# Flourite black.. to rinse or not to rinse?



## Scipio (Feb 18, 2008)

I'm going to be up grading my 10g rcs and dark greens to a new 26g show and was thinking of going with Flourite black for substrate. No way will I be using that crappy eco-complete anymore.

I have read that you should rinse cause of the cloudy mess and I have also read not to bother. I would like to hear from peeps that have used Flourite black. Also I was thinking of adding some Flourite black sand but many folks say that if they had to do it again they would leave out the black sand. I guess the sand is even more of a head ache due to the cloudy mess. Any info would be highly appriciated.

If anyone one has pics of thier tanks with flourite black and or black sand, I would really love to see them


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## moogoo (Dec 7, 2007)

all flourite products need a good rinsing before using to reduce cloudiness. granted you can proceed without rinsing at all, but you will have cloudiness that will take time and a lot of filterfloss to clear up. 

Flourite products are great. flourite black is the same as regular flourite but black. I also use the sand, which I think is great. due to the fine texture, it holds onto plants a lot easier and i personally like the look better than regular flourite's jagged pieces.

in summary.. RINSE!


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## TubaTime1010 (Nov 7, 2007)

Just be careful about it. I didnt even rinse my flourite black sand and it is just fine. When you fill the tank, place the bag that the flourite came in on top of the substrate. The flow of water will be light enough to avoid any MAJOR clouding. You'll still have some but it'll clear up within a day (at least it did for me.)


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## IntegraJoe (Feb 20, 2009)

i recommend washing it


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## Veloth (Jun 25, 2008)

I didn't rinse my flourite for my 30g, I won't make that mistake again.


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## lbsfarms (Jan 30, 2003)

I didn't rinse the flourite in my 75g. No problem at all with cloudiness. If I remember right, after I put it in the tank I added just enough water to cover it and let it sit for a day and then filled the tank the rest of the way the next day. Don't know if that made any difference or not. Just be careful like TubaTime1010 said.


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

My vote goes for rinse. The water I poured out of that bucket when I was rinsing was completely black.


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## mr_walker (Feb 21, 2009)

I put a *lot* of water through the 4 bags of Fluorite that went into my tank, and it was still too cloudy to see the back of the tank when I filled it. I can't imagine what it would be like without rinsing!


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## cwilfinger (Jul 8, 2008)

I have used flourite in all my tanks and have found that if you rinse and swish the substraid around and then pour off the mucky water and repeat 2 more times and then lay it out on a bedsheet to dry in the sun. You will never have any problems of it getting cloudy again. I have done the rinse and then placed it straight into my tank with out drying it and I had problems with it getting cloudy everytime I moved the substrait around. But by totally drying it before placing it into the tank, you will not have the cloudiness everytime you move or plant your plants. This is just my observations...


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## Scipio (Feb 18, 2008)

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I'm just going to with the flourite black sand. I would still love to see some pics on both the black and the sand if anyone has any :icon_smil


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## kid creole (Dec 25, 2008)

mr_walker said:


> I put a *lot* of water through the 4 bags of Fluorite that went into my tank, and it was still too cloudy to see the back of the tank when I filled it. I can't imagine what it would be like without rinsing!


I think it would be just like yours was, IMO.

I rinsed an rinsed when I filled my 29. I got tired of it with my 65, and didn't rinse half of it, and I don't remember any worse cloudiness.


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