White colour gravel

[prosavage]

Hi,

I'm about to set up my 6ft tank and thinking of laying some gravel. From google images, i see a lot of people use very light beige / white colour fine gravel, and i kinda like the look too

Does anyone know what they're called and where to get these gravel? The tank will house mainly Americans

I'm not a big fan of sand as it looks bad once it gets dirty and it gets sucked by filter

any input will be greatly appreciated

[JPM1976]

You can get coral sand.

[Mizark]

I use a mix of 2mm white gravel & 2mm marble chips. They mix in well & the marble chip provides PH buffering.

[prosavage]

You can get coral sand.

i believe this will increase ph??

[hobcas]

In short yes.

Now for the long winded answer……….

Coral sand is made of calcium carbonate which progressively dissolves in water. As it dissolves it neutralise's the acidifying effect associated with decaying food, driftwood and fish waste. This pH buffering quality makes coral sand a useful aquarium substrate for African cichlids.

A couple of things to note with coral sand is the light colour can make some cichlids look washed out and far from their best as they try and blend with the substrate, in particular I noticed my black calvus looked more like white calvus when using coral sand with a fairly light blue background colour.

A final consideration is that many cichlids love to sift through the substrate and coral sand can be fairly course leading to potential damage to their mouths and gill plates, not necessarily a good thing for mouth brooding females.

Heaps of people use coral pieces etc in their filters to buffer the water.

Cheers

Ross

[prosavage]

In short yes.

Now for the long winded answer……….

Coral sand is made of calcium carbonate which progressively dissolves in water. As it dissolves it neutralise's the acidifying effect associated with decaying food, driftwood and fish waste. This pH buffering quality makes coral sand a useful aquarium substrate for African cichlids.

A couple of things to note with coral sand is the light colour can make some cichlids look washed out and far from their best as they try and blend with the substrate, in particular I noticed my black calvus looked more like white calvus when using coral sand with a fairly light blue background colour.

A final consideration is that many cichlids love to sift through the substrate and coral sand can be fairly course leading to potential damage to their mouths and gill plates, not necessarily a good thing for mouth brooding females.

Heaps of people use coral pieces etc in their filters to buffer the water.

Cheers

Ross

Great info there thanks .....