Cheap gravel

[Woody]

I was walking through a local fish store a couple of days ago and watched a salesperson selling a customer "natural" gravel at about $1 (US) per pound. The price of aquarium gravel seems outrageous, especially since I also prefer a natural-looking environment and don't need any colorful coatings.

When setting up a 46-gallon tank recently, I did what I have done in the past: I stopped by a local sand and gravel business and asked if I could fill a couple of 5-gallon buckets with pea gravel. The guys who work behind the counter are accustomed to selling it by the truckload, so the price is cheap. I paid $3 for two buckets, which was about 80 pounds of gravel. All I had to do was rinse it well to remove the sand and dirt, and I have plenty left over for another tank if I buy one later.

 

[crimsontsavo]

It's amazing how if you put a lable on something you can mark the price up,lol.

"Natural aquarium gravel"- 10.00 for a small bag.

Gravel/rock place- Yeah dude- fill a bucket or ten for 20.00.

Glad you found a good source!

 

[Adrinal]

Yep, takes a little more in the preperation but it is well worth it!

now any tips on rock for a SW tank?

I plan to make my own in the spring... but that is a few months away yet here

 

[Doggfather]

great idea, real money saver!!!

 

[drobbins27]

I am going to try that for sure! Thanks for the idea

 

[crazie.eddie]

Yeah, I also got free large slates of rock to decorate my tank. There are several landscaping and rock/masonry companies near where I live. I picked out like 3 slates (broken pieces) and brought them to the counter and asked how much they were. They quoted me a price, which was actually the price per ton or truckload. I then answered back, "No, I just want these actual pieces becuase I want to use them for my aquarium to make caves and stuff for my fish", which they just normally reply "Oh, then, you can have it.". At first, I was willing to pay for it if it was cheaper than LFSs would sell. But after one place giving it free, I decided to give the same line to each one I visited. Therefore, I now have about 100 lbs of nice rocks

 

[drobbins27]

Grea thinking that will save me a lot of money!

 

[endparenthesis]

Sell them to the fish stores .

 

[OscarCichlid]

i bought two 55 pound bags of natural gravel frome Home Depot for about $4.99 each and i used it on all my freshwater tanks.. looks great and saves money at the same time..

 

[drobbins27]

You can also buy Play Sand from any hardware store. Looks AMAZING!

 

[mrcrabbs]

They jack up the price because it is colored.

 

[cutechic]

My lfs also sells natural sand in bulk for about ten times the price it would cost to get it at Home Depot.

 

[fishdudein]

I always have had a problem with spending perfectly good money on rocks.I keep my eyes open for aquarium suitable rocks and decorations whenever I am out in the woods or fishing. Just be sure that the rocks are not of a porous nature, and clean them up extra good when you get them home ( dont want to introduce parasites or disease to your fish ). Also stay away from any rocks that appear to have any metallic composition to them or look "rusty". Never take too many rocks from one area, or upset the biotope that they are a part of.

 

[TheeMon]

"Natural aquarium gravel"- 10.00 for a small bag.

yeah dude buy it for 1$ then bag it and sell it on ebay