A Poor Investment?

[balton777]

I've been thinking about going to a bigger sand, but I think I'm just going to go with pebbles, maybe "river rock" or something. Really considering what they call something like "beach rock" or something that's a little more saturated than river rock. Just have to plan it all out.

Don't go with a small pebble size gravel or it will be a second 'bad investment'. It's extremely time consuming and difficult to vacuum and keep clean. You'll hate it, I know I did.

Whatever sand I pull out of the aquarium will just be put in a bucket until I decide what to do with it.

LOL I have a full bucket of Black Tahitian Moon Sand that's been sitting for over 3 years waiting for me to do something with it. I went from gravel to BTMS to PFS and like PFS the best.

 

[Tanks of Steel]

I use river rock from 2" to fist sized. It wirks awesome for me, but I think that unless you have a hole in the bottom of your tank, like I do, river rock would cause you loads of trouble. I drain my tank out the bottom once a week and the debris goes through the rock.

 

[MonsterMinis]

paint the bottom black.. nothing is easier to syphon then a bare bottom tank.

But I have found sand/very fine substrates easier to keep clean then most gravels. It's a skill learned though how to syphon it just right. and as stated, You'll still loose abit. My Eco complete is a pita to syphon.. but all the debris sits on top so it's about getting the right distance/vs suckage of the syphon just right.... my Bichir tank's gravel I have to dig threw... takes almost 3x as long to get it clean enough for me.