# Looking for small grain gravel



## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

Hello,

I'm setting up a few tanks and want to know which manufacturer makes a gravel with a small grain size, say of about 2-5mm in diameter? Regular aquarium gravel is just too large. I prefer black, but I would take any natural color, as long as it's dark. This would be mixed with laterite for a few planted setups. I know, very old-school, but I've had poor experiences with Fluorite, and Eco-complete and ADA soil are a bit rich for my student budget. Besides, would like to use the laterite that I already have lying around. I don't mind getting it online, as long as I knew it was the right gravel. As long as I have the manufacturer, I can search for it online.

Thank you very much,

lljdma06


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## aquaman3000 (Dec 1, 2005)

I use Estes brand "Bits O' Walnut." It is a very fine dark natural gravel that I find pleasing to the eye and blends well when mixed with Flourite. The gravel size is about 1-3 mm in size. They have a lot of other pleasing gravels as well at http://www.estesco.com/aqua.html.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I had problems with an Estes brand when the coating wore out. The rock was naturally high in phosphate and caused me lots of time and $$ until some one said to check my gravel which I thought was crazy. It has been said never to use coated gravels.

Seachem makes a product called Onyx sand but that has a buffering effect on the water in the tank so it depends on the fish you'll be keeping.


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

Well, that's not good. Thanks for the information. I'd use fluorite, but I used it once and rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed, you get the idea. The water was still very cloudy after 3 weeks, will double the filtration (with carbon, daily changes of the sponges, and water changes. I took the Fluorite out and mixed it with the soil near my rose bush. The rose is doing very well, by the way, so not a total loss. I'll have to take a look around then and see what I like. I don't particularly like coated gravel either, so we'll see. If it's uncoated but has a larger grain, I won't mind so much. I've had very good growth with just regular gravel and root tabs, so the laterite mixed with a gravel will be an improvement regardless of what I end up with. 

Thank you for replying Aquaman and Newt.

llj


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## arcflame (May 2, 2006)

Here's a solution I found that is cheap, but time consuming. I bought a few bags of Sakrete sand (their Tube sand works as well) from Home Depot for less than $3/bag. I'm not sure if they use regional sources for their sand so you may want to buy a bag and check to make sure it's inert, but the stuff I bought in New England (where granite is plentiful and limestone is rare) was fine in that regard. 

You'll need a seive or screen strainer (the kind you get for the kitchen) and a bucket (optional). What I did was take a 5g. bucket and drill .5" holes around the diameter about 4" from the top for water drainage. load up the seive with some sand and rinse well until the water coming out the bottom is clear. You should be left with some nice sized gravel. I use the bucket to catch the smaller-grained sand which I either add to the strained gravel after further rinsing or just use on the sidewalk in the winter.

In my experience, a 50 lb. bag of this stuff will yield about 20 lbs. of gravel and another 20 lbs. of sand, should you choose to use that. The color is a medium-dark gray-brown. The color and texture is comparable to the oiso sand used in some of the Amano books, if you've ever seen that.

It's time consuming, but it's about as cheap as you can get.


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## Ransom (May 3, 2006)

Newt said:


> I had problems with an Estes brand when the coating wore out.


I've been using the same Estes Nature Blends Bits 'o Walnut for at least 10 years now. The coating shows no signs of wearing off... yet... but YMMV


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

Thanks Arcflame, I will consider this if I can find nothing else. I would have to check for inertness, though, since Miami, FL is mostly coral rock, so unless the Sakrete sand is from the same source as yours, I doubt it'll work, unless I do African cichlids. 

Your contrasting opinion is duely noted Ransom. Now, I'll ask you a question, the caffeine is not working as well today, could you explain the abbreviation YMMV for me please? I bet it's something very obvious, but I need more coffee to be in top mental shape! 

I really appreciate everybody's imput. This is really helping with the decision process. At least I know I'll have laterite in there somewhere.


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## Mjproost (Nov 17, 2005)

In Minneapolis we haev a supply store that carries a natural gravel that is about 3-6 mm diameter and it is very cheap. They also carry 3M color quartz in black. They only have the fine grade which is the consistancy of fine sand. 3M makes a T-grade that is about the size you are looking for. The supply house in Minneapolis referred me to a place in Chicago to get it, but I don't remember the name. I was frustrated that I had to go out of state to get a product from a Minnesota based company.

Do search on these forums for 3M color quartz and you should get some good info. www.3M.com will have lists of dealers if you dig down.

Color quartz is a solid black product that will not fade, is not coated, and is totally inert. Might be just what you are looking for.

HTH


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