What Gravel To Use On A 5FT?

[Mulisha]

Hey everyone

I just made up my mind to upgrade my small 3ft 160L discus tank to a 350L 5ft tank and move 1 of the tanks out of my room it started to get a little full LOL.

These are the specs of the tank as i need some help with the gravel.

Tank is 300L (approx with gravel driftwood etc)
The tank will have 1.0 WPG so low light plants will be in there like Anubis etc and off cuts from my 4ft display planted tank.
I have choosen 8 juvnile Red Turks to go in there.. Thanks to Rod Lewis :wink:

This is the complication:

Gravel:I have a white gravel with a few brownish rocks blened in with them and seeing how discus blend into there enviroment will white rocks make them look ugly or not show there best colours?

Example:I had the 3ft tank as BB when first getting my 4 juvinile discus and the bottom of the 3ft tank was tinted black and all my discus were black in colour for 3 weeks untill i choose to add gravel to the tank and after about 20mins of adding the grvel to the tank as well as some plants and drftwood my discus came alive so to speak they were orange and showing there colours alot more etc and that gravel was a orange colour.

So can someone let me know what to do with that probelm about gravel as i have already got 50kg of the white gravel from previous tanks and thought i might use that what do you think :?: :?:

Yes i don't want to have gravel i find it no harder to clean the tank and makes the tank a little neater as i can add plants.

Thanks everyone for ya help becuase i'll need it LOL

CHEERS :lol: :lol:

A few pics of the white gravel let me know what you think :!:

[Ben]

Hi Rick,

that gravel should suit the purpose very well.

I under stand as far as the colour of the fish goes but it will be ok.

A nice piece of driftwood and plants will look nice.

Ben

[Mulisha]

Thanks Ben :wink: Now i don't have to spend like $80 on gravel saved me a few $$$ :D

[Ben]

Mind you....Black gravel looks stunning!

[Mulisha]

Yeah it does my brother has it but i find it buffers the water to much becuase my bro can get from about 6.8 after a w/c and will rasie to about 7.8 maybe 8.0 over a week but he only has tropical fish and they all seem happy :D

But yes black gravel does look but if i can save a bit $$ i will LOL :wink:

[duck]

Looks multi colour to me not white.

Just like to add, if you think about it the substrate is a once off cost so get what you like.
Not like fish food you have to buy regularly and the electricity to run the tanks plus the water for WC and whatever else i have missed out on,These thing's are on going cost in running a tank.

[Mulisha]

Yeah that's true duck might sleep on it :wink:

Might think of getting a darker colour to show the fishyd colours better :)

[oscar]

Just my quick two cents...

Black gravel does look very good. But the discus can darken and you don't get best bang for buck out of their colouration.

That gravel you have showed us looks like the run of the mill "Coffs Harbour Gravel"

IMO opinion discus look fantastic with a really light substrate. I use pool filter sand in one of my tanks at the suggestions of others such as Proteus etc. It looks fantastic (except at the moment as i'm battling with an algae problem), the discus colour up very well.

[Mulisha]

Cheers Oscar you i'll price some different gravel today and let you know what i am doing thanks for everyones help...

[Mattzilla]

i use white marbel chips in my flowerhorn tank and it looks great. looks very similar to sand. i think it cost about $10 for 25kg from a landscaping place.

[Mulisha]

Cheers buddy :wink:

I think i might use the white gravel as i think it will be fine for the tank 8-)

Thanks for everyones help :wink:

[endless]

never use black gravel with discus... They will darken or if they are pigeon bloods start peppering. Stick with light colored gravel or white pool sand. I know cause i used to have midnight black gravel and all my discus were really dark. Once i changed to white gravel all their colors started showing

[duck]

never use black gravel with discus... They will darken or if they are pigeon bloods start peppering.
Is this a fact or just what happen to you?
I have also heard that too much lighting does the same.
I have black gravel and find it to be excellent.

[Mulisha]

Hmm we need other peoples inputs that have black gravel and noticed colour loss or peppering ?

I have heard that intense lighting does make peppering show on the fish more.

Also what colour should i paint the back of my tank for the colours of my fish to stand out the most Light Blue, Dark Blue, White, Black etc?

Thanks everyone for your replys... :D

[duck]

What meant to say is that i have heard lighting can cause peppering,But in my tanks i haven't noticed an increase,I think it's got to do more with the fish more than anything else and what is appealing to your eye's

[Mulisha]

Yeah if u provide some hiding spots so your fish can get out of direct light i think..

[G-1000]

Hi Guys,

In my experience I have found that lights that are left on too long increase peppering, but not lights that are too bright. I say this because I had a 3 foot with a timer and an octagonal without a timer. 1 PB in each amoungst others, both had black gravel and the tank without the timer had more obvious peppering (due to exposure time - since the lights were the same wattage).

G

[Mulisha]

Cheers G

Thanks mate :wink:

[oscar]

I recently had discus in a tank with dark gravel. There were pigeon, blue diamond, and yellow melon (all juvenile). The pigeon and melons started peppering, and the blue diamond's bodies were quite dark. Then i changed to pool sand and there was an immediate difference in the BD's and pover time the others have reduced peppering.

I'm caught in the same position as you Mulisha. I've got a new 8 footer arriving tomorrow and i have buckets and buckets of coffs harbour and dark gravels lying around. It'd be nice to get away without the cost of new gravel.

The white pool sand really brightens the whole tank environment up too.

Personally i think dark gravel looks really good, but so does the brilliant white of pool filter sand. Also the fine particles keep food handy for discus and Cory's to graze. The only problems with pool filter sand are that the waste stays on top so it needs to be vac'd all the time (but this also means that it doesn't go down in to the gravel and rot) and if your tank gets sunlight (as one of mine does at this time of year) the algae looks awful and can mat the top layer of sand together.

I guess you've got to weight up your priorities...there is no right or wrong way to go. I really can't make up my mind whether to go white or dark either...tomorrow is crunch day.

Cheers.

[Mulisha]

Hey this might sound very dumb or could be a alright idea what about mixing them both together 50/50?

Just do a experment mix half a bucket of coffs and then the sand see what happens might look alright :idea:

I'll take some pics of my tank set up now with the white gravel in there looks good IMO ..