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RE: Newbie Design (week 2 update) - rinsing red Flourite



I haven't ever rinsed flourite, it does sound like lots of 'fun'. I have planted pond plants in my clay soil and moved substrate from one tank to another without washing it. My water isn't crystal clear the next day but it clears and stays clear in a couple days.

To set up a new tank I put the unwashed substrate in the new tank. Fill with water, doesn't have to be full. In one corner lower the level of the substrate to the glass and drain all the water out of the tank at this point. Repeat til it looks like the water might eventually get clear as in it looks more like dirty water than mud. Last time the substrate was two years old and I filled and dumped twice. You are taking out the smallest particles each time. I then planted the tanks and vacumed the drifts of mulm that were on the surface.

Anyway, siphoning out and refilling a tank is a lot faster than waiting for an overworked filter to clear a tank.

Kathy in southern California

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warhau" <warhau at austin_rr.com>
Subject: RE: Newbie Design (week 2 update)

OMG Flourite Red is nasty stuff.
-------cut------------------
The tank looked like it was full of 120g of chocolate milk
afterwards. It
dissipated overnight (with the help of two Eheims and two big
Emperors), but
the substrate became covered with a thick layer of fine silt
which plugged
all the cracks between granules and made the floor look like one
smooth
homogenous surface. I tried to vacuum it, but the water quickly
became too
cloudy to see again.
------------------cut-----------------
If I let it go, will the fish eventually cause the silt to
settle down
further into the substrate, so it isn't so much an issue
anymore? Should I
take it all out and rinse it better? If I leave it and plant,
will a fine
coating of Flourite dust hurt the plants (other than making them
nice and
red, and blocking out some light)?

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