Hi Folks-

I recently decided to change out the 3-year-old Flourite in half of my
tank. I have heard that it "runs out" of available nutrient after two-
three years and I have noticed that some of my plants have really
started trailing off recently, particularly Java Fern. On that side of
the tank, the Flourite was pretty much packed with roots. I had to
literally cut out chunks of root-choked gravel.

Anyway, I needed 3 bags of Flourite, but the store only had 2. They did
have plenty of Flourite Red, so I got a bag of that to pick up the
slack. I'm familiar with Flourite's dustiness so I rinsed those two
bags to prepare them.

When I rinsed the bag of Flourite Red, WOW. It had probably 5 times the
amount of fines in there!!! It took forever to rinse it.

Is this normal? I haven't found lots of references to the red variety,
although I did find one other reference to it being more dusty.

Anyway, I thought this was pretty bizarre. Anybody out there have
experience with Flourite Red?

Marc

Your tank's gravel was not the issue nor was it running out of
nutrients.
You will need to uproot and prune plants every so often.
I work a section at a time, in 1/4 chunks each week.

Some plants, Crypts, swords etc are trimmed, runners removed etc.
If your tank stalls and you have keeping up on the CO2, (20-30ppm) and
adding traces, you need to look at the macro nutrients.
Running out of these will stall a tank big time is the common cause of
any "stall".
Try adding KNO3, K2SO4 and some PO4 next time.

When a tank gets well chocked with plants, the amount of nutrients
removed is quite high and the plants will overwhelm the tank unless
you prune the plants and or add the nutrients.

Yes, Flourite/onyx/red etc is dusty.
I rinse 1/2 a bag at a time in a 5 gal bucket, swish it around a few
times and decant. I do this 3x per fill. That's it.

Java fern gets most of the nutrients from the water column. Another
sign that it's the macro nutrients.

Anyway, I thought this was pretty bizarre. Anybody out there have
experience with Flourite Red?

I've heard it's dirtier. I use the flourite or onxy sand though.
Not sure why. Ask SeaChem.
Regards,
Tom Barr

Marc

I read in some post that Seachem realizes that Flourite Red is dustier
and is going to wash it more thoroughly. When I filled my 55 gal, I
washed and washed and..... In another post I learned out using a fine
sieve or collander - I did that the next time - 30 gal - and it worked
better.

It is dust dusty stuff. But now I am intriegued about trying the
"normal" flourite. But need another tank to do that!!!!!!!

Bob