"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
Is there a better way to clean it? (I live in a condo...no hose)
Do you have a Python? If not, get one. You'll be glad you did.
I cleaned my Flourite in the tank, with a Python. Just put the Flourite
in the
tank, filled it up with water, swished it around a little, then vacuumed
out
the suspended silt. Fill with water again, and repeat.
Flourite will never be perfectly clean, and it's okay. You might want to
fill
your filter with cheap polyester floss for the first day or two, since the
media will get very dirty the first day or two. But even if the water
looks
like chocolate milk at first, it will settle and clear out quickly.
Don't clean it *too* much. You reach a point of diminishing returns,
where
cleaning the Flourite generates more silt than it removes.
Leigh
http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/
I just cleaned two bags last week. A lot easier than I thought it would be.
Get two five gallon buckets and a food strainer. Put about 4 of 5 cups of
the Flourite into a 5 gallon bucket. Add water and swish the Flourite around
as you are doing so. Only fill the bucket until it's a quarter full of
water. Dump out that water. Add new water, again swishing the Flourite
around with your hand. Pour out water. Do this three or four times per 4 or
5 cup batch of Flourite. You'll see the water clear up. Pour the rinsed
Flourite into the stainer and let it drain in the sink or laundry tub for a
minute or two. Pour it into the other empty 5 gallon bucket. Repeat with
more Flourite.It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to rinse an entire bag.
You'll end up with a 5 gallon bucket of clean Flourite with most of the
water removed, which makes it lighter and easier to carry and work with. Put
Flourite into the tank. Put a large bowl or pan into the tank, and slowly
pour your tank water into the bowl. When you are finished filling your tank,
it maybe slightly cloudy. That will clear in a few hours.
The key is to clean the Flourite in small batches, and to not over clean it.
Hope this helps.