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confuted · 09-20-2008, 11:53 PM

I started this 20 gallon long tank about a month ago as an upgrade to my 10 gallon tank. New apartment, new city, new school, new degree - time for a bigger tank.

Some of the details:
Tank size: 20 gallon long
Substrate: 2 bags of Flourite
Hardscape: Some local rocks
Filter: Aquaclear 30
Lighting: Coralife 2x18W 30" fixture (initially)

I dumped one bag of flourite into a 5g bucket and started trying to rinse it in my bathtub. Thick, muddy brown water came out in unending quantities, making a horrible mess in my tub. It was a huge PITA and I felt like I was wasting tons of water, not to mention worries about clogging the drain with sandy particles. If I stopped stirring the flourite, I could get the water to run almost clear, but as soon as I mixed it up a little, it'd be back to mud color.

Eventually, I gave up on rinsing my flourite and let it settle in the bucket (still wet). I added a completely unrinsed bag to the tank first, then the "rinsed" stuff. I tried to avoid adding the dirty water from the bucket and the fine particles that made their way to the bottom as I stirred.

I added a little water to the tank (slowly), and it clouded up but settled within a day (no filter was running). I added some rocks for hardscape...

... and a small java fern plantlet, just for kicks. It wasn't tied down to anything, but it'd just been floating around my 10g anyway.

09-20-2008, 11:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
confuted Planted Tank Obsessed (View User Tanks) PTrader: (22/100%) Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Cambridge, MA Posts: 469	The makings of a 20 long I started this 20 gallon long tank about a month ago as an upgrade to my 10 gallon tank. New apartment, new city, new school, new degree - time for a bigger tank. Some of the details: Tank size: 20 gallon long Substrate: 2 bags of Flourite Hardscape: Some local rocks Filter: Aquaclear 30 Lighting: Coralife 2x18W 30" fixture (initially) I dumped one bag of flourite into a 5g bucket and started trying to rinse it in my bathtub. Thick, muddy brown water came out in unending quantities, making a horrible mess in my tub. It was a huge PITA and I felt like I was wasting tons of water, not to mention worries about clogging the drain with sandy particles. If I stopped stirring the flourite, I could get the water to run almost clear, but as soon as I mixed it up a little, it'd be back to mud color. Eventually, I gave up on rinsing my flourite and let it settle in the bucket (still wet). I added a completely unrinsed bag to the tank first, then the "rinsed" stuff. I tried to avoid adding the dirty water from the bucket and the fine particles that made their way to the bottom as I stirred. I added a little water to the tank (slowly), and it clouded up but settled within a day (no filter was running). I added some rocks for hardscape... ... and a small java fern plantlet, just for kicks. It wasn't tied down to anything, but it'd just been floating around my 10g anyway.