Butterfly

oh yes I have washed many a bag of pea gravel. In fact I just washed a bag of muddy pea pebbles from wal-mart for dear hubby to put in a 55G tank. UGH!!!
Carol

darkwolf29a

I got some gravel I can send you. LOL

I'll never use the stuff again. I like the look of the sand, for one. And if you suck some up...you only lost a penny or two. Considering that I've covered 4 tanks with less than 2 bags of sand...I'm sold. LOL

Plus, the fish find it easier to move if they want. Ody and Plato just wish their tails to make the stuff move, if they want. Ody likes having a pit to sleep in.

Butterfly

Yep I like sand better also but hubby wanted pea pebbles for his tank he's setting up
As some may know we just moved from one state to another and took 16 tanks down before we moved. Now we are in the process of setting them back up
The 75G is the loach tank and has pool sand in it but it is a different color than what I had before and I really like it. Will start another thread and post pics when I get it like I want it
Carol

COBettaCouple

i hope pea pebbles aren't little rocks near a bathroom. !

we'll be posting a thread for ideas soon on our state to state move with our 10 tanks. FL to CO, 1800 miles.

sirdarksol

Ah, so you're coming up to where the weather is more reasonably erratic? Sure, you guys down in Florida have a higher average temp, but the highs and lows are really insane in these landlocked states.

Also, does this mean you'll be changing your name?

COBettaCouple

yea, denver is NUTS! especially in sept. and may - sunny and warm to snowing in a couple hours, it's a rollercoaster of weather. i hadn't thought of changing our name.. nobody will know us.. we'll be outcasts.. lepers.. !

Butterfly

lets see... outcastbettacouple? leperbettacouple? Oh never mind no matter what you change it to we would know you anywhere!
Carol

sirdarksol

What, you mean more than you are now? Seriously, you live down in Florida. How can human beings live down there? Sure, the mosquitoes aren't anywhere near as big as the ones we breed in MN, and the weather's not as extreme, but I can't imagine the fear of one's house being flooded in any given year would be.... hmmm... got that here... but still, your house could be knocked over by gale force.... wait, tornadoes have stronger winds, and we've got plenty of those up here... but the gators... no wait, I like them... ok but I'm sure it's really humid in the... wait, yesterday felt like a sauna... but Florida's America's... No, wait, can't quote Homer Simpson on that, this is a family forum.
Sorry, I got nothing.

COBettaCouple

LOL.. well, we live on the coast so the humidity is lower.. you'll find higher humidity through most of the US than along the coastline.. i've not seen much in the way of mosquitos between the development construction and all the spraying.. we're not in a flood plain, have never seen a tornado in this town and the last hurricane to hit here (head on) was like around 1906 or so.. we're ok with the Gators since we're part of the Gator Nation and loving all the national titles..

susitna-flower

COBettaCouple

yea, even in FL.. factors like city size, shopper tendancies, etc. affect the LFS situation. our little town has a terrible lack of fish shops.. all we have is the petco.

VertigoXLR8R222

okay so i just swapped over to sand had an abundance that was left over from setting up lizard cages just plain white beach sand from here in Gulfport took a glass gallon jar and filled it about half way stuck a water hose in it and let it run for about ten minutes stirring constantly checking after a few minutes to see if the water was cloudy or if the sand would settle quickly and leave clear water once i achieved clear water i boiled the sand and added it into my tank two days later i am scratching my head wondering what is clouding my water then i remember the term "mini-cycle" i'm glad i left the tank half gravel so i had that much good bacteria left either way i am wondering if there is an amount of sand i need to have or better yet can too much sand be bad it's about an inch deep and i think that will be enough and i am leaving it half sand and half gravel maybe Lee

Butterfly

About an in inch or so is good.If you don't have snails to keep the sand aerated remember to stick your fingers or a straw or some thing down in the sand about twice a week to keep it loose and aerated. I keep Malaysian trumpet Snails in mine to keep it loose.
Carol

COBettaCouple

what about a plastic fork? would that be any good to use?

Butterfly

Yep a plastic fork would be great but you don't want to actually stir it around just kind of stick it down in the sand every few inches.
Carol

VertigoXLR8R222

what do the snails do for the sand? or better yet how do they keep it from settling? and i guess i can't have them since i have a large cray, someone said it would eat the snails. Lee

sirdarksol

Trumpet snails (aka Malaysian Live-Bearing Snails, aka Malaysian Trumpet Snails) burrow through the substrate, stirring it up. You may actually want to get a few of them. They aren't expensive, and they can breed asexually (but they don't go nuts like pond snails. I don't even see my Malaysian Snails unless I'm vacuuming.) They are also one of the only snails that can survive snail-eating critters, such as dwarf puffers, because their shells are so hard. They might be able to survive the crayfish's attention.