# Gravel from Lowes



## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

I know alot of you use sand, especially with the Africans. I gues I am old school and prefer gravel for my future SA/CA Cichlids.

I am getting back into the hobby after many years away. I bought a used 75g and cabinet from Craigslist. I went to the LFS fror gravel and found that it was $15.99 for a 25# bag  . I needed 150# so went looking for an alternative.

I went to a local Lowes and found this Pea Pebbles.










It was only $3.99 for a 50# bag  . Nice size and color mixture.










I got three bags and it was pretty dirty. I needed to rinse it off, but how. The guy I bought the tank from used to have lizards in it, so he included the mesh screen top with the sale. Worked perfect as a grate to wash the gravel. I did half a bag at at time. A few hours later it seemed fairly clean. I added it to the bare tank and filled it 3/4 full. I will vacuum a few times and change some water. So far it looks great and should work out well.










...Bill


----------



## thevein (May 10, 2006)

looks like it will work just fine, but something you said made me think a little.............don't fill that thing just yet. Did the person who sold you the tank know that you were gonna use it for fish and thus fill it with water? Most tanks built for reptiles have warning stickers on them that states not to fill with water. I would give this tank a really good once over before filling as you may need to do some silicone work yourself.

I wanted to buy a tank the exact same way; petsmart had a 55gal really cheap in the reptile section, after further inspection I noticed the warning sticker and they were on all reptile tanks. Not sure if this was just to steer me to the more expensive fish tank section or if there was truth; either way I didn't take the chance.


----------



## Stickzula (Sep 14, 2007)

usually reptile tanks are made with much thinner glass to cut the cost. I have found that most times people get used and/or leaking aquatic tanks to house reptiles since they are often much cheaper than a new tank. I would check the thickness of the glass and fill it outside first. I did the same thing as you, buying a used reptile tank. The bottom was completely removed (the guy said he was going to reseal it) so I knew that it didn't hold water :lol: but I could tell by the thickness of the glass that it was originally a fish tank. I did the reseal myself and no problems to date. :thumb:


----------



## Solchitlins (Jul 23, 2003)

150 pounds seems like too much gravel to me. I would probally only use 50 pounds.
Otherwise it just becomes a poo warehouse. Gravel looks real nice, I wouldn't use it for cory cats or geo's though, too jagged.
imho


----------



## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Thanks. Ya it is a regular, thick glass fish aquarium. Only two years old and he he spent over $600 on it at the rediculously priced LFS with the cabinet, lamp, glass top, and screen. I paid $225

Holds water fine.

Ya maybe too much gravel. It's 3" deep. I know the CA/SA like to dig.

....Thanks....Bill


----------



## Stickzula (Sep 14, 2007)

sounds like a good deal... hope it works out for you. Post some pics when you are done opcorn:


----------



## brycerb (Dec 23, 2007)

I have the exact same gravel in my 90 gallon SA tank. I also went with a bag of the larger gravel, so I could put a couple handfulls of larger rocks in their. I didn't use as much as you and had a lot left over, but it was still a fraction of the petstore cost. It seems that after the intial investment of the fishtank, I spend more time shopping for fish suplies at lowes. Your right about it being dirty, looks like all the gravel is covered in thick dust.


----------

