Fluourite - Boy is my tank cloudy
 

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!

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

Now you know why I prefer sand. You can alwsys put some flourite under
it, in fact it says on the bag it weorks as wel mixed with other stuff.

My preferred substrate these days is Farfard Aquatic Soil mixed with
profile with fine bach sand on top. To be sure there's metal partricles
in the playbox sand I buy from Home Depot - just drag a magnet through
it - and I keep waiting for something bad to happen from that. Fifteen
years later I'm still waiting.

--
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flourite is horrible that way. But yes, it will all settle out eventually
and the tank will be crystal clear again. It may take a few days, and
possibly up to a week though. A diatomaceous earth filter will help
immensely if you have one handy.


Once the tank gets good and settled you shouldn't have to worry too much
about the cloud reappearing when just replanting a single plant or two. You
may get a little "puff", but nothing like this initial setup.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

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!


I set up a new tank with a Fluorite base and thick top layer of sand.
Hopefully, plant roots will dig down into the Fluorite.

I didn't rinse the Fluorite before I placed it into the new tank because
I wanted to try rinsing it in situ. I filled the tank from a hose. But
did it look like a Martian dust storm! The 3 watts per gallon of
lighting couldn't penetrate more than 1 inch of water! A simple wash was
not going to help so I attached another hose with a power head to empty
the tank while another was filling to clear out the dust. 3 hours later
of constant washing and the dust had reduced by 2/3. At that point I
placed a thick layer of sand on top to lock in the dust.

But, OMG!

Nikki

"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...

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.

I went through this same thing with river sand and small gravel mix in the
BAT (Buenos Aires Tetra) tank. I washed and washed it and it didn't run
completely clear. I put it in anyway and carefully added water over my
plastic place mats I use to place over substrates when filling.

The tank has a 120L/H dual sponge filter in it, which has surprised me at
it's efficiency. It's day three now since I started the filter and it's
almost crystal clear.

I have to do a 5-10% water change every couple of days now until I am
satisfied that my filter seeding has worked, so hopefully it won't cloud
again. Going off activity in the tank over the last 48 hours I don't think
it will. I have one live plant in there amongst the plastic ones and I'm
hoping that any particulates will settle right to the bottom, if not get
sponged up by the filter.

Yes, it does go - it just takes days, not hours ;)

The BATs didn't seem to mind the cloudy water at all on day one. They were
diving down and bouncing a wafer around today and there was no puffs of silt
or anything, so I presume that this wonderful filter's sponges have taken
most of it up.

It's a great little filter for what looks like a great little tank. It works
well too by the looks of it. Now the question is - can you place filter
floss in your filter anywhere? It will remove the cloud quick smart and
polish the water.

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!

We don't have these products easily available around here, so I don't really
know what you're talking about ;)

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith

Elaine T Spaketh Thusly:

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!
It'll clear up soon enough, but you may find yourself having to clean your
filter more often for a while. You may want to try stirring up a bit a few
hours before you're going to clean the filter to get even more out.

I learned this the *hard* way - the trick to rinsing Flourite is to do just
one handful at a time under lots of water. I found a kitchen colandar works
well for this. As you do each handful, dump it into a bucket with water
running into it. This worked well for me the second time I did a tankful,
after filling and planting, the tank was clear in a few hours.
Seems that the thicker the pile you're trying to rinse, the more dust that
gets trapped inside the pile. Doing small amounts at a time is much more
effective. I suspect a Flourite bed might make a very efficient coarse filter
medium, but would be a pain to clean.

It's not difficult, it just takes time - but it takes less time to do it
thoroughly than to try to clean up afterwards if you don't.



--
Bill H. [my "reply to" address is real]
www.necka.net
Molon Labe!

Well, the tank cleared up overnight. That litle nanofilter works
surprisingly well. I was awful glad to hear that I didn't do something
wrong. I guess I need to keep 2 filter pads in the nanofilter for a
while since I've got some more plants coming in and I'll have to stir up
the bed of Fluorite some to plant them.

Now that the water has cleared up, I like the look of the substrate a
lot. It looks better in the water than in the bag. I sure hope it
helps to grow plants as well as it's supposed to.

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

"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...
Well, the tank cleared up overnight. That litle nanofilter works
surprisingly well.


dang, that was quick ;o0


--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

I learned this the *hard* way - the trick to rinsing Flourite is to do just
one handful at a time under lots of water. I found a kitchen colandar works
well for this.

That's how I do it too. This way when I diatom the tank after I
only need to clean and recharge it once or twice. God this is messy stuff.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

lot. It looks better in the water than in the bag. I sure hope it
helps to grow plants as well as it's supposed to.

If you noitce any difference let me know.

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...
Well, the tank cleared up overnight. That litle nanofilter works
surprisingly well. I was awful glad to hear that I didn't do something
wrong. I guess I need to keep 2 filter pads in the nanofilter for a while
since I've got some more plants coming in and I'll have to stir up the bed
of Fluorite some to plant them.

Now that the water has cleared up, I like the look of the substrate a lot.
It looks better in the water than in the bag. I sure hope it helps to
grow plants as well as it's supposed to.

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

You proved the point, the more you screw with fluorite the more fines you
get.

As I've said before, I switched substrate in one of my 55's to fluorite by
setting the bags on end in a half full tank, slitting the bottom and let is
slide out slowly. 1/3 of the tank at a time. With two Emporor 270's, I
added Acurel F, rinsed pads every 4 hours and it was nearly clear by
bedtime, completely clear by morning. Standard old fiber pads, stock less
the carbon and one in the second plastic holder that comes with the unit.
None of the clear chemical flocculents seem to work as well. A lot cheaper
and less hassle that a diatom filter.
Incidentally, the same treatment will clear green water too and and if you
move fast to correct the basic problem, you've got it cured. I've got a
second tank with an older laterite based substrate that has way more
problems with staying stable than my fluorite tank.

Bob

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.

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...

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

I would be too. What does that have to do with eco complete? It claims to
be inert, not a buffer. Anyway, have you ever used eco complete? I really
like the look it gives a tank. That was the #1 reason why I chose it for my
last change for the 20 gallon.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

Margolis wrote:
I would be too. What does that have to do with eco complete? It claims to
be inert, not a buffer. Anyway, have you ever used eco complete? I really
like the look it gives a tank. That was the #1 reason why I chose it for my
last change for the 20 gallon.

It says it's packed in "Liquid Amazon" buffered blackwater. That's what
stuck in my mind. You're right that it has no long term buffering. It
does release calcium, which I'm not sure I want in my hard water.

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