Bioscape Ebony Black Coarse 2-4mm

• High-contrast black – a dark bed that makes bright fish, plants and hardscape stand out, and shows less visible detritus between water changes than a pale gravel.
• Coarse 2-4mm grade – chunky enough to resist compacting flat, and open enough for water and root-tab fertilisers to move through.
• Same line as Breakwater Brown – part of Bioscape's Premium Scaping Substrate range, which uses an inert, pH-neutral base gravel in the Breakwater Brown colourway; we treat Ebony Black as the same base material, dyed rather than reactive.
• Rinse before use – Bioscape washes it before packing, but transit and handling can stir dust back up, so we'd still rinse it before adding it to the tank.
• Two pack sizes – 3 kg suits a nano to small tank or an accent layer, 7 kg suits a full base in a larger tank.
• Photo is representative – colour and exact grain mix vary a little bag to bag on a natural, dyed material.

Grade: coarse, 2–4 mm grain size. Colour: black (dyed). Bioscape hasn't published a depth-per-bag coverage figure for this grade – as with the Breakwater Brown grade in the same range, dry-fill a footprint you can measure before committing to a full layout, since the depth you land on depends on how deep and how tightly you pack it.

Bioscape sells the Ebony Black range in two grades:

• Suitable for: freshwater and marine aquariums as a base or accent, and as a drainage layer under bioactive terrarium substrate.
• Not suitable for: setups that need an active, buffering substrate – on the basis that it shares its base gravel with the inert Breakwater Brown grade, this is a non-reactive substrate, so it won't raise KH or hardness the way a cichlid-specific substrate would, and it won't lower pH the way an aquasoil does.

Rinse before use, even though it's washed at the factory – a few minutes under a hose or in a bucket clears any dust picked up in transit and stops the tank clouding on fill. Once it's in the tank, an occasional gravel vacuum during water changes is all coarse gravel like this needs; it doesn't need replacing on any schedule.

Any fault on arrival – a torn bag or contamination – is covered under your consumer guarantee rights under Australian Consumer Law. As a natural, dyed material, colour and exact grain mix vary a little bag to bag; the product photo is representative rather than exact.

Will this gravel change my water's pH or hardness?

It's sold as part of the same Premium Scaping Substrate range as Bioscape's inert Breakwater Brown gravel, dyed black rather than left natural, so we'd expect it to behave the same way and not push pH, KH or general hardness. Watch your test kit after adding a large amount, and let us know if you see otherwise.

Do I need to rinse it before adding it to my tank?

Yes. It's washed at the factory, but a quick rinse clears any dust from transit and handling and saves you a cloudy tank on day one.

How much do I need for my tank?

Bioscape hasn't published an exact coverage figure for this grade, and coverage depends on how deep you're going, so test-fill a small measured area first if you want to work out quantity precisely rather than guessing on a full tank.

Can I mix this with Breakwater Brown for a two-tone look?

Yes – both are the same grade family and differ only in colour, so they layer or blend cleanly for a two-tone base or an accent stripe.

What's the difference between this and the Fine grade?

Grain size – this is 2–4 mm, the Fine grade is 1–2 mm. The coarser grade compacts less and lets more water move through the bed, while the Fine grade gives a smoother look and suits tighter root systems.