Should I? Or should I not?

[owens81jw]

Hello all

There's been a huge debate on washing flourite before put it in the tank is good or bad

I have 5 bags of black flourite sand coming in ,

Should I wash it out? Or just fill the tank up slowly?

The tank is 72gal

[xiaoxiy]

Wash it. Definitely wash it at least 2-3 times.

I just filled up a tank with 4 bags of fluorite. It took at least 4 washes before it stopped running muddy dusty, and only grey dusty. After 8 washes it was still running cloudy, but I said fudge it and slowly filled up my tank. The cloudiness cleared up by the next day though!

[owens81jw]

Originally Posted by xiaoxiy

Wash it. Definitely wash it at least 2-3 times.

I just filled up a tank with 4 bags of fluorite. It took at least 4 washes before it stopped running muddy dusty, and only grey dusty. After 8 washes it was still running cloudy, but I said fudge it and slowly filled up my tank. The cloudiness cleared up by the next day though!

What did you was it in?

[l8nite]

I didn't wash mine and it was fine in my 29G. Uprooting plants and stuff made the water a tiny bit cloudy, but a 50% water change always cleared it up. The stuff that doesn't settle out will come out with a water change or your filters.

[Knotyoureality]

Always worth doing at least a rinse or two--if only to knock the worst of the dust out. Easiest way I've found to handle it is using a cat litter box--the long flat shape lets you easily stir up all the substrate, pour off the water quickly without dumping anything and easily see how much is coming off it as you rinse.

Buckets, in comparison, are hard to get light down into, don't allow you to put much substrate in at a time and still be able to effectively stir it up and are hard to pour much water off quickly without risking having the substrate dump out.

[l8nite]

When I rinsed a bag of eco-complete, I used my wife's wrapping-paper bin. Worked pretty well

[Bluek24a4]

Rinse it and fill it slowly.

[sssnel]

Rinse it with a fine mesh strainer, then be very gentle adding the water.

[owens81jw]

I SAW SOMEONE ON this forum said they using an old pillowcase n ran that thru water for 15mins

[Sluggo]

From their website: "Flourite® is a specially fracted, stable porous clay gravel for the natural planted aquarium."

Weird, because the bag I got seemed to be loaded with twigs and pieces of mulch.

[kevmo911]

Originally Posted by Sluggo

From their website: "Flourite® is a specially fracted, stable porous clay gravel for the natural planted aquarium."

Weird, because the bag I got seemed to be loaded with twigs and pieces of mulch.

Odd. Likely what you got was a mislabeled bag. I've never heard of this before, and I've bought Flourite regular and black sand in the past, and never had anything organic. It's clay chips and dust, no dirt or sticks.

And yes, wash it thoroughly. There's really not a big argument on this point. There are a handful of people who say they had minimal clouding issues or believe that the dust is somehow beneficial, but the solid consensus is wash, wash, wash.

[Low_t Tom]

Don't wash it, lightly rinse it once and put it in the tank (if you wash it you are washing all the things you want down the drain, and should just use standard gravel instead). Fill tank VERY slowly! Make sure you have a thin gravel cap on top of it to allow the fish to do their thing without disturbing the stuff.

[owens81jw]

Originally Posted by Low_t Tom

Don't wash it, lightly rinse it once and put it in the tank (if you wash it you are washing all the things you want down the drain, and should just use standard gravel instead). Fill tank VERY slowly! Make sure you have a thin gravel cap on top of it to allow the fish to do their thing without disturbing the stuff.

I don't plan on capping it......

[Wolf19]

Simple question related to this topic...

Do I need to 'cycle' black fluorite prior to planting, or can I begin planting after rinsing and having the substrate in the tank?

[HybridHerp]

Originally Posted by Wolf19

Simple question related to this topic...

Do I need to 'cycle' black fluorite prior to planting, or can I begin planting after rinsing and having the substrate in the tank?

This I can answer.

Just plant everything right away, no point in waiting, especially if you have the tank filled with water.