# Flourite cloud



## syndicate (Feb 8, 2005)

I am having trouble with my new tank. I bought 2 15lbs bags of original Flourite. I followed the directions and rinsed each bag (took the contents out and soaked and rinsed in separate container) before I added it to my tank. When I poured the Flourite into the aquarium the water turned very dark almost gray. I did not want the resin to get all over the aquarium and sink into the substrate so I siphoned out the water and refilled the aquarium the water is now brown and you cannot see through it. I waited 48 hours to see if the cloud would settle. So far no results. Should I drain and refill until the water is clear or will it eventually settle?


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I would say let it settle at this point, if there are fish in the tank there's no need to torture them any further. It might take a couple of days to clear and you might want to rinse you filter media and change out some filter pads after it clears. It's very hard to add florite to a filled tank, I've done it by rinsing the florite well and then adding it slowly by lowering a large net to the bottom and then pushing on the back of net my scraper.


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## freeflyer (Feb 3, 2005)

I would put extra filter floss in the filter and not replace it untill flow is restricted, the dirtier the floss gets the better it will trap the fine particles.


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## ScottMorris (Jan 18, 2005)

Maybe try turning the filter off for a while. It may settle faster.

Scott


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## jhoetzl (Feb 7, 2005)

Flourite needs to be rinsed, and rinsed and rinsed several (@10) times before you won't notice as much of a cloud. It won't really go away because little micron sized bits of clay are rubbing off, creating that "cloud", as well as other particles of the substrate. 
I use a hang-on-the-sink strainer and pour water through it till it runs clears, dump that batch into a bucket, rinse, repeat...3 strainers full = 1 bag for me...

If you've already poured it in, and there are no fish or plants in there, you might want to try a coagulating agent, something like tetra water clarifier, but I wouldn't trust those things no matter how "safe for fish and plants" they are.
If you do add some clarifier, it will clump up the particulates, and make them a bit easier to remove, but your filter will need a big time cleaning afterwards.


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## syndicate (Feb 8, 2005)

NO fish or plants in the tank yet. I am still in the setup stage. I think what I am going to do is ( run water into the tank ) while another tube drains the tank close to the surface. I did one more drain and refill and the water is much better. But not clear at all. I think if I ran water in and took water out at the same time it would be like a huge overflow and it might work. The trick in not to disturb any flourite at the bottom or I will have to start over. I will let you know if this works.


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

here is what i would do. Drain the tank. Fill it again but very slowly. Took me 10 mins to fill my 55 gal but it was clear the next day. I was also in your shoes when i first filled it up. Tank was completly grey.


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## Detox (Sep 14, 2004)

Why do people insist that flourite needs to be rinsed and rinsed and rinsed. All you are doing is rinsing away nutrients. Flourite will cloud your tank when your first put it in. Just be patient! It will settle. If you are really worried put a little filter floss in your filter to help with the process.

You can try to rinse flourite all you want but you will never rinse it clear.


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## ScottMorris (Jan 18, 2005)

Detox said:


> Why do people insist that flourite needs to be rinsed and rinsed and rinsed. All you are doing is rinsing away nutrients. Flourite will cloud your tank when your first put it in. Just be patient! It will settle. If you are really worried put a little filter floss in your filter to help with the process.
> 
> You can try to rinse flourite all you want but you will never rinse it clear.


They insist on rinsing it because in every pub you read it says to rinse the substrate before putting it in the tank. So if they don't ask, they wouldn't have known, like me! And I would bet you didn't know until you either read it or asked.

Scott


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Detox said:


> You can try to rinse flourite all you want but you will never rinse it clear.


BS..waterhose & 5gal bucket, when I did mine, filled the tank, water was very clear from day 1. has been since, 2 years now.


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

Detox said:


> Why do people insist that flourite needs to be rinsed and rinsed and rinsed. All you are doing is rinsing away nutrients. Flourite will cloud your tank when your first put it in. Just be patient! It will settle. If you are really worried put a little filter floss in your filter to help with the process.
> 
> You can try to rinse flourite all you want but you will never rinse it clear.



Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. I have always been able to get Flourite to rinse clear. And what nutrients are you washing away? The method I use to rinse Flourite gets rid of the dust. But it keeps the fine particles. And the contradiction in saying to put filter floss in your filter to get rid of the cloud vs saying that rinsing Flourite rinses away nutrients is large. The filter floss is taking out the same things that rinsing the Flourite is.


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## syndicate (Feb 8, 2005)

Well I am stuck on what to do. I have the tank full -- filter running -- and the water is still murky. Question: When you go to plant something or say you swirl your finder in the substrate a little, Should a cloud come up from that ? A thick puff comes up from the Flourite when I move some around. It seems to stay close to the bottom and settle. 
Its been about a week now; and the water is at best translucent. I can see the back of the aquarium, but the water is gray/brown and murky. What should I do ?


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## ScottMorris (Jan 18, 2005)

syndicate said:


> Well I am stuck on what to do. I have the tank full -- filter running -- and the water is still murky. Question: When you go to plant something or say you swirl your finder in the substrate a little, Should a cloud come up from that ? A thick puff comes up from the Flourite when I move some around. It seems to stay close to the bottom and settle.
> Its been about a week now; and the water is at best translucent. I can see the back of the aquarium, but the water is gray/brown and murky. What should I do ?


I just rebuilt a tank using 100% Flourite. You are right , the first few days a small cloud will come up when you disturb it. But after about a week, my water is the clearest it has ever been. Even if I replant, the cloud has not returned.

So I wouldn't worry about it, the cloud will go away on its own. In my experience anyway.

Hope this helps

Scott


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

I've never had a problem with a cloud. That's because I get rid of the dust before I put the Flourite into the tank.


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## Creedog (Dec 17, 2004)

Rinsing flourite in the dead of winter is not a fun experience. If you rinse, rinse, rinse you can get it pretty clear.

You need better fliter material. Make sure you have very fine filter material in there. Floss is good, but I also like micron.


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

Alright people. I just cleaned up the post to get rid of the junk and only left what was actually on the point. Please resist the urge to turn it into a personal war again.


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## syndicate (Feb 8, 2005)

here is what I am faced with:

How my water normally looks
























Right after water change























The water will stay clear for about a day. But not more then 24-48 hours after water change. 

This time -- Right after taking the pictures (3 hours later, I could notice a thick haziness. I had to watch helplessly as my water got darker)

I am going crazy.


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

If you take some of the stained water and put it in a white bowl what color is it? I'm thinking that what you are seeing is tannins from the very large amount of wood you have in there (compared to your water volume).


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## fishoutawater (Feb 9, 2005)

I am TOTALLY with Rex on this one. I was thinking the same thing. The wood still looks VERY rich in color. I have a ton of malasian driftwood in my tanks. It takes a while for the tannins to leach out completely... or at least to where you cant notice them any more. When the tannins are gone the wood still looks a BEAUTIFUL deep brown, but almost has a very slight greyish glow...I not to long ago added a piece a little bit bigger than that to a 50 gal. It took around 6-8 weeks before the color was gone. Some people like the color, but I HATE it. Just give it some time... it WILL go away.


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## dissident (Oct 15, 2003)

I would try boiling the wood in a big pot for a few hours. If the wood is too big put it in the dishwasher for a few cycles (no detergant of course). The other option is put up with it for 2 months and up normal water changes 2 30-50% /week. I had a similiar problem with my wood but it only lasted 2 weeks because I soaked it and ran it through the dishwasher a few times.

How well did you wash the flourite? If you stirr it up does it cloud the water more? If so that could be another possibility, but my first bet would be the wood.


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## syndicate (Feb 8, 2005)

> If you stirr it up does it cloud the water more?


 Yes: a little puff comes up if you disturb the substrate. But I can’t tell if it settles, or mixes into the water making it worse. 


A picture is worth a thousands words. I never thought to think it could be the wood. It makes sense. One time when I was adding water to the tank the clean water would split the clouded water. Almost like oil does to vinegar. It was dramatic enough to catch my attention. It might be a combination of both. I will give it a few weeks. 
Just to check, would you take the wood out and see if the water still changed color? At least I could eliminate one of them.


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## Rosko_22 (May 19, 2004)

> Yes: a little puff comes up if you disturb the substrate. But I can’t tell if it settles, or mixes into the water making it worse


I had the same problem when I replaced my gravel with flourite about a month ago. Once the dust settled, I gave the flourite a couple *good* gravel vacs, no more "puffs".

As far as the tannins from wood, I'd say just be patient and water change, water change, water change. It took me a month of soaking in a bucket before I could put my new piece of mopani in the tank, with daily water changing.

I wouldn't bother taking the wood out. Just keep up with frequent water changing and the water will clear regardless of the cause.(flourite or tannins)

hth, just stick with it and you'll get the results you want. roud:


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## Clownknife (Feb 11, 2004)

Detox said:


> You can try to rinse flourite all you want but you will never rinse it clear.



I have to disagree. I read alot about flourite on this site before useing it. I rinsed and rinsed and then when I was done rinseing I rinsed again. I rinsed 15 bags of flourite in about 4 1/2 hours useing a fine vegetable strainer I bought from Ikea and it came out clear.


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## danmhippo (Feb 3, 2005)

Laying flourite as the bottom layer, and on top of it, a thin layer of common sand or other substrate that would not cloud the water, THEN, fill the water up.

The thin layer on top of the flourite will keep fine particles to cloud the water. The fine particles can be saved. As long as they are covered with bacteria (sooner or later they will). In reef keeping we have the same problem with aragonite sand. And the easiest way to circumvent the fine particles is to weigh it down with a layer of "clean sand". 

With time, fine particles will get coated with bacteria, and even if they are disturbed, they do not stay in suspension long.

For the original poster, since you already have the flourite in the tank, and there are no live stock yet, I'd suggest you be patient and wait for a week till they settle.


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## syndicate (Feb 8, 2005)

Curiosity killed the cat. 


> Originally Posted by *Rosko_22*
> I had the same problem when I replaced my gravel with flourite about a month ago. Once the dust settled, I gave the flourite a couple good gravel vacs, no more "puffs".


I gave the flourite a couple good gravel vacs, and what came out in the sink was a little surprising. So far everyone has mentioned concern about saving the fine flourite. I was not sure how fine you were talking. There are the normal size rocks. Then there are tiny rocks, small enough to fall though a strainer, that will pull up into the vac but are still too heavy to be sucked out. And then there is what was in my sink. A black/gray consistency very very fine power, smooth feeling but enough to make a then even layer on my finger. (lots left over in the sink) It almost looked and felt like soot or ash from a fire. *Is this good flourite or troublesome flourite?*I know there is sill more of it in the flourite currently in the tank. I did not get it all out; I wanted to leave well enough alone until I knew more. 
To me this would make a good rooting soil deep in the flourite but I could be wrong. It might also be causing my problems on the top layer. It is not something I would want suspended in my water or to build up in my filter.


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## Rosko_22 (May 19, 2004)

It probably would/does make a good rooting soil, but in my case it just kept getting swept up into the water, coating all of my plants, and clogging my filter inserts... the fine fine powder I mean.
I got tired of trying to keep all the leaves dust-free and gravel vacced most of the dusty powder out, I kept the little bits that _almost_ got sucked up.
Don't think there's any lack of "the good stuff" in the flourite as my plants have picked up their growth rates in the past few weeks, mostly crypts btw. They look a heck of a lot better too without the dusty leaves.

Like you said, this probably would be a good thing deep in the substrate, but when it just sits on the top layer it's a royal pain.

HTH, good luck :icon_bigg


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