I just got some bags of flourite. I've cleaned one bag already buy dry
filtering the powder out with a kitchen strainer and then washing a few
handfuls at a time in a 5 gallon pail. After a few hours of constant water
running in the tub (probably used about 500 gallons!) I finally managed to
get the water somewhat clear.

Is there a better way to clean it? (I live in a condo...no hose)

Dave.

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/

"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.

On 02 Mar 2003 01:58:15 GMT, tose (LeighMo) wrote:

The key is to clean the Flourite in small batches, and to not over clean it.
Hope this helps.

That's fine for two bags. I had eight!

Cleaning it right in the tank is much faster easier when you have a lot of it
to clean.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/


Not looking foward to this I have 5 to clean then get into a cycled
and loaded tank without screwing up the world! Gonna be a slow
process.

WF

I'll just add that there is no need to over clean. Just give it a couple of
rinses. Removing all the fines should not be your objective. They'll settle
quickly enough and work their way into the little gaps between the larger
flourite particles.

Just give it some time.

jtm

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"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
The key is to clean the Flourite in small batches, and to not over clean
it.
Hope this helps.

That's fine for two bags. I had eight!

Cleaning it right in the tank is much faster easier when you have a lot of
it
to clean.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

Hi,

I didn't do dry filtering, but wet filtering using fne wire mesh kitchen
sieve. took the sieve outside, dumped some flourite in it, and hosed it
down.. your volume of flourite may diminish quite a bit when you're done,
but it definitely got rid of all the powder very quickly..

word of caution. make sure you do this where you don't mind having reddish
brown particles all over the place. I did mine over a flower bed (figured
that the plants won't mind).

if you don't have access to the outdoors, it may be difficult. aside from
not enough running water, if you use indoor drain, it may clog it from all
the powder you take out... may be you can clean the sieve-full of flourite
in a bucket instead of running water. this way, most of the stuff will come
out of the sieve, and when you take it out, it will be more clear... (sorry
for the mangled description...)

linda

"Dave M. Picklyk" wrote in message
news
I just got some bags of flourite. I've cleaned one bag already buy dry
filtering the powder out with a kitchen strainer and then washing a few
handfuls at a time in a 5 gallon pail. After a few hours of constant water
running in the tub (probably used about 500 gallons!) I finally managed to
get the water somewhat clear.

Is there a better way to clean it? (I live in a condo...no hose)

Dave.

Is there a better way to clean it? (I live in a condo...no hose)

I missed the beginning of this thread, but I thought you might find this
interesting ...

I clean gravel (presumably flourite would be no different) in a baby
bath. We have one that has a raised section at one end so you can lift
the baby onto it to drain off before taking him/her out of the bath.

This works fine for rinsing gravel. I pour the gravel in the main end of
the bath and play a hose on it. I tip the bath up so that the water runs
off over the raised bit. This effectively stops the gravel going with
it. That way you can just sit there hosing the gravel until the water
comes clean.

I do it outside, but the advantage of a baby bath is that it will fit in
a regular bath, so you can do it outside. The small particles that come
off will go down the drain without problem.

HTH

--
Alan Silver
Please remove the "furryferret" if replying by e-mail