Re: [APD] Filling aquarium -- or - Filling a Flourite Tank with almost no rinsing and no clouding

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

A couple of thoughts here. The "dust" is mostly very fine
bits of flourite (not really dust-size particles) that sink
and so they tend to go all the way to the bottom. You can
find them again if you vauum aggressively and deeply ;-)

Uprooting will stir up some muck -- mulm as much as fine
Flourite particles -- but it settles out pretty quickly.
And I think the roots like the fine stuff in substrate.

I had said Karen's method was inthe APD archives. Oops.
Turns out, it is in the AGA-member archives. But it's in
the APD archvies now because I am quoting Karen's post from
the AGA-member mail list. Hope it helps, sh :

Karen's post
"
I have found that the more
you "wash" Flourite, the more frustrated you get.<g>  Then
when you give up
and just dump the darned stuff in, you do just fine!

To add to what Rich said, it is importnat for the Flourite
NOT to be very
wet when you set up the substrate... No more than damp, if
you do decide to
try washing it first.  The more water in the substrate when
you start to
fill the tank, the more dust will get into the water
column.  I'm not sure
of the dynamics involved, but experience hs born this out
time and again. (I
suspect that is why Amano had us wash all the Onyx Sand he
used in h9is AGA
demonstration ahead of time and let it dry completely) 
This works with
gravel/laterite substrates too.  The dier they are when you
start to fill,
the clearer your water will be upon initial set up.

I DO rinse the top inch or so of Flourite.  Flourite is a
natural substance,
and stored out doors.  I have found that there is often a
fair amount of
organic debris (tiny twigs, etc.) and while this does no
real harm, the
stuff tends to float, and is a pain to get off the surface
of the tank.  A
light rinsing will quickly lift this material right out of
the Flourite.  I
put the first 2-3" in dry, just as it arrives, and cap with
the 1" I have
rinsed and thoroughly drained.  One cool thing about
Flourite is taht it is
somehwat absorbent.  So if you don't get your top (rinsed)
layer completely
dry, the layers below will absorb any excess moisture, and
you still end up
with a substrate that is no more than damp when you go to
fill.

The best news is that even if you dump the Flourite and
water in together in
a slurry, it my look horrible to start with, and you may
have to manually
remove dust from the glass, but the particles suspended in
the water settle
out relatively quickly (something that is not true of many
commercial
laterite supplements).

Karen   "



--- Kenneth Ho <kennethhtp at singpao_com.hk> wrote:
> This sounds like an excellent idea, since I am going to
> fill my tank with 30
> bags of Flourite, and I get an headache just think about
> rinsing them.
> However, I am worrying about if I would get excessive
> dust every time I
> uproot, and ended up a dust storm on every major
> maintenance if I don't
> rinse Flourite thoroughly before putting them in the
> tank. Any thought about
> this?


=====
-  -   -   -   -   -   -   -
Cryptocorynes seem cryptic? Worried about meltdowns? Can't tell a C. wendtii from C. undulata? See 'Crypt'master Jan D. Bastmeijer, host of The Crypt Pages website, at The 5th AGA Annual Convention. Details/Registration at www.aquatic-gardeners.org & www.gwapa.org


	
		
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