# 100% will never touch Seachem Fluorite again



## Zapins (Jan 7, 2006)

I use flourite in almost all of my tanks and is my preferred substrate. It can definitely be a pain to get the dust out initially but it is worth it long term.

Stirring it up with your hand or a spade helps. It takes at least 10 turn overs with fresh water reaching all the way down to the bottom of the bucket to get rid of most of the dust. It will still be a bit dusty at that point but won't cloud your tank for more than a day or two. After it settles down it won't get extremely cloudy again. You just store it in a bucket if you close your tank down, and it will be pre-washed and ready to go.

Letting the dust settle in your tank without water flow to stir it up, then carefully siphoning out the gravel is another way to get the dust out.

Pouring water into a bucket of fluorite won't remove all the dust without the help of your hand/spade turning it over as the water is pouring into the stuff.


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## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Zapins said:


> I use flourite in almost all of my tanks and is my preferred substrate. It can definitely be a pain to get the dust out initially but it is worth it long term.
> 
> Stirring it up with your hand or a spade helps. It takes at least 10 turn overs with fresh water reaching all the way down to the bottom of the bucket to get rid of most of the dust. It will still be a bit dusty at that point but won't cloud your tank for more than a day or two. After it settles down it won't get extremely cloudy again. You just store it in a bucket if you close your tank down, and it will be pre-washed and ready to go.
> 
> ...


Thank you I will try that. 

Maybe I just got impatient. 

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## Zapins (Jan 7, 2006)

First few times I did it I got frustrated too. Now I can clean a 15 lb bag in about 15 minutes. Love the stuff. It has good color, holds together well over time, is inert so it won't change the water parameters and is extremely heavy and dense which helps plants root properly without letting fish push it around. It also comes in several nice natural colors. Pretty much the perfect substrate (minus the annoying prep time to get rid of the dust).


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## Deedledee (Sep 13, 2016)

Really ? What size bag were you washing ? I ask because Flourite is my favorite substrate & I never noticed it was difficult to get the dust out. I currently have 45 lbs in my 34 gallon + 15 lbs of Seachem black sand. Love both products ! Maybe you got a bad batch?


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## jflng (Apr 5, 2007)

I don't even bother rinsing most substrates anymore. The dust will get filtered out or will weigh itself down eventually. Flourite is decent stuff. It's not messy at all after a while.


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## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

Id suggest caribsea floramax. Same sort of substrate with a light nutrient charge and 100% cleaner. I didn't wash it before setting this 20 long up and here is a photo the day of set up and 3 days later, nice and clear. Ive used flourite too and avoid it for the very same reason. We rinsed flourite for 4 hours and it still clouded water badly and continued to do so every time we planted or had to pull plants, the stuff was messy.


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## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

KrypleBerry said:


> Id suggest caribsea floramax. Same sort of substrate with a light nutrient charge and 100% cleaner. I didn't wash it before setting this 20 long up and here is a photo the day of set up and 3 days later, nice and clear. Ive used flourite too and avoid it for the very same reason. We rinsed flourite for 4 hours and it still clouded water badly and continued to do so every time we planted or had to pull plants, the stuff was messy.


Awesome! I will give that a go next. 

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Deedledee said:


> Really ? What size bag were you washing ? I ask because Flourite is my favorite substrate & I never noticed it was difficult to get the dust out. I currently have 45 lbs in my 34 gallon + 15 lbs of Seachem black sand. Love both products ! Maybe you got a bad batch?


I had a 15lb bag. It was mostly mud, maybe it got beat up in transport to store or something. Not sure. 

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## rhiro (Sep 21, 2012)

Instead of a bucket I use a low rim (5-6 inches) rectangular Sterlite storage bin that you can buy from Walmart. This helps spread out the Flourite to a relatively shallow depth. Just using the water hose I am able to stir it up well and I just let the water overflow into my grass. To speed up the process I tip one end to remove most of the water then start the process again. The dust clears up relatively quickly with very little effort on your part.


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

The main reason that I went Eco-Complete, no rinse and clouded for all of 4 or 5 hours.


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## Triport (Sep 3, 2017)

I used the Seachem flourite black sand and did find it to be horribly dirty for a while when I started the tank. In time it settles down and I ended up preferring it to ADA Aquasoil (which I found only gets worse as time goes by and it breaks down). Personally now I just stick with sand. Like the look, not that messy, plants do fine.


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## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Maybe I will try sand next time

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## Kurama21 (Oct 14, 2015)

I used flourite, I used a paint filter mesh bag and rinsed it out that way with the hose. It was like 10 minutes per 14 pound bag. No issues otherwise but it def would be messy without a good rinse


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## Smooch (May 14, 2016)

Yeah, Seachem totally lies about how Flourite only needs mild rinsing. I use it as part of a mix for my tanks and even the few cups worth that I used, I still spent what feels like forever rinsing. 

There is nothing wrong with Floramax, but be careful with it. It can mess with your pH. If things haven't changed, the black one is okay, but you could run into problems with the red one. If in doubt, contact Caribsea before using.

Eco-Complete works too. Just keep in mind that it is not Aquasoil and plants will need to be fed.


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## Pluke (Jun 17, 2017)

I don't know about the regular flourite, but I used flourite black sand in one of my tanks I like it. Took about 15 minutes to wash. I put a 15lb bag in a pillow case and stuck the hose in it.. swashed it around for a bit until it ran clear then dumped it into a 5 gallon bucket it. Filled the bucket, til it got clear while stirring and was good to go.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Like all things, it has good points as well as bad points. Looking for perfect is not a good way to go through life! One of the points that I have never found "perfect" with any sub was the uniform look I got. I'm a creek/river guy and there is rarely a spot where the bottom is totally uniform so I avoid that in my tanks. Hint? It also fits far better with my low labor style of tank operation. I had Flourite and did not like the uniform look so avoided removal and replace by just adding to it. Most all of my tanks now have a variety of flavors. Sand, small gravel, Flourite and soil from the yard can all fit together and make what I see as much more natural. My fish and flow do a lot of moving and shifting of the sub and I like the natural way it arranges itself in different spots. Reminds me of the creek bottom. 
In that way, I can easily vary the color of the bottom by just shifting the portions around. Too dark, I add light colors.


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## myessail (Sep 12, 2017)

jflng said:


> I don't even bother rinsing most substrates anymore. The dust will get filtered out or will weigh itself down eventually. Flourite is decent stuff. It's not messy at all after a while.


Same, recently set up a tank with the black sand. Tank was pretty cloudy at first, but it cleared up within a day or two.


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## Mpwallace1 (Aug 11, 2017)

Zapins said:


> I use flourite in almost all of my tanks and is my preferred substrate. It can definitely be a pain to get the dust out initially but it is worth it long term.
> 
> Stirring it up with your hand or a spade helps. It takes at least 10 turn overs with fresh water reaching all the way down to the bottom of the bucket to get rid of most of the dust. It will still be a bit dusty at that point but won't cloud your tank for more than a day or two. After it settles down it won't get extremely cloudy again. You just store it in a bucket if you close your tank down, and it will be pre-washed and ready to go.
> 
> ...




God that sounds like a lot of work. I wonder why it's so dusty while other brands are not. And why don't they wash it before packaging.


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## Oughtsix (Apr 8, 2011)

You can't just stick a hose in and wait, you have to stir. If you can't get the dust out by stirring for 5 minutes or so try smaller batches so it is easier to stir.


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## Zapins (Jan 7, 2006)

They almost certainly do wash before shipping. The dust comes from the bits of clay grinding against each other in the bag during shipping and handing. It has to do with the nature of the material. Other substrates are made from other materials that are harder or fired to a ceramic finish which helps stabilize them more. This most likely doesn't work with fluorite which is why they don't do it.

Also, everything worth having in life is a lot of work. Kids, good aquascapes, good relationships etc. Don't let 15 minutes of stirring turn you off this substrate, or do and choose something else that suites your tank. Not the biggest problem in the hobby


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## TormentedFishTank (May 21, 2017)

My first substrate was Flourite and I had the same trouble. If I left it alone, it would be ok, but if I disturbed a plant or much of anything, I ended up with a red dust all over the tank.

So I switched over to eco-complete because it was no rinse. I had no troubles with it as far as cloudy water goes, but the bigger grains made it difficult to plant in, and the smaller stem/root plants didn't seem to root in it as quickly as the Flourite.

So I yanked it out too.

Now I use Black Diamond Blasting Sand and root tabs. You have to rinse it out, but it's not as bad as Flourite. It's very easy to plant in, and the plant roots seem to love it. And it looks the best so far to me as well. 50lbs is only $8. And I always get a kick when I buy it because the bag says "do not get wet".


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

I also went with Eco-complete at first because it was much cleaner but then added a dirt substrate in addition to the eco complete because I wasn't getting good root growth. 


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## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Well I'm giving it a chance. It's finally starting to clear up. I had stuff filter floss into the HOB filter.


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## Knightfire (Feb 25, 2020)

Patriot said:


> Just have to say that Seachem Flourite is the messiest substrate I ever used. 100% will not use again. I knew like all substrates it needed a bit of rinsing, but damn. I had it in a bucket outside with running water for close to two hours and nothing changed. I'm lucky water is free for me.
> 
> I put it in a 15 gallon tank with a HOB filters so I'm not sure how well it will pull the dust from the water. I'm sticking to gravel from this point forward.


Instead of a bucket, I used a plastic storage tray that slips under the bed. I have a fairly large one and dumped a 15lb bag of Flourite Black, not the sand, and it just covered the bottom of the tray. Just used a new cat litter scooper (the scoop end is about 5 inches wide) and stirred the substrate around. It was fast, easy, and got most of the dust off in one try. Since it was so thinly spread out, it was so easy to clean. I would suggest after rinsing it a couple of times, to put it out in the sun to dry. You can use the same tray you rinsed the substrate in, so no need to transfer it to a tarp or plastic painter's sheet. Just picked up the whole thing when I emptied the water and carried it outside.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Kind of fun to look back at the old posts and see if we still think the same as we did or have we learned a few things along the way? 
Rereading this old post brings up a question that seems to have been missed in the first round. 
A point for new users of any product may be shown as an example here! 
When a person comes online and complains that he is getting a terrible result on a product, it may be worth asking a few deeper questions. 
One would be how a product became so common and popular if it is so terrible? Is it the product or the user at fault? Since the product has been around for years and many use and like it, maybe folks need to look closer to ask what has gone wrong.


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## sbo80 (Oct 13, 2019)

I really liked eco-complete, but if you re-scape a lot, after a while, like a year, all the small particles compact at the bottom and you end up with a top layer of only the biggest ones. Which then makes it hard to plant in. I'm currently running two tanks with UNS controsoil. Only been about 5 months so we'll see how long I get out of it until it's mud. I haven't done much scaping so visually it mostly looks unchanged.


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## stevewb (Nov 10, 2018)

Eco complete has me pulling my hair out. I am waiting to add a mixture of fluorite to it. I have 100% fluorite in my other tank and really enjoy it


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## Boostr (Dec 8, 2016)

I've had Seachem Flourite in all my tanks (love the stuff), and never had an issue rinsing it. I rinsed it in a 5g bucket in my bath tub. I never rinsed the whole bag at the same time though, just half a bag at a time. I heard horror stories about their Flourite sand though and that supposedly takes forever to rinse.


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## Humu Humu (Jan 26, 2019)

On my last tank I was using Fluorite, very well rinsed, and it was cloudy for almost a week. I used some Seachem Clarity to help clear it up and it did the job. I think it coagulates the small soil particles so they settle out faster.


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## Johntheskier (Feb 7, 2020)

I found that using a 5 gallon bucket with hundreds of holes drilled through the bottom (think giant spaghetti colander) works great. Just be sure that the holes are smaller than your substrate. Just run water through it with out mixing it with a trowel or your hand. I found that the more you mix it with a trowel or move it around the more the particles rub against each other and create more dust. The bucket is also useful for lots of other jobs. And your wife (or husband) won't get pissed at you for using the spaghetti strainer like mine did. I cleaned 6 bags of Flourite in no time.


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## stevewb (Nov 10, 2018)

I load it into a five gal bucket then shove a hose into it until it runs clear. Moving and disturbing it with my hand


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## DaveKS (Apr 2, 2019)

stevewb said:


> I load it into a five gal bucket then shove a hose into it until it runs clear. Moving and disturbing it with my hand


I use mesh sieve over 1st 5 gal bucket and dry shake it and let less than say .75mm dust fall through. I save that dust and use it in my potting soil mix for house plants.

Then throw that in 2nd 5gal and do as you say letting dust flush out till clear. Doing that only haze you get is from abrasion of moving it around tank doing scape. Gentle fill tank and add a tight packed wad of filter floss or layer of 10micron filter felt to filter and tank is clear next day, about 10hrs max.


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## sudhirr (Apr 12, 2019)

Fluval Statum is good. It retains shape even after two years. But planting is hard due to the grain size


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