substrate

[sakaspuds]

i used to have about 2" or more in my tank, but someone told me that was far too much, they said a good test was to disturb it, and if a lot of mess came out of it, then you had too much, so i did, only a little bit, and my water clouded up really bad, so i ened up taking most of it ot, now i have about 1/4", really just enogh to get coverage, i was just wandering if this is ok, because most of the pictures i see of tanks, have more, i know someone that had lots of trouble with sand, so i will keep the gravel, i have several 'MTS' that have magicly appeared in my tank, i think they much have came on a plant, but i think they are good for keeping the substrate clean, so my question is how deep should my substrate be? i have a 3' tank with mostly live bearers in it

 

[Final Dynazty]

you should have 1 pound of gravel to every 1 u.s. gravel. Thats what i do and it suits the tank just fine. Dont forget to wash ur gravel clean b4 u put it in ur tank.

 

[FishDan]

I don't really feel there is a "should be" depth. They common guide is 1 pound/gallon, but this is just a suggestion. many people use no substrate, many people use a lot more. For example in one terreced section of my tank I have almost 6 inches of sand. The average for my tank is about 2.5 inches. I like the deep looking sand bed. Some people prefer a shallow bed. Put how much you want to put. If you are using gravel it is vitally important that you do a good job of siphoning deep within the gravel at least once a month or 6 weeks. That will prevent a majority of the "junk" from building up in there. Using sand largely fixes this as the junk stays on top of the sand. Of course, the downside is that you have to siphon a little more often because the junk isn't hidden between the gravel.

\Dan

 

[sakaspuds]

ok thanks for the advice

 

[yhbae]

Hmmm shouldn't amount of substrate based on the footprint of the tank rather than the total volume? If you follow it by the volume, you will end up with deeper substrate in taller tanks which seem strage...

I like to keep maximum 1 inch of substrates in all tanks regardless of the type. I will probably go with more in the shellies tank but that would be the oly exception.