Amount of Gravel

[elliott03]

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

[fishbguy]

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

[elliott03]

ok thanks for the help

[Damon]

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.

[fishbguy]

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?

[Baby_Baby]

Well think about it.
Would you put 150 pounds of gravel in a 150 gallon tank?

[fishbguy]

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?

[Betta1]

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.

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by Damon

Whoa! Where did you hear that??????

Originally Posted by Baby_Baby

Well think about it.
Would you put 150 pounds of gravel in a 150 gallon tank?

Double Ditto these comments
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.

Originally Posted by fishbguy

I read it on multiple sites on the internet

fbg:

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.

Originally Posted by fishbguy

... as well as at the lfs i work at.

I have very little experience in interfacing with a LFS but most of the results have been "Not any good at all".


Getting "off my soapbox" and "down to the question at hand" (as I was attempting to convey my experience to members of the Forum).

Originally Posted by fishbguy

What do you recommend for the amount of gravel?

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

[Obsidian]

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!

[Damon]

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

[Obsidian]

LOL what a simple solution!

[TigerBarb12]

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.

[Betta1]

wow such a simple question and so many difficult answers..... In general 1lb per gallon, get close to 2 inches; enough said

[Damon]

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.

[fishbguy]

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.

[Ravynnm]

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

[Damon]

Originally Posted by Ravynnm

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

Exactly. "General" guidelines are what makes this hobby difficult for beginners. (Dam the person who invented the 1 inch of fish per gallon "guideline")

[bullseye69]

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.