# can you paint plane gravel ?



## THEKING (Mar 16, 2009)

So I dont want to sound retarded but im setting up a new 125g its going to be my show tank so i want it to be perfect and trying to save money on building it so i can spend it on stalking it.I am doing a malawi victorian tank and was wondering if there was any way to paint the gravel black or something cause i bought 50 pound bags of regular gravel for $3.00 each it was a hard deal but want the gravel to be black any tips would be amazing. THANKS :-?


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## frank1rizzo (Mar 14, 2005)

I would buy a 10$ bag of sand from a construction place. Looks way better than gravel (painted or not) IMO.


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## ademb (Nov 19, 2008)

id have to say...no

the time it would take to do, the possibility of the paint leaching into the water and harming your fish and the general pain in the butt to do it would be plenty of reason not to haha


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## Morpheus (Nov 12, 2008)

Also I think the paint would tend to chip and flake off from gravel vacuuming.


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## I3lazd (Dec 29, 2008)

You could use krylon fusion to paint which is safe to use with the fish but as morpheus said it may chip off.


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

even the painted aquarium gravel from the manufacturers eventually chip off.


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## I3lazd (Dec 29, 2008)

What do you guys think if he set up a UGJ filter system them he doesnt have to vacuum the tank?


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## mstatdfield (Jan 20, 2008)

Seems like a big to do for questionable results. In my opinion black gravel looks tacky, and I can't imagine a DIY painted gravel would look nearly as good as the commercial stuff. I equate black gravel in aquariums to black lights in college dorms.  Not to mention any chipping or chemical leaching that might occur. If I were setting up a tank on a budget I would go pick up some pool filter sand for $5 per 50lbs. Despite the name I wouldn't use an UGJ system with actual gravel. They are easier to hide and more effective when used with sand.


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## I3lazd (Dec 29, 2008)

he didnt say black and its his opinion not yours he just wants to know if it would work. and you are getting hustled on your sand, I bought 300lbs of medium grain white sand from hd for $10 all together


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## edouthirt (Jan 22, 2008)

> was wondering if there was any way to paint the gravel black


Just to clarify... he did say black. :thumb: opcorn:

And... *THEKING* , I would definitely not paint gravel... too risky IMO. Yes Krylon fusion will not hurt your fish, but still a huge risk to start chipping away and then you will be constantly trying to skim paint chips out of your tank... not fun.

I agree that the best looking tanks have a natural colored, white, or off-white sand substrate. I think that even if you wen't with black gravel (or any gravel for that matter) you will end up regretting it and then have a huge project on your hands to switch out your gravel for sand.

If you read through posts on here, 90% of people prefer sand and probably 90% of peopl ewho still have gravel wich they didn't.

Sand is cheaper, looks better, and once you figure out how to do it... much easier to maintain.


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## mstatdfield (Jan 20, 2008)

I3lazd said:


> You are getting hustled on your sand, I bought 300lbs of medium grain white sand from hd for $10 all together


Nice. =D> Neither Home Depot, Lowes, or Menards sell pool filter sand in my area. They only sell the janky play sand and other less than desirable sand. I am forced to get it from a local pool supply place, but even for 125g he shouldn't need more than 200lbs or $20 worth. 


I3lazd said:


> Its his opinion not yours he just wants to know if it would work


No offense intended to anyone with black gravel, hence the smiley face after my comments and the disclaimer that it was only my opinion. I did my best to let him know if I thought it would work. :-?


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## THEKING (Mar 16, 2009)

THANKS i will for sure have to grab some sand cause im going to build a UGJ system and im gonna put in red and white rocks so i think that would look pretty dope but as far as the black goes I like black it makes the fish stand out in the tank.Think about it a little harder dark back ground and substrate bright fish put two and two together :thumb: and you will see why I wanted black.


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## kornphlake (Feb 12, 2004)

If you want to paint your plane gravel you'll have to tumble it to make it even. I suggest getting your airplane off the ground and doing some barrel rolls while the paint cures, that would be fun. What are you going to use to stalk your tank? If you can get some pictures through a night vision scope that would be awesome.


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## THEKING (Mar 16, 2009)

not being a dick but what the **** are you talking about


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## edouthirt (Jan 22, 2008)

> If you want to paint your plane gravel you'll have to tumble it to make it even. I suggest getting your airplane off the ground and doing some barrel rolls while the paint cures, that would be fun. What are you going to use to stalk your tank? If you can get some pictures through a night vision scope that would be awesome.


lmao!!!

*THEKING*

Even if you want to go with black, I would still suggest sand. However black sand like "Tahitian Moon" is pretty expensive. If you go with 3M Color quartz I think it is significantly cheaper however. One of the mods on this site, fmueller, uses the T grade black 3M stuff. You can see examples of his tanks on his website. www.fmueller.com.


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## mstatdfield (Jan 20, 2008)

He is talking about plane gravel. However, the subject at hand is plain gravel. :lol:

I second edouthirt's recommendation on visiting Frank's site regardless of your color preference. Here is a link directly to his page on black substrate. For the record I do tolerate of the use of black sand, but I still oppose the use of black gravel.  Let us know how it works out for you. I haven't seen that color combination (red, black, and white) in an aquarium before.

http://www.fmueller.com/home/aquaristic ... substrate/


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## I3lazd (Dec 29, 2008)

mstatdfield said:


> Nice. =D> Neither Home Depot, Lowes, or Menards sell pool filter sand in my area. They only sell the janky play sand and other less than desirable sand. I am forced to get it from a local pool supply place, but even for 125g he shouldn't need more than 200lbs or $20 worth.


Here is the sand I bought at HD. It was $6.29 for each 100lbs. You should look for it next time it is medium coarse and perfect for the tank. And stop giving the guy a hard time for a simple spelling error we all do it occasionally  . And I'm pretty sure the red he is talking about is red rocks from a park up here they look awesome in the tank.


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## Aquanist (Dec 29, 2007)

THEKING said:


> not being a dick but what the #%$& are you talking about


Maybe you should check out the original subject title on the top. :thumb:


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## I3lazd (Dec 29, 2008)

kornphlake said:


> If you want to paint your plane gravel you'll have to tumble it to make it even. I suggest getting your airplane off the ground and doing some barrel rolls while the paint cures, that would be fun. What are you going to use to stalk your tank? If you can get some pictures through a night vision scope that would be awesome.


I believe that is what he was refering to when he said WTF. Why do people have to be a******.


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## edouthirt (Jan 22, 2008)

*I3lazd*

I think that a****** is a little harsh in this case... perhaps smarta** instead?

Either way... I got a good laugh out of it... I thought it was funny. And THEKING, sorry if you were offended buddy... we're just giving you a hard time all in good fun. :thumb:

Regardless, I think you have gotten a lot of good information out of this thread... and that's the whole point.


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## kornphlake (Feb 12, 2004)

I don't know what's funnier, my little joke about spelling, or the fact that at least two people didn't get it.

I'm not a spelling [email protected], I know my spelling isn't perfect. I realize this is probably a situation where you let a spell check correct your mistakes and you didn't realize that spell check used the wrong homophone. I appreciate the effort of using spell check, I did understand what was meant, but didn't have anything useful to add so I thought a little comedy would be worth while.


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## I3lazd (Dec 29, 2008)

I got your joke it wasnt funny. I am tired of people of here doing petty bs like that.


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## kornphlake (Feb 12, 2004)

I3lazd said:


> I got your joke it wasnt funny. I am tired of people of here doing petty bs like that.


Dude, it's the internet, and a community forum at that. If you prefer a sterile environment where there are no jokes you might consider a library instead.

At first I thought people were just treating you harshly for no reason, but I'm beginning to realize that you come across as if you have a chip on your shoulder in almost every thread you participate in. Most people just don't understand that attitude, perhaps if you took the time to laugh once in a while your threads wouldn't turn into flame wars.


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## I3lazd (Dec 29, 2008)

i got that chip because of this forum and how so many people talk down to other people. someone has to stand up and say something I have no problem with a good joke but not when you are using another person as the front of the joke. You dont know the king or anything about him maybe he is only 12 years old and now you are talking down on him.


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