Review on 18 Pounds of Natural Polished Decorative Gravel - Pebbles Aquarium Gravel River Rock - Mixed Color Fish Tank Stones - Garden Ornamental River Pebbles Rocks - Polished Gravel for Landscaping (Multicolor) by Shane Minter

These are excellent river stones MEDIUM SIZE, POLISHED, MULTICOLOR! I use them to feed large houseplants/trees. However, I bought the rest I needed at my local hardware store. That one 18 pound box only covered a 20 inch planter and about a third of a second. So twenty dollars per plant/tree is a deal breaker. [NOTE: The price makes sense considering the shipping costs - but for the sake of the environment and my wallet - I will no longer be getting BIG items online. But I LOVE little black dresses! See separate review.] I found many of the reviews less than helpful because I couldn't pinpoint the size and scope. I hope to help you here. See photos first. 1) SIZE: I wouldn't call it "big". These are AVERAGE - see picture. They are about the size of an avocado seed, some are slightly larger. Some are smaller, some are much smaller. They're good, but I wouldn't call them "great" by any means. I think it's all relative. 2) POLISH: They are "polished" with something. I'm assuming it's some sort of sprayed wax or oil. There is a photo of me holding these stones in my hand (wearing a blue glove) next to stones I bought from a local high street shop (which do NOT have a shiny polished finish). Shiny or non-shiny - whichever you prefer - know that they are polished. I love the polished look but I would NEVER use them in an aquarium or near any living creatures. 3) COST OF THESE "BIG" ROCKS: They're about seventy dollars a pound and won't they cover more than, say, two square feet? You should be aware that they can be found at your local major hardware store with an orange logo - UNPOLISED - MUCH LESS. If you need more than one box, it's not worth buying online. You can get £40 for a third of these at your local big department store. TRUE. BUT - they are not that clean (unpolished). :-)5) COATING: For this reason I like/recommend buying SMALL black stones from this seller (see another review) but NOT these ("big ones"). I didn't really know what to expect and was hoping an 18lb box would cover more. Here's what it covers (see photos which speak for themselves). Firstly, do you know I dumped the whole box on a 20 inch planter. It looked good, but not by much. exaggerated (you see this photo). I went back and manually selected about a third to cover the depth of a rock. It looked a lot more aesthetic and gives me a solid estimate for you: for a 20 inch planter you will need about 11-12 pounds (or 2/3 of a box) to achieve about 1 stone coverage. Hope. pictures help!