Freshwater Aquarium Substrate Setup

It is always best to completely set up a freshwater aquarium with all of the equipment and substrate in place at least one month before getting any fish. This gives the tank a chance to cycle, or makes the water chemistry more conducive for keeping fish alive. Unpainted manufactured gravel at least 1/8 inch in diameter is the best substrate for freshwater tanks.

Equipment Needed

A freshwater aquarium substrate setup includes a new bucket that has never touched detergents or bleach. Mere residue of those substances can harm the fish. Ideally, the bucket should be new, but one that has been used for other freshwater tanks can do.

The substrate itself should be unpainted manufactured gravel at least 1/8 of an inch in diameter. Painted gravel may have fun colors, but the paint eventually chips off and causes mess and bacterial blooms. Do not use sand or very fine gravel because the powder clouds produced may harm the fish and constantly clog up the filter, according to Goldfish: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual (Barron’s; 1995.)

Never take gravel from creeks, streams, lakes or rivers. Not only could it be contaminated with pollutants, but native species of freshwater fish need the gravel beds to spawn in.

A basic rule of thumb is to use is 1.5 pounds of gravel for every gallon of water in the aquarium. Be sure your floor can hold this much weight.

Cleaning

New gravel contains a lot of dust and none of it should go through your filtration media. Never just dump a bag of gravel into a tank! First empty some in your new bucket. Add water just to cover it and see if you can pick the bucket up. If it seems light, add more gravel.

Mix the gravel around with your bare hands so the dust is released from the gravel particles. Empty the dirty water as much as you can. Add more water and repeat the process two more times or as many times needed so the water is clear. Now you can add the gravel handful by handful to the aquarium. Just dumping it all in may cause the tank to crack. The gravel layer should be at least two inches thick. Make the layer thicker in the back of the tank to help detritus and waste roll foreword where you can easily clean it with a gravel cleaning siphon.

What About Adding Live Plants?

Before you add live plants, look at the nature of the fish in your tank. If you have a big oscar in your 55 gallon tank, forget about live plants. The oscar will destroy them. Other species of plant-destroyers include the common goldfish and silver dollars.

Adding live plants will be okay for the freshwater aquarium substrate described. Remember that not all live plant species need to have their roots in the gravel. Plants like duckweed or Amazon frogbit are meant to float.

But there will not be enough nutrients in the substrate to keep your plants alive. You must add extra plant food or CO2 for them.

Conclusion

Freshwater tanks need, at the minimum, a two-inch thick layer of unpainted gravel 1/8 of an inch in diameter at about 1.5 pounds of gravel per gallon of tank. This set up is also good for live plants. Ideally, the tank should be set up one month in advance so it goes through the crucial nitrogen cycle needed to keep fish and plants alive.

Sources

Hargrove, Maddy and Mic Hargrove. Freshwater Aquariums For Dummies. Wiley Publishing; 2006.

Bailey, Mary and Peter Burgess. Tropical Fishlopaedia. Howell Book House; 2000.

Ostrow, Michael. Goldfish: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual. Barron’s; 1995.

Author’s personal experience.


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