Okay, so I’ve been messing around with my fish tank setup again. This time I tried out some yellow gravel I saw online, thought it looked kinda neat. Here’s how it went down.
First, I took out all my old gravel. It was a mix of black and white, and honestly, it was starting to look a bit gross. White gravel gets dirty so fast, and it makes the whole tank look kinda dull after a while. I heard black gravel is better at showing off the colors of the fish, and it hides the gunk better, too. I emptied the whole tank, gave it a good scrub, and made sure it was squeaky clean.
Then I added the new yellow gravel. It’s a special kind from some brand called “GloFish” I think? It’s supposed to be for those glow-in-the-dark fish, but I just liked the color. I poured it in carefully, making sure it was spread evenly across the bottom. You know, no bare patches or anything.
- Cleaning the old stuff: Man, that was a chore. The white gravel was way dirtier than I thought.
- New gravel in: This yellow stuff really pops. It’s a bit brighter than I expected, but it’s cool.
Now, here’s where I noticed something weird. After a few days, I started seeing this brown stuff growing on the yellow gravel. Turns out, it’s called diatoms or something, it’s just some type of algae. The guy at the pet store told me it happens all the time, especially with lighter-colored gravel. He said it’s no big deal, and I can just vacuum it up or mix the gravel around to hide it. A snail or a platy might eat it, too, apparently.
I also noticed that it’s not just on the gravel. It’s kinda growing on my plants and the little pirate ship decoration I have in there, too. It’s not super noticeable, but it’s there. I might try a snail, see if that helps. It’s not harmful, but it makes the tank look less clean.
My Thoughts
All in all, I’m pretty happy with the yellow gravel. It’s different, and it definitely makes the tank look brighter. I just gotta keep an eye on that algae stuff. Maybe I’ll switch back to black gravel someday, but for now, I’m digging the yellow. If I had to choose one, I might lean towards black gravel because it hides debris better, but the yellow is a fun change for now. The pet store guy also mentioned that black gravel with a black background looks really slick. I might try that combo next time!
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