept expecting the little mask to drop out of the overhead.
Yes, I use a hammer and bag. Don't forget sweat, an important factor in any endeavor. I use Seachem Flourish for startup and water changes. It provides trace elements. I'm on the fence about fertilizers. Most seem to do the trick. I generally use them at half-strength. If you plan to keep red plants make sure you get one that contains iron. I'm planning to experiment with a line of products by a company called Aquarium Design Amano. The guru of planted tanks is there, Takashi Amano. His Nature Aquarium Products line is now available in Houston, Tx., right down the road. If you like planted tanks see the ADA websight. If I knew how I'd put a link on here. Kind of new to all this computer stuff. As for pictures, I tried to download some but the filesizes are too big. Don't know how to trim them down yet. At the time I'm down to three tanks. One that survived hurricane Rita and two I've started back up since then; a breeder tank for two half-black angels and a greenwater tank for babyfood culture. Good luck Kim.

Mark
 
Last edited:
Whether you need to use additional fertilizers will depend on the plant and the amount of light you're using. A low maintenance, low light tank will rarely require additional fertilization while a tank full of red, high light plants will require frequent fertilization. If you wish to learn more about planted tanks, check out the plant forum below.
 
wesleydnunder said:
We flew to Okinawa once to play football. .... As for pictures, I tried to download some but the filesizes are too big. Don't know how to trim them down yet. At the time I'm down to three tanks. One that survived hurricane Rita and two I've started back up since then; a breeder tank for two half-black angels and a greenwater tank for babyfood culture. Good luck Kim.

Mark
Click to expand...

Yes, the humidity here in the south is pretty bad too. I can' t remember anything weather-wise about Okinawa except that it was always hot and I used to hate sitting on those plastic/vinyl seats in the back of our car, lol, because it was hot and also my legs would get stuck to the seat!

Sorry to hear that your home was affected by Rita! :( I'm sure losing some tanks was awful. The last time we had our power knocked out for a few days was back in July 2003 caused by freaky straight lined winds. I didn't have any tanks...but I *was* fully pregnant and worried about having to deliver during that time, lol.

I do have one more question for you though....I think I'm going ot have to wait until next year to start a planted tank because I've learned my lighting is horrible and I can't afford to get a better one right now... I'm going to print out what you explained so that I can start from there when we get that going next year...but for now I'm wondering if I can mix river rocks (ranging from pea size up to an inch wide) with sand? I'm hoping that would keep stuff from falling down under the big rocks? But would I have to worry about those pockets someone talked about that form in the sand if its not mixed sometimes? I was wondering if putting heating pads under the tank would keep that from happening? What do you think?

Kim
 
Morning Kim. I would think that would be okay as long as the substrate isn't too deep. As one of the others stated, dig your gravel bell down to the bottom when you vaccuum your rocks. The main thing is to not let old food and waste sit in the crevices. I've tried dozens of different substrate combinations over the years and the common factor is maintenance. Sometimes you have to balance the look you want against how hard it will be to clean. I tend to try to make things as easy as possible, maint. wise. If you're waiting a while to get started, you've got more time for research. As for lighting, I try to save a little money and buy my aquarium lamps at the DIY store. I can get the 6500K lamps at about 1/5 what they cost at the lfs. If you go with fluorescent, remember that while the lamp may last a year it isn't radiating the full spectrum for its whole life. I change out my lamps after about 6 mo. A small convection current may help. There are a lot of variables involved. I would make the substrate as thin as I could and not worry about trying to heat the tank-bottom. Hope this helps. Keep me posted on your progress, please.

Mark
 
Last edited:
In just about any climate other than home without central heating, and certainly in any warm climate, substrate heating will do nothing - if thermostatically controlled, it will never turn on. If not thermostatically controlled it will overheat your tank.

Mixing sand and larger-than-standard-gravel rocks is IMHO shooting yourself in the foot by asking for substrate problems. Sand is IME difficult to maintain long term, the combo you suggest is going to be far worse - impenetrable by plant roots and several times as difficult to maintain as either sand or gravel.

More reading and consideration is a good idea.
 
RTR said:
In just about any climate other than home without central heating, and certainly in any warm climate, substrate heating will do nothing - if thermostatically controlled, it will never turn on. If not thermostatically controlled it will overheat your tank.

Mixing sand and larger-than-standard-gravel rocks is IMHO shooting yourself in the foot by asking for substrate problems. Sand is IME difficult to maintain long term, the combo you suggest is going to be far worse - impenetrable by plant roots and several times as difficult to maintain as either sand or gravel.

More reading and consideration is a good idea.
Click to expand...

I don't plan on planting anything in the tank though. And I'm thinking mostly sand with just some rocks in there for the look...but tucked down in the sand so that things can fall underneath the rocks? THen I can just carefully syphon off the gook from on top of it all?

Kim
 
wesleydnunder said:
As for lighting, I try to save a little money and buy my aquarium lamps at the DIY store. I can get the 6500K lamps at about 1/5 what they cost at the lfs.
Mark
Click to expand...

Hi Mark, and thanks for that tip. Does the lamp sit directly on the glass top or does it need to be suspended over the tank?
Kim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom