We're in the process of setting up 2 55 gallon tanks and are trying to do it as inexpensively as possible. We decided to get natural gravel rather than the colored stuff (my toddler picked a bright purple, green, blue and pink mix for the 20 in his room, but hey, he's happy with it! 
) and one our LFS has a bagged mix from a local quarry at a discount, but after seeing some threads here, we checked the prices at big hardware stores and ended up with pea gravel in a nice mix of colors and sizes. There were 2 bags that had been torn open but were still full looking marked down half off. It would have cost us about $50 for gravel at the LFS, but we paid only $2.50! I've spent about an hour washing it and there's still a bit of mud in the bottom of the plastic tub so I need to wash it a bit more, but making over $25 an hour washing gravel is all right with me!
) and one our LFS has a bagged mix from a local quarry at a discount, but after seeing some threads here, we checked the prices at big hardware stores and ended up with pea gravel in a nice mix of colors and sizes. There were 2 bags that had been torn open but were still full looking marked down half off. It would have cost us about $50 for gravel at the LFS, but we paid only $2.50! I've spent about an hour washing it and there's still a bit of mud in the bottom of the plastic tub so I need to wash it a bit more, but making over $25 an hour washing gravel is all right with me! 
