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More laterite



Carol Darnell wanted source for cheap laterite.  Call 1-800-323-0212 and 
ask for Chuck.  Order red art clay.  (this is the A.R.T. company and they 
sell pottery material.   Cost is $11 for a 50# bag plus $5 minimum order 
charge plus 
shipping costs.  They sell smaller quantity but $5 minimum applies to 
orders under $30.  In a post arount Aug 19 it was suggested somebody take 
up the challenge and remarket/repackage/resell the stuff to those 
interested on the list.  No takers.

Tom Price asked layer setup.  In the big tank it looks like this.

--------Water
--------gravel (2/3 of total substrate depth)  3-4"
--------egg crate to keep from sucking up laterite in vacuuming
--------laterite/gravel mix, in my case about 30# laterite with 60+ 
        pounds of gravel. 
--------under gravel heater (either wires or pvc)

No under gravel filter plate is used with the laterite and is not 
recommended due to too high a flow rate and resultant clouding. 

As mentioned in previous post, anybody using laterite powder should mix 
only enough water with gravel/laterite to get the laterite to stick to 
the gravel. If you have too much water it will put enough laterite in 
suspension as a fine mud to disperse through the tank.  By keeping the 
mix fairly dry you will get minimal if any clouding when you SLOWLY fill 
the tank.  If you do get clouding it will go away in time.