# Flourite Black cloudy water



## comatoast (Mar 11, 2009)

That's wierd- when I used flourite black in a new tank I hardly rinsed at all and had no clouding issues. Granted, it was only a 26gal., not a 75, but that still seems odd to me. If you have some kind of mechanical filtration going (HOB or canister) you should see improvement pretty quickly. Seachem also makes a product called "Clarity" designed to help the process, but since they apparently didn't recommend it to you, maybe they don't think it will help. Anyway, good luck with it, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new 75!


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## photoman (Mar 28, 2010)

They actually did recommend the "clarity" product. I'm familiar with these flocculants, and would rather not use them if I don't have to. I figure that with enough water changes it will eventually clear. Maybe I will set up an HOB with floss and see what happens. I currently run an Eheim 2215 in there.


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## comatoast (Mar 11, 2009)

Andy- the fine filter pad in the Eheim should do the job just as well as floss in an HOB. I guess WC and patience is the best way to proceed.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

That clouding seems excessive to me, too. I've had Flourite take a few days to clear up, but never several weeks, and that's even when I first used the old version and didn't know to rinse it at all... 

You might try a micron pad in your filter.

How positive are you that it's not something else like a bacteria bloom or green water?


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## photoman (Mar 28, 2010)

I've seen greenwater, and I know it's not that. Lights on for 9 hours daily. As for bacteria bloom, when I switched tanks, I had the Eheim running on the old 55 for a couple of weeks to seed the filter media before transferring it to the 75. Maybe I overstated the degree of cloudiness. I can certainly see to the back of the tank, and can also see across the 4 foot length. It's just not crystal clear. There's a murkiness to it.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'll get a bacteria bloom on my 90gal sometimes even just from cleaning both of the filters at the same time- and that tank's been going 2 years. Disturb em too much or give them some new space to colonize and that's all it takes sometimes.

I bet it's a bacteria bloom, they're busy colonizing your new substrate, etc.

Know anyone with a portable UV sterilizer you could borrow? That would confirm/deny that possibility right quick.


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## photoman (Mar 28, 2010)

Thanks Laura Lee- I don't have access to a UV Sterilizer. However, if the guess of bacteria bloom is correct, what might be my timeframe before things clear up. (based on your experience)
Andy


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

It's hard to say, really... on my 90gal it's gone in less than 24 hours, but like I said that's a well-established tank.

Have you checked your water params? If you've got any plant decay from the plants acclimating over to the new tank that might be fueling a bacteria bloom.

If the water is clearer today than it was a few days or a week ago then I'd take that as a good sign.

You might also try a bag of Purigen in your filter; that would help strip the water of any excess organics that could be underlying a bloom. (I keep Purigen in all my filters, I love that stuff! roud


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## stewardwildcat (Feb 24, 2010)

It took my flourite over a week to clear up. I was doing water changes every day and filtering like you wouldn't believe. I did not wash mine very well and it was a mistake. I used a water clarifier // Flocculant to help clear the water and it still took a while. I think part of it was a bacterial bloom as it started to go away rapidly when I added a few fish and a small amount of carbon. Flocculants will also keep your water cloudy if you cannot filter out the particle sizes you need to. Try packing your filter with floss to make the surface area larger and the pore size smaller and just taking it out and rinsing it everyday.


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## Digital (Apr 4, 2008)

Clarity is crap, never worked for me.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> You might also try a bag of Purigen in your filter; that would help strip the water of any excess organics that could be underlying a bloom. (I keep Purigen in all my filters, I love that stuff! roud


+1 Purigen is awesome! roud:


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