Should I use gravel or sand in my aquarium?

Should I use gravel or sand in my aquarium?

Marc Grover (Professional Aquarist) gives expert video advice on: Where should I put the aquarium?; What type of light does my aquarium need?; Should I use gravel or sand in my aquarium? and more...

The substrate of an aquarium, whether it's gravel or sand, will kind of depend on what your fish are and what type of tank it is. Typically, a freshwater tank is almost always going to be gravel. You can sometimes get away with coral sand in an African cichlid tank because coral sand will raise the pH naturally and freshwater African cichlids actually like that. When you're dealing with salt water, the buffering capacity of coral sand is much better than gravel, which is inert. It will help buffer that pH. So I would use coral sand in a saltwater tank and gravel basically in a freshwater tank.