Aqua Natural Midnight Pearl 20lb Gravel Substrate for aquascaping, Aquariums, vivariums and terrariums 2-4mm, Brown

Nice looking substrate!
I really like the blend of colors present in this gravel! Decently uniform grain size, and it’s not too rough. Most of the pieces have rounded edges, but there are some that seem a little rough. I used the Aqua Naturals Sugar White sand for my foreground, the two work well together.Seems to be a decent plant substrate, holds them down well. Just pop some root tabs under your heavy root feeders to keep them happy, since this substrate is inert and doesn’t provide nutrients by itself.As for the reviews where people are complaining about having to wash the gravel because it’s dirty, lift a finger to help yourselves. Even if the manufacturer triple washes it, it’ll still get jostled around and ground up a little in transit. Cleans up really nicely.The price on this was much better on Amazon than in a big box store, almost half price.

Nice colors and really clean gravel, just needed a quick rinse prior to use.
Liked the variation of color all natural looking, the size is perfect, and product was really clean just needed the dust from shipping rinsed away.

Very good substrate for reasonable price.
Detailed review because I was conflicted about Midnight Pearl after reading so many conflicting reviews on Amazon/PetSmart/Petco, but after searching for weeks, it is still the only (affordable) inert substrate of its kind, so I decided to bite the bullet and take a chance on it. This review is definitely skewed towards other beginner fish keepers like myself but I included pictures in case that is helpful! **tank is being re-scaped so please excuse.Appearance:I would describe it almost as more of a very large/coarse-grain sand than a river pebble or gravel (very tiny gravel if anything).Although the consistency of the pebbles I received did not look *exactly* as pictured, it is still not jagged and sharp as some reviewers described. I would feel safe adding Cory’s to my tank in the future as it is very soft to the touch.The color when wet under room light vs. LED makes a huge difference and there aren’t a lot of up-close images of this color variety so I tried to include as many angles to give a good idea about how the color was affected. I have standard LED.Water Clarity Disruption:I started to rinse the pebbles (as pictured) but it didn’t seem too dirty, so everything went straight in. I forgot to take a picture of the murky water, but it was nothing some water clarifier couldn’t handle.Very few floaters/reject pieces.The picture of the gravel in tank is the morning after adding clarifier. (It’s still a bit hazy, but I’ve also been battling an algae bloom prior to adding substrate.)Value for $:The Volume of my tank is 20 gallons (20 Tall to be exact) and the 20lb bag gave me easily 1-2 inches of substrate depth throughout.This is a great substrate if you’re trying to move toward a more natural look (as a beginner) and want something inert that will support plant growth better than a fine sand. Can’t wait to add more plants and root tabs and watch them grow!Summary:This is a very high quality gravel substrate. If you’re looking for something on the finer side (not too clunky/bulky) but also don’t want sand, this is the perfect compromise! Hope this review was helpful. 😁

Our GO-TO aquarium substrate
We have used this brand for several freshwater aquariums. A couple rinses, and it is ready to go. The color is attractive with our aqua-scaping decor and hides waste well. Particles are rounded enough to be safe for our cories and loaches, and their size is easy to Python clean.

Super clean