Don’t start your aquarium without watching this!

[@Briant24681]

Great video, Thank You. Amazon has Stainless Steel 5 gallon bucket strainers for $17 with different size mesh. Typically used for paint straining

[@scottgordin9709]

I'm surprised this is the first video I've seen someone giving a demo on how dirty these actually are. I've used and still use three out of the four to this day, BDBS is very dirty, does take a while to clean and will leave an oil slick on top of ur water for awhile. Play sand is filthy as well and also takes a while to clean, but is a fine sand and will blow around, it so fine that it will become very dense as well. Pool filter sand will clean out in a few minutes, I use the same brand as used in this demo and can say it does look natural, while move around easily (don't recommend using in a tank that's over filtered) it is the nicest over all for budget friendly substrate. The Pea gravel is and does the same as name brand aquarium gravel, except the size is different from store brand to store brand, I have purchased each of these this year just to test them out as well, and BDBS was $11.99 a bag, play sand was $2.96 a bag, pool filter sand was $9.50 a bag and pea gravel was $3.11 a bag.

[@JKFishKeeping]

Hi Scott! Yes! These are definitely the best options for natural looking substrates and 100% budget friendly. The only ones I use as well. I have stopped using BDBS though but the others are my favorites.

[@booomkalani]

Super informative video. Got a mini fish room tour as a bonus. 😆

[@JKFishKeeping]

Haha thanks Rob! I always think about doing a “all my tanks” video but I think it would be kinda boring. Maybe a “new fishroom update” video is due

[@JKFishKeeping]

Oh, how is it getting these substrates and prices in Hawaii??

[@booomkalani]

@@JKFishKeeping I haven't looked into these substrates here yet. I recently bought a 40lb bag of black pebbles (roughly 3"x3" river rocks) from Lowe's and it was $20. I only have nano tanks, so I've always bought Petco sand and Caribsea gravel for them.

[@crystalc9036]

Great video. Easiest way to clean the pebbles is to pour into a mesh or wire basket and rinse with water hose till it runs clean. No easy way to clean sand but worth the savings. I fill a bucket halfway and rinse outside with the water hose. Do not rinse in the house. It will wreck the plumbing.

[@JKFishKeeping]

😅 guess I should stop rinsing my sand in the house. Thaanks for the tips!

[@aprilstar7503]

wnt to start a freshwater stingray tank would the fine playground sand be better than pool filter sand?

[@JKFishKeeping]

Freshwater stingrays are my goal. I’d go with the pool filter mainly for the reason it won’t get suspended in the water column when they bury or swim across. The play sand is too fine and will get brushed up and may cloudy the water often and/or get trapped in the filter media or worse, the impeller or mechanical.

[@SonnyVu-d8n]

Boughmine for Grainger #80 for $60 but more coarse 12/20

[@JKFishKeeping]

BDBS seems to be pretty available in Illinois. If you guys have used it, where are you from?

[@cmammen]

Kentucky at tractor supply. I'm going to start some racks this weekend while petco still has half off.

[@JKFishKeeping]

@@cmammen nice! Do you have the racks already?

[@cmammen]

Really great video! Important topic I have the Black Diamond but have not opened it up yet it was $11.xx. Play sand it was dirty but looks nice hard to vacuum and keep clean tho $7 Gravel from feeders 50lbs $44 plus tax of course so much easier to clean while in in the tank Thought about pea gravel but looks super dirty? Maybe a sand/pea gravel mix?🎉

[@JKFishKeeping]

I really like the gravel look and for the price it’s definitely worth it. But I did rinse all these out after the video and the pea gravel did take the most rinse outs