black gravel?

[channarox]

im thinking of adding 1 inch deep black gravel to the tank.
however.
the only thing setting me back is that its gonna be harder to clean from what ive heard.
anyone got any suggestions?

 

[goose_uk]

Isnt gravel always a little risky with poly's? I have heard they can choke on it, thats why sand is always reccomended. You can always get some black sand......

 

[ironmunki]

i have black gravel in some tanks and sand in the others. i find the black gravel actually easier to keep clean because i can use the big attachment on python. I just shove it into the gravel a bit and it pulls up all the gunk without lifting my rocks. for the sand i have to remove the attachment to get stronger suction and have to be careful that i just skim the surface of the sand. i still end up sucking up a bit of sand anyway. crap shows up way better on sand than gravel. thats either good or bad depending on how diligently you do tank maintenance.

 

[Aquarium_Fish]

got black gravel in one of my tanks - it's not a very course gravel.

It does fine for that tank!

 

[channarox]

its very smooth gravel.
thats why i didnt want to use sand.
dont wanna suck up the sand.

 

[XRAYZ]

black gravel may turn some bichirs dark. i had some endlicheri on black gravel in my quarantine tank..... here is what happen.

 

[XRAYZ]

here is a different fish with same affect...

 

[the_deeb]

I had the same effect with my endlicheri on black sand. Black substrates don't work well with striped bichirs IMO.

 

[channarox]

i like the darker looking bichirs.
but ive noticed the stripes get faint...
hmm...
maybe i'l go with part black gravel part brown.

 

[Razman]

ive got black sand in one of my tanks and it looks great. ive also heard that painting the bottom of the tank (on the outside of course) looks great and its way less of a hassel.