I vividly remember the first period I set happening a 55-gallon tank. I walked into the local pet store, full of hubris and a slightly too-large coffee. I grabbed three bags of all right river stones. I thought, Yeah, this looks just about right. It wasn't. It in point of fact wasn't. By the become old I got home and rinsed the dust out, I had barely covered the glass. It looked in the manner of a desolate moonscape, not the lush Amazonian paradise I had promised my well along tetras. since then, Ive realized that guessing is for losersor at least for people who in the same way as making three trips to the hoard in one afternoon. You obsession an aquarium substrate calculator that actually accounts for reality, not just some vague "rule of thumb" scribbled upon a napkin.

Lets acquire genuine for a second. Most people will say you the okay "one pound of gravel per gallon" rule. Im here to tell you that pronounce is really garbage. Why? Because a 20-gallon "long" tank has a extremely substitute footprint than a 20-gallon "high" fish tank sizing. Volume doesn't conscious on the floor; surface place does. If you desire to know what amount of gravel get you actually need, you have to end thinking roughly gallons and begin thinking approximately square inches and sharpness goals. Its basic geometry, even if we every hated math in high school.