![]() |
|
|||||||
Members currently in the Chat:0
|
|||||
![]() |
Users In Chat Room: There are several users in chat now! Don't Be Shy - click here and come on in! |
||||
![]() |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
|
#1 |
|
Fishy Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Age: 16
Posts: 15
|
I am about to go out and buy gravel for a 10 gallon tank. I need to know how many pounds to buy.
Thanks for the help |
|
|
|
|
|
#2 |
|
I'm watching you
|
10 pouns should do fine. i've heard that you use a pound of gravel per gallon of tank. you could prolly do 1.5 times that. meaning 15 pounds
__________________
I think about you in the summertime And all the good times we had, baby It’s been a few years and I can’t deny The thought of you still makes me crazy I think about you in the summertime Summertime - New Kids On The Block |
|
|
|
|
|
#3 |
|
Fishy Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Age: 16
Posts: 15
|
ok thanks for the help
|
|
|
|
|
|
#4 |
|
Aquatic Naturalist
|
Whoa! Where did you hear that??????
First, not all gravel weighs the same.......... Second not all gravel is made from the same stuff nor has the same size. You need to decide what type of gravel you are using and how deep you need the bed to be. Typical fishtank needs no more than 2 inches. Planted tanks range from 2.5 to 4.5 inches. Different fish need different substrates. Please dont buy your gravel without researching what you need and why.
__________________
For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. ![]() Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association) Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress) |
|
|
|
|
|
#5 |
|
I'm watching you
|
I read it on multiple sites on the internet, as well as at the lfs i work at. What do you recomend for the amount of gravel?
__________________
I think about you in the summertime And all the good times we had, baby It’s been a few years and I can’t deny The thought of you still makes me crazy I think about you in the summertime Summertime - New Kids On The Block |
|
|
|
|
|
#6 |
|
Friendly Neighborhood Mod
|
__________________
![]() Why do you have to "put your two cents in"... but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to?
|
|
|
|
|
|
#7 |
|
I'm watching you
|
Then how do you figure out how much gravel? Instead of going to the lfs over and ver again because you bought too little the first time?
__________________
I think about you in the summertime And all the good times we had, baby It’s been a few years and I can’t deny The thought of you still makes me crazy I think about you in the summertime Summertime - New Kids On The Block |
|
|
|
|
|
#8 |
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 348
|
I've heard 1lb per gallon several places as well, though I've heard about 2 inches as well. I've just always assumed 1lb per gallon would end up about 2 inches.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#9 | |||||
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Age: 56
Posts: 613
|
Quote:
Quote:
and per BB's quote does it also not seem reasonable that a "high" tank would require less gravel than a "standard" tank in order to achieve the same depth of gravel. Quote:
you did very good by researching the internet but I have "been there done that and got the tee shirt". Internet research does not always produce an appropriate answer to a question. Quote:
Getting "off my soapbox" and "down to the question at hand" (as I was attempting to convey my experience to members of the Forum). Quote:
Can you provide a URL to the manufacturer of the gravel and type of gravel which you are anticipating purchasing and if not then: Can you provide the following information: 1) Does the gravel appear "consolidated" or 2) Does each aggregate in the gravel appear to approximately the same size? If 2) above then can you provide the approximate size of the aggregates? A much better alternate "in my brain" in this condition is "to get away from theoretical solutions" and "to get into empirical solutions". Alternate A (not my preferred Alternate): 1) Obtain a vessel with a fairly large bottom area (ie. a gallon plastic milk jug from which the semi-conical top has been "cut off"); 2) Take the vessel to the LFS which you work for; 3) Fill the vessel to a 6" depth of water; 4) Add measured quantities of gravel until the desired depth of gravel is present on the bottom of the vessel; 5) Employ a proportion of "the bottom area of the vessel/the bottom area of your tank" in order to calculate the quantity of gravel which you will need. Alternate B (my preferred Alternate as your tank is 10G) 1) Take your tank to the LFS which you work for; 2) Fill the tank to a 6" depth of water; 3) Add gravel until the desired depth of gravel is present on the bottom of the tank; 4) Evacuate the water from the tank; 5) Remove the gravel from the tank* and place in a bucket; 6) Take the bucket and tank home and "you are cooking with gas"! *Please remove the gravel!! I have no concept of the structural boundary conditions of your tank but the tank may rupture if you attempt to move it with the gravel in the tank. fbg: I know that you may feel like you asked "what time it is" and the above describes the manufacturer and assembly of a "Swiss Chronograph" but I have attempted to provide "all of the" theoretical and empirical solutions "which I can think of" to your question. TR
__________________
Hook Em Horns ... Keep Austin Weird |
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
#10 |
|
Senior Member
|
Frankly I believe this is another one of those "general guidelines" that is often right, and sometimes not.
For smaller thanks (up to a 30 ga tank) 1 pound per gallon is probably fairly correct. But it depends more on the footprint than the gallons. What makes it about right for those sizes is that the footprint is going to work out about right. I know I tried to get away with only 5 pounds in my 10 gallon tank, yeah not a good idea. I had to go buy a second 5 pound bag. That tank has the usual smaller grained substrate rocks (the ones that usually come in the most variant colors) I have 20 pounds in my 20 gallon tank and this is a tad deeper than 2 inches. I believe mostly due to 2 reasons.... one it is a 20 Tall not a 20 long which would certainly effect this. The second reason being that this substrate is made of larger pebbles "Medium sized" according to the bag. Those take up more space If it were me buying substrate for the tank I would guess "high" and buy 1 bag too many. If you don't need it you can return it, if you do, you haven't had to make a second trip to the store just to set the tank up. As we all know once the tank is set up, trips to the store become very regular!
__________________
Obsidian 20 gallon 1 Dwarf Gourami; 5 Cherry Barbs; 7 Black Neon Tetras; 3 Peppered Cory's; 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco (Old Blondie) 10 gallon Breaking it down for storage. 5.5 gallon Betta 100 gallon 7 giant danios; 4 Rosy Barbs, 1 German Blue Ram, 7 Julie Cory cats, 2 Burmese Loaches; 5 Zebra Daios |
|
|
|
|
|
#11 |
|
Aquatic Naturalist
|
Or just use a calculator like this one.............
http://www.plantedtank.net/substratecalculator.html Easy and pretty accurate. Just match the substrate style (size) with one thats in their calc. There are many calculators out there. Why not use them? A few more after about 3 seconds of googling. http://boonedocks.net/fishtank/ftweb.php http://fish.bakerweb.biz/calculators.html
__________________
For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. ![]() Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association) Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress) Last edited by Damon; 10-06-2007 at 12:26 PM. |
|
|
|
|
|
#12 |
|
Senior Member
|
LOL what a simple solution!
__________________
Obsidian 20 gallon 1 Dwarf Gourami; 5 Cherry Barbs; 7 Black Neon Tetras; 3 Peppered Cory's; 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco (Old Blondie) 10 gallon Breaking it down for storage. 5.5 gallon Betta 100 gallon 7 giant danios; 4 Rosy Barbs, 1 German Blue Ram, 7 Julie Cory cats, 2 Burmese Loaches; 5 Zebra Daios |
|
|
|
|
|
#13 |
|
Tiger Barb Alpha Male
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Milford, OH
Age: 16
Posts: 541
|
Just answering the main question. Heres an easy way to find out how much gravel. you get the amount of gravel in pounds equal to the volume (gallons) of the tank. I got a 38 gallon, so i bought 8 bags, 5 pounds each, about 40 lbs. My friend has a 60 gallon with 60 lbs of gravel.
__________________
My Tank 38 Gallon: Tiger Barb x5 Serpae Tetra x6 Blue Gourami x1 Bloodfin Tetra x2 Gold Barb x1 10 Gallon: Gold Gourami x1 10 Gallon: 5 Shiners (Wild) ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
|
|
|
|
|
#14 |
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 348
|
wow such a simple question and so many difficult answers..... In general 1lb per gallon, get close to 2 inches; enough said
|
|
|
|
|
|
#15 |
|
Aquatic Naturalist
|
If I used 1 lb per gallon, my 65 wouldn't have enough depth to root plants in. Just imagine if you used large pebbles in your tank.
__________________
For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. ![]() Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association) Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress) |
|
|
|
|
|
#16 |
|
I'm watching you
|
I just got a new tank damon....it's about 39.977 gallons, according to some calculator. According to your first link, i would need 39 pounds of regular gravel to make it 2 inches thick.
__________________
I think about you in the summertime And all the good times we had, baby It’s been a few years and I can’t deny The thought of you still makes me crazy I think about you in the summertime Summertime - New Kids On The Block |
|
|
|
|
|
#17 |
|
Member
|
There's no reason to get snarky, guys. Damon's got the right of it. You can't figure # of substrate/gallon. You have to figure type of substrate vs. foot print. A twenty high is going to need less than a 20 long. Think about it. The volume of 5# of sand is a lot less than 5# of river gravel. It's a lot like which weighs more: A pound of feathers or a pound of gold?
Bottom line it needs to be worked out in cubic inches to be covered, covered by cubic inches per pound of desired substrate. rav Last edited by Ravynnm; 10-06-2007 at 08:56 PM. |
|
|
|
|
|
#18 | |
|
Aquatic Naturalist
|
Quote:
__________________
For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. ![]() Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association) Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
#19 |
|
Fishy Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Age: 30
Posts: 18
|
Ok just to add on this. i have a 29 gal 30" long by 12 1/2" and i have Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil. which is a clay based. here is a pic of it. And i only have 6 lb. in the 29 gal and have 2" thourgh the whole tank. so yes the lb per gal can work for some tanks and not for others depends on what you use.
|
|
|
|
![]() |
| Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads
|
||||
| Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
| Funny, informative, or just plain sad? | TheOldSalt | FYI (For Your Info) | 17 | 07-29-2007 04:33 PM |
| Under gravel filter | Kageshi17 | General Freshwater | 14 | 01-20-2007 07:19 PM |
| Stuff on gravel | Kindredfyre | Beginner Freshwater | 16 | 11-03-2006 05:22 AM |
| Gravel gravel gravel... | SA_Mountaineer | Beginner Freshwater | 4 | 01-12-2006 11:28 PM |
| Max's journal | maxpayne_lhp | User Journals | 9 | 07-11-2005 12:45 AM |