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

["Kenneth Ho" <kennethhtp at singpao_com.hk>]

That sounds convincing enough! Its certainly good news for me that now I
only need to rinse a few bags for the top layer, initially, I was planning
to take a day off work just for rinsing all 30 bags of Flourite.

Cheers
Kenneth Ho

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>
To: "aquatic plants digest" <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 10:44 PM
Subject: Re: [APD] Filling aquarium -- or - Filling a Flourite Tank
withalmost no rinsing and no clouding


> 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
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at www.aquatic-gardeners.org & www.gwapa.org
>
>
>
>
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