Cleaning substrate tips?

[adcx64]

Hey Guys,

Im changing the water in my one gallon tank tonight, and I plan on replacing the white gravel with clear blue marbles that I've had for a while. I have the marbles soaking in a cup of 1/2 isopropyl alc. and 1/2 hot water. Is this okay? I will rinse thoroughly.

Also, Is there a downside to using marbles as opposed to gravel? My live sword plant should be fine as the packaging said it can be used with marbles.

The main reason why I'm using marbles is that my tank is LED lit from the bottom, and it would look nicer with clear glass instead of gravel.

Thanks!

[valen1014]

I'm not an expert or anything but, depending on how you clean the gravel, marbles are harder to clean (IMO ^^;) and things get stuck on the bottom easily. Also, if you decide to use different plants later they may not grow well with marbles. But I think these are just minor things to consider.

[Hallyx]

As Valen says, tanks with marbles are harder to keep clean. The food bits and poops get caught under the marbles and are hard to clean out.

Not sure how fish and plants would react to light coming from underneath, a very unnatural condition.

If you ever want to grow more plants, which is highly recommended because fish like them, they'll prefer gravel or sand.

[adcx64]

Thanks for the help. I change and condition my water once a week, so ill see how it goes with the marbles for now. Worst case, I'll just replace the gravel.

[efg321]

Without getting too technical(and I am by no means an expert) LED is not the best for plant growth. and bottom lit will also inhibit any beneficial (although small) light. would like to hear how you make out Ed efg321