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How long does Flourite take to settle?

34K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  Trickster 75 
#1 ·
Setting up a new tank, first time using Flourite. I rinsed it several times today and the water still looks like mud. Then I put it in the tank with a few inches of water, thinking it would settle eventually. After several hours the water is still very dark. I wanted to set this tank up this weekend. I have new plants & shrimp coming the end of next week. Is this typical of Flourite? Anything else I can do? I guess I will try rinsing it more tomorrow. This is crazy.
 
#2 ·
Fluorite is really dusty. You have to rinse and rinse and rinse some more. I rinsed a bit of the bag at a time in a 5 gallon bucket until the water ran clear. It took longer, but it was easier than trying to rinse the whole bag all at once. If you get most of the dust rinsed out, the rest will settle in day or two. It also helps to use some filter floss in your filter for the first few days after putting fluorite in you tank to catch all the fine particles and help clear the water.
 
#4 ·
Ya, you have to rinse it a LOT. If you dont rinse it really well though, it will clear up in like 2 days, but every time you go to move plants or anything you'll kick up large amounts of the dust. So I recommend rinsing it like mayan said in small amounts, until the water runs almost clear.
 
#5 ·
Thanks guys. Good idea, I'll rinse it in small amounts today. I hate to run the dirty water through the filter because I've already got media started that I'm taking from a cycled 5 gal tank. I don't want to muck up the media - unless it doesn't matter?
 
#9 · (Edited)
90 lbs. of flourite must have taken 1000 gallons of water to rinse out to the point of only making the water kind of cloudy for a couple hours. It starts out like mud, and stays that way for a long time. Even now after 2 months in my 100g tank, I am cleaning mud from the sump. Still parts of the substrate are almost neutrally buoyant and fly all over the place when disturbed and cloud the water. I ended up capping the flourite with fine gravel and sand like they do with contaminated seabeds to keep it from making a complete mess of my filter. It seems to work that way, and the plants are happy too with their roots down in the flourite.
 
#11 ·
When you have thoroughly irrigated the lawn, and deep soaked the trees...

Put the substrate in the tank damp, but no extra water.
Arrange hills and valleys, driftwood and rocks.
Plant, misting often.
Put a plate or plastic bag over the substrate and pour the water in slowly, about 1 gallon per minute. Allow it to seep slowly over the plate. (You may need to keep misting the plants)
 
#13 ·
Didnt kill mine but beware when you kick up that much stuff changing substrate it can change the ph a bunch. I dont care if they say its inert when they also claim it let's plants get nutrients. It will settle after a few days. You will need to clean your filter mechanical few times in the next few days, It also clogged my bio instantly unfortunately, which you cant just switch as easy.


I had to clean mine in the yard with a hose while it was on a old towel. Still clouding the water just as bad.
 
#16 ·
A friend of mine set up a new tank and decided to try live plants so he bought Flourite black sand which he did not rinse. Sent me a picture that looked like a 30 gal tank full of Blue Moon. I took an aqua clear 70 I had over and ran it with only filter floss in it. Changed the floss when it got discolored. it cleared up in about 24 hrs.
 
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