Round Substrate

[Louise02]

I need a substrate for the 29-gallon that we are going to set up.   One that I used in the past was an enriched clay product - it took six months to get the ammonia level safe in that tank.  HOWEVER, I love that that material is spherical in shape.  Many of our bettas have nestled into substrate (under a leaf or something similar) and torn their tails.  Is there an inert substrate that is similar (like tiny little marbles) that would work for our bettas, shrimp, and guppies, but not add ammonia to the water column? or do I just have to run the next tank for six months before adding fish?  Thank you!!!

[CJs Aquatics]

I’ve used hydroton (I think that’s the name of it before) many many times successfully. It’s the medium they use in hydroponic set ups. It’s an inert clay ball. Natural looking as well. The trouble is it naturally floats unless boiled, then it sinks . I’ve personally never ran into an issue with it and it’s cost effective as well, perhaps this is worth looking into…

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Personally I'd use gravel, yes I know not perfectly spherical however majority of "river rock" style pebbles are not at all sharp and great for inhabitants like betta/cory but also awesome for shrimp and other small inhabitants for trapping the food they like to eat. It's typically easy to vacuum and not hard to plant in- I've had plenty of root feeders that do just fine without any ferts (including a giant Amazon). 

[knee]

Controsoil is also an aquasoil but it doesn't realease ammonia.

May I ask what brand of the previous substrate was?

Edited March 8, 2023 by knee

[rockfisher]

You may like a course sand. Black Diamond Blasting sand you can get it in find medium and course. Medium and fine are the easy to find but a quick google search will get you to it. I would not use fine. Medium is ok but the course is what I like best. It’s not sharp and my betta sits on it with no problems. Just and idea. It’s black in color.

[JettsPapa]

Unless you're really sold on spherical substrate you might consider pool filter sand.  It's relatively inexpensive, and depending on brand it may need little to no rinsing (I get mine from pool supply stores and it doesn't need any, but apparently the pool filter sand sold at big home improvement stores needs more).  I have either that or Black Diamond sandblasting sand (as @rockfisher suggested) in all ten tanks, depending on which color I wanted.