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Hi I was just searching for a cheaper alternative (that is turtle-safe) to pebbles for substrate. All of the name brand aquarium pebble substrates in the pet stores are really expensive, as I would have to purchase several packages of it for my tanks.

We are considering using sand. Here is a thread on how. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17268 Other than that... A lot of people seem to use bare tank bottoms or river rocks. They are large and cannot be ingested by the little guys! I hope I helped.

I think a combo of pool filter sand and a handful of large river rock look pretty good

I had river rocks... they held nasty stuff between them! Now have a bare bottom tank and much prefer it!

I'm a sand advocate. I switched from river rock because it was a mess too clean, and still hid poo and other gunk.

You don't want aquarium sand. It's very fine, thus light, thus easy to suck up when siphoning or to get into the filter when your turtle digs. Not to mention that it's pricey.

Poole filter sand is great. It's a large, uniform grain size. You can wave a siphon across the surface and pick up gunk the filter hasn't taken care of. It's heavy enough that it settles ver quickly when disturbed. It's fine enough that gunk doesn't settle into it but lays on top. It's cheap. I got a 50 lb bag--enough for my 55 gallon--for $20, and I've learned if I had shopped around, I could likely have found it cheaper.

Plus, it provides surface additional area for nitrifying bacteria.

EDIT: embarrassing spelling errors