Setting up your First
Tank
There are various choices when it comes to substrate. Your substrate
should be inert.
The most commonly used is fine pea gravel. This is perfectly OK for most
tanks. However, make sure that you get the smallest diameter possible. A
good number of petshops will sell you pea gravel that is much too coarse
and will cause problem with fish food falling into the gaps and starting
to rot there.
There are various other suitable substrates available:
-
Horticultural grit, available in most garden centres. This is very good for planted tank, however, not suitable if you are planning to keep fish with fine barbules such as loaches and the very popular Corydoras catfish
-
Sand. You can either use quartz, river or playsand. Playsand can be very fine and you will find it hard to clear your water.
There are various pebbles dyed in all the colours of the rainbow
available and they are fine to use if they are not too coarse and if
that is your taste.
If you want to make sure that your chosen substrate is inert just take a
couple if pebbles or a bit of sand and put a drop of hydrochloric acid
over it. If your chosen substrate starts to bubble it is not inert. You
can also test any stone you want to use as décor in the same way.