If you have kribs or something that likes soft water, then sand or river rock is good. But you really need to take the hose to it outside and rinse it really well, you need to rinse the crushed coral too, but the white stuff is good for the fish-it contains the buffers- so just rinse it good enough that the water runs pretty clear, I usually only have to do two rinses with the pet store stuff. And with the price of gas these days, it might just be cheaper to get it at the pet store or lowes or something.
#PEA GRAVEL HOME DEPOT FREE#
If you go to the stone place for your pea gravel (river rock) they will likely give it to you as a free sample or only charge you a dollar or two, but you will need to rinse rinse rinse. I have used the white ornamental rocks to glue plants to to weight them down or just to add contrast to the floor of the tank and they look really cool under the lights. I would really spend the money on the gravel and the filter. A cheap price to pay for not having to buffer water all the time. I only put in an inch of gravel because my fish always lay eggs on the glass bottom or in a flower pot or something, so a big bag of crushed coral for me does two 55 gallon tanks and costs around 12 us dollars at the pet store. I've often wondered about clean limestone fines (tiny limestone gravel) but I think while it would be great on pH and the fish would probably love it, it would make the tank cloudy white all the time. The crushed coral is more expensive, unless you live in Florida and can go to the stone places and buy a small amount, most places will help you, then there are some kind of big shell pieces and it has to be rinsed out well. Every tank I have has crushed coral and I wouldn't use anything else unless the species specifically needed sand to breed or other reason. The river rock at Lowes and Home Depot is probably ok if you for sure wash it well.
I've done sand and some species do like sand, like acei, but it can clog up your filter and be a hassle to clean as well. Crushed coral will help maintain a higher pH, help buffer the water so the pH doesn't dive as drastically as the water ages and is easy to clean and keeps the tank smelling fresh, much like lime keeps soil and pond water smelling sweet and fresh. Socolofi and others prefer digging in the gravel and are quite the architects and they don't like not having gravel to dig in. Aquarium sand lakes the clay and other particulate matter that occurs in nature that is helpful in holding a bed together (pit the fish dig for breeding). I can think of many species, especially mbuna, that prefer crushed coral as they make a bed to breed in. If you are concerned about maintaining the proper pH and breeding high pH fish, then crushed coral you buy at the pet store is the best.
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