Steve Hampton wrote:
Elaine T wrote:

I saw this fab 2 gal planted tank at LFS and it inspired me to yank
the UGF from Squishy's 2 gallon hex and put on a Red Sea nanofilter
and Fluorite substrate. Lighting is a 14 watt 5500K spiral compact
flourescent that seems plenty bright over a tank this tiny.

But OMG - I rinsed and rinsed my fluorite and it never did rinse
clear. I finally gave up and set up the tank and the water is STILL
cloudy an hour later. Will this mess actually filter out? I put a
second pad in the filter, but it only seems to be getting a little bit
better. Squishy is annoyed and I don't blame him.

Also, is this cloud going to reappear every time I move a plant or
replant stem plants? If so, I'm returning the bag of flourite I
bought for the 15 gallon that I have on order and using only Eco
Complete. Fluorite is beautiful, but only when you can see it!

Don't return the bag of Fluorite. The late Vicki Costley wrote an
article on how to wash Fluorite and I've followed her advice at least a
half dozen times with perfect success and almost zero cloudy water. The
drying stage is critical. Here's the link to Vicki's website and the
Fluorite washing instruction page. Vicki is deeply missed but her words
and wisdom live on.

http://www.vickisaquaticplace.com/fluorite.html

Cheers,
Steve H.

Thanks so much for the link. I have hope now. I do love the look of
fluorite and it seems a simpler, more natural substrate than Eco
Complete. I'm always suspicious of something that claims to buffer my
water...

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__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__