I vividly recall the first period I set going on 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 within acceptable limits river stones. I thought, Yeah, this looks about right. It wasn't. It truly wasn't. By the era I got home and rinsed the dust out, I had barely covered the glass. It looked considering a desolate moonscape, not the lush Amazonian paradise I had promised my far ahead tetras. in the past then, Ive realized that guessing is for losersor at least for people who in imitation of making three trips to the accrual in one afternoon. You dependence an aquarium gallon calculator substrate calculator that actually accounts for reality, not just some absentminded "rule of thumb" scribbled on a napkin.

Lets get real for a second. Most people will say you the up to standard "one pound of gravel per gallon" rule. Im here to tell you that decide is essentially garbage. Why? Because a 20-gallon "long" tank has a no question substitute footprint than a 20-gallon "high" tank. Volume doesn't live on the floor; surface area does. If you want to know what amount of gravel get you actually need, you have to stop thinking very nearly gallons and begin thinking just about square inches and severity goals. Its basic geometry, even if we all hated math in high school.