# White gravel..



## anders890 (Aug 31, 2009)

Hi, I am setting up a new tank for my redbellies, and i am wondering is it okey with white gravel? Or do the piranha's prefer more "colored" gravel who makes a better camouflage for them...


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Any gravel you choose will do just fine-
It will boil down to the looks of things from your standpoint...


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

White or black looks best but you could always go with a natural type river rock but stay away from the rainbow colors they just look ghey


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

one thing i will mention about white gravel is that it shows algae and detritus, so if you are gonna use white gravel with a messy fish like piranhas, make sure you keep the tank really clean, cuz if you slack at all, it's gonna show.


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## pirairtool (Nov 12, 2005)

Yeah i used white gravel once and it was a nightmear, it was soooooo hard to keep clean and if you have wood in the tank it gets tanned so easily and algae was also a big problem not to mention piranha poop.


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## wpviper (Jun 25, 2007)

yes i had black and white gravel and hated it it looked black and green i always had to flip it over


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

I dont understand-

Are you guys not keeping up with your maitnence or what..

I have white gravel in one of my tanks thats been used for 5 years now.....Still looks great-
If one keeps up with their maitnence and gravel vacs-One shouldn't have a problem keeping it looking nice nor clean.


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## pirairtool (Nov 12, 2005)

I tried everything to get rid of the tannings on the white gravel from the wood, nothing worked apart from white spirit


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

pirairtool said:


> I tried everything to get rid of the tannings on the white gravel from the wood, nothing worked apart from white spirit


What kind of wood may I ask-

I also use bog wood in my tanks-And still dont have a problem with it......

This just baffles me for some reason-I just can not comprehend why you guys have this problem.....


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## anders890 (Aug 31, 2009)

Hmm, maybe I will go for a more natural look then, I dont know yet.. Thinking of using sand too, but isn't sand more difficult to clean!?
Maybe someone can show or recommend any nice pics of pirana aquariums? ( I need inspiration)


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

anders890 said:


> Hmm, maybe I will go for a more natural look then, I dont know yet.. Thinking of using sand too, but isn't sand more difficult to clean!?
> Maybe someone can show or recommend any nice pics of pirana aquariums? ( I need inspiration)


Joe is the guy to ask for pics of tank-IMO...Very nicely setup-

Sand is more difficult to clean. A more Natural looking gravel is a very nice choice as well....Just depends on overall look you want to your tank...

Here is a thread for you to browse-

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=1301

Some pics will show and other's will not..


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

AKSkirmish said:


> I tried everything to get rid of the tannings on the white gravel from the wood, nothing worked apart from white spirit


What kind of wood may I ask-

I also use bog wood in my tanks-And still dont have a problem with it......

This just baffles me for some reason-I just can not comprehend why you guys have this problem.....
[/quote]
i havent had the problem, but i know people who have... they tend to slack on their maintenance sometimes, that's why i said that if you slack with white gravel, it's gonna show.

i have used white sand and gravel in the past and i thought it looked great, just keep up with the tank maintenance and things should be fine. if you have a problem with algae on your gravel, try cutting back on your lighting a bit.


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## anders890 (Aug 31, 2009)

AKSkirmish said:


> Hmm, maybe I will go for a more natural look then, I dont know yet.. Thinking of using sand too, but isn't sand more difficult to clean!?
> Maybe someone can show or recommend any nice pics of pirana aquariums? ( I need inspiration)


Joe is the guy to ask for pics of tank-IMO...Very nicely setup-

Sand is more difficult to clean. A more Natural looking gravel is a very nice choice as well....Just depends on overall look you want to your tank...

Here is a thread for you to browse-

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=1301

Some pics will show and other's will not..
[/quote]

Great...


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

joedizzlempls said:


> I tried everything to get rid of the tannings on the white gravel from the wood, nothing worked apart from white spirit


What kind of wood may I ask-

I also use bog wood in my tanks-And still dont have a problem with it......

This just baffles me for some reason-I just can not comprehend why you guys have this problem.....
[/quote]
i havent had the problem, but i know people who have... *they tend to slack on their maintenance sometimes, *that's why i said that if you slack with white gravel, it's gonna show.

i have used white sand and gravel in the past and i thought it looked great, just keep up with the tank maintenance and things should be fine. if you have a problem with algae on your gravel, try cutting back on your lighting a bit.
[/quote]

Yeah-I would lay money on it being the cause-
I run high powered lights and my tank also see's direct sunlight-

Yet gravel looks almost new still-And not even one piece or speck of algea can be found on my silicone anywhere-Still looks like it rolled off the showroom floor


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

ak, i think the algae stays out of your tanks because it knows that you have guns... haha

anders, to give you some idea of what you can do with a more natural look, here's a pic of my pygo setup in its prime, before i tore everything out of there... i'm in the process of redoing all of my tanks right now.


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## anders890 (Aug 31, 2009)

joedizzlempls said:


> ak, i think the algae stays out of your tanks because it knows that you have guns... haha
> 
> anders, to give you some idea of what you can do with a more natural look, here's a pic of my pygo setup in its prime, before i tore everything out of there... i'm in the process of redoing all of my tanks right now.
> 
> View attachment 185510


Nice tank Joe, I think u have done a great job to make it look like their real habitat (the amazon)


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## pirairtool (Nov 12, 2005)

If i use bogwood i don’t get to many tanning issues but over the past few years i have been importing manzanita wood from CA in the USA through to the UK and using alot of this in my tanks over here. Although an amazing wood does cause alot of tannin, which i like but does stain some substrate. I haven’t had that problem with sand, but did with my white gravel tank a few years back but i have to admit they were quite large gravel pieces.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

pirairtool said:


> If i use bogwood i don't get to many tanning issues but over the past few years i have been importing manzanita wood from CA in the USA through to the UK and using alot of this in my tanks over here. Although an amazing wood does cause alot of tannin, which i like but does stain some substrate. I haven't had that problem with sand, but did with my white gravel tank a few years back but i have to admit they were quite large gravel pieces.


Yeah-I have no experience with it at all-Maybe thats the diffrence....


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## pirairtool (Nov 12, 2005)

Yeah i think you are right. You should try it though it is an amazing wood and looks great in the aquarium. I have just finished rescaping my 370gal full of it.


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## the_w8 (Jul 28, 2003)

my opinion for gravel for pygos is to use a lighter colored gravel! I used to use a lighter cloroed gravel and had no problems. NO ALGAE
whatsoever. If you get algae, either ur not cleaning ur tank enuff or ur letting tooooo much sunlight/feeding in period! Lighter colored gravel for pygos is the way to go.....Sand IMO suckd for pygos...they emit alot of waste and no matter how much u clean/syphon ur gravel their sh*t/waste particles tend to get burried down in the sand even though its easy to see it...I will always use gravel for piranhas no matter what. Much easier on maintainance and on ur equipment (HOB and cannister) if you use it.


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## Armand_caribe (Sep 9, 2009)

anders890 said:


> Hi, I am setting up a new tank for my redbellies, and i am wondering is it okey with white gravel? Or do the piranha's prefer more "colored" gravel who makes a better camouflage for them...


If you use dark colors the P's camouflage on them and they become darker so you could barely see them...At least that's my own experience.

I would deffo go with white sand/gravel all the way, It'll make your P's look more red and the contrast will look cool man, don't think twice trust me.

Take a look at my signature.

Cheers.


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