Gravel as a drainage layer? Is this good or...HELP!?

[BettaShawn]

I was going to use Hydro-balls as a drainage layer in my 18"x18"x24" white's tree frog vivarium, but I saw that it was $10 for 2.5 lbs, and I knew that it would be expensive if I had to buy like 3 bags of it. I have 10 pounds of gravel that I was going to return and I am wondering if I could use this as a drainage layer rather than the hydro-balls. Does it work as well. I don't really care about the extra weight...its not like I am going to be carrying my vivarium around the neighborhood. Would you use gravel for drainage? Please...what are the pros and cons of gravel...or should I just get hydro-balls? Thanks.

[DonLisk]

Yes, gravel is fine for a drainage layer. Don't forget the screen material between that and your substrate. You can use a less than 5 dollar roll of window screen material over the pet store substrate mesh and save money too.

You only need about 1 to 1 1/2 inch deep drainage layer

My first experience with hydroballs:
I have a Exo 18x18x18 and i thought i needed to cover the bottom with bags of hydroballs when purchasing the whole setup. 4 bags looked like 2 inches at the time. I got home dumped 4 bags in, added substrate and wet it all down for get a pump going for a water feature. next thing I know, I have about 5 inches of hydroballs in the tank :-) Substrate was floating above them since the clay balls separated and began to float :-) This was because I needed to get the water level above the small pump. What I mess I had.