Glass pebbles

[Firebelle_uk]

Hi all, I'm very partial to glass pebbles and wondered if these would make an adequate base for my aqaurium? On the plus side they would be fairly large and therefore allow fry etc to shelter if I am fortuante enough to get that far, and on the negative side I wondered if they would be too smooth to support bacterial growth and root structures. Could I maybe sink a bowlful into some gravel or scatter some in the aquarium to catch light etc?

All replies welcome

Thanks

Firebelle

 

[Jo and Gra]

they would be "safe" as in not a bad thing, but as you say, maybe too larger gaps for the bacteria etc

 

[laurasmithuk]

why not use sand as ypur substrate and scatter a few glass pebbles

 

[fawnmodel]

I use regular, washed aquarium gravel, them sprinkle about two bags of glass marbles on the top. I am particularly partial to the clear and round, irridescent ones as they look like shiny bubbles)

They are great, with proper grave there already no worries about bacterial, infact they do attract a little algae actually. they are very good for fry to hide around. I leave mine in when vacuuming it works fine.

 

[Firebelle_uk]

Thanks for all the comments. I think I'm going to go for traditional gravel at least for a few months so I can be sure my aqaurium is pretty "mainstream" and that all my readinggs etc are somewhere in the expected spectrum. Then once I;ve got the basics right I'll be a little more adventurous.
Now my problem is choosing whther to set up the 3 or 4 ft tank first lol.

Firebelle

 

[daddyfish]

While Yes Glass Pebbles look good.
And yes they would provide Fry with places to HIDE.
It's "RISKY" at Best. Once you begin to move the Glass Pebbles around they begin to "Chip Off" Soon enough you begin to get rather "SHARP" Jagged Edges, and this will usually Sooner then Later end Up Damaging Your Fish, and Maybe end Up Cutting one bad enough to Kill it/them.
I'd advise you to "STAY AWAY" from them.
While YES I do scatter a few Glass Beads on the Floor of my Tank, I even use Marbles Sometimes...
I remove them before I clean my Tank, And if I find one with A small Chip or one that has Broke I discard it, and replace it with another.
{BETTER TO BE SAFE then SORRY}
Try using Plastic BREEDING GRASS for your Fry if NEED BE.
As well as Small pecieces of CPVC Pipe that the others can't get into.