That color gravel that can be found at pet shops is colored quartz. I spent a lot of time cleaning it today and all the time the water came out exactly the same, all black, the same color of the gravel.
Michelle found this thread called
“My big mistake” and it convinced us that it was not a good idea using the colored gravel, so we discarded it right away.
There are some minerals that are naturally black, like onyx, black granite or obsidian, but I guess they could affect the water chemical in some way. The best option would be someting like this called Volcanit:
Volcanit is a pH-neutral aquarium gravel of volcanic origin. The fine pore structure of the gravel encourages bacterial activity that enhances the biological release of nutrients from within the gravel. The results are superb plant growth. volcanit is mixed with 10% ferrolit, a natural long term iron fertilizer derived from Laterite. The resultant black and red colour enhances the beauty of the aquarium plants and the hues of the fish
art. no.: 21139, plastic bag 7 kg (c. 15 lbs.)
Sounds great, but the bag cost like $30.
Also look at this post at Aquatic Eden: Substrates for the Planted Aquarium
Tomorrow we may get the common aquarium gravel to set up the new tank.
2 comments:
Armando Can you talk to me on yahoo IM please tonite? I need to discuss a few things about your new fish tank and gravel...
with regard to substrates, i have a controversial oppinion in that i do not believe you can get a substrate that is too fine for a plants roots.
it is a well known fact that plants can push their roots through a lot more solid and concrete, literally substances than a fine sand or gravel.
some people who do planted aquariums use normal garden soil. it takes a while for the soil to change chemically, thus prolonging the cycling process but after this is done and all the bad stuff has been removed, this is just as good, if not better (so i read, of course... than anything else for planted aquariums.
to me, this is all thoeretic and i have no proof myself that this is the case. however, with an understanding of plants, trees and chemistry, i believe it to be the case.
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