# Who uses ONLY SeaChem's Flourite



## Sharkfood

I have 100% flourite in my tanks.

It doesn't contain much of anything in the line of useable minerals or other nutrients, so you definitely need to fertilize. I fertilize both the substrate and the water column, which is what I would suggest anyone else does as well.

I follow EI for the water, and root tab the substrate whenever it occurs to me (no real schedule).


----------



## AdamP.

I have used Flourite for years. Some plants do fine without root tabs while others need it. 

I used regular color Flourite and always liked it. I just started up a new 75 gallon tank now using Flourite Dark, which uses dark brown pieces. the color of Flourite Dark is nice, but the pieces are much larger than the regular Flourite, which makes me wish I had used the regular kind instead  
I never tried Flourite Red because I always thought the brick red color didnt fit a planted aquarium very good.

I rinse the Flourite in small amounts in a bucket until its fairly clear before addign it to the tank. It wil be cloudy for a day but the particles settle on the bottom. I use Seachem's Clarity floculent to help speed it up and also to make the dust stick to the filter floss. Sometimes I think Seachem made Clarity just for Flourite.:eek5:


----------



## Jadelin

Here is a thread I made after using Flourite Dark for a 10g shrimp tank. If you think the red is too red, you might look at the dark; it's still a reddish color, but more subdued
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/substrate/119023-seachem-flourite-dark-experience-pictures.html

I dose 1/64 tsp KH2PO4, 1/32 KNO3, and 1/8 GH Booster every week, but it is a low-light, no CO2 tank. The plants seem to appreciate the ferts, and it really does help with the algae.

I put root tabs under the crypt and sword, but I haven't put any under the stems in a long time (most of the tank is moss anyway).


----------



## Sharkfood

I rinse flourite obsessively in a wire mesh collander and don't get any cloudiness, but it's a tremendous amount of labor.

The first time I used it, I believed the writing on the bag and didn't rinse it at all. This is likely the cause of my newfound personality disorder.

As far as substrate ferts: 

As long as you are dosing the water column, there's probably no plant that "needs" substrate ferts, but they're not going to hurt anything, and can only help. Especially if you tend to miss days on your dosing schedule for one reason or another.


----------



## MCHRKiller

I use 100% Flourite Black in my 10G micro tank, it has a nice small grain size and is a pretty consistent lighter black color. I did also manicaly rinse it, used a collander over a bucket...spent about 45minutes on the 1 bag I used. I had no clouding afterward so it was worth it. I also use a mix of Flourite and EcoComplete in my 100G...it is mostly flourite and I also rinsed the crap out of the Flourite there as well. 

In all of my tanks I dose the column and the substrate, I use RootMedic root tabs around the rooted plants and I dose Rootmedic liquid Micro and Macro 3X per week of the suggested amount.


----------



## kevmo911

I use the original Flourite in a low-light, high-tech tank. No root tabs (though I have in the past, and possibly will again, but unnecessary), EI dosing. Rinsed the heck out of it in a small colander. Minimal cloudiness.

I use black sand Flourite as a cap over organic potting soil in two tanks. Definitely no root tabs - that's what the soil is for. Split the bags into several batches, violently stirred in a 5g bucket with water. Siphoned all water and suspended solids out of it. Repeated several times. Again, minimal cloudiness. If you can manage it, filling, stirring, and siphoning simultaneously would be ideal.

I *have* added Flourite (both original and black sand) without rinsing. HUGE mistake. In one tank, I cleaned the HOB filter media twice a day for several days, and in another tank, just ended up doing repeated large water changes.


----------



## Jadelin

I've heard from several places that if you rinse flourite, spread it pretty thin and let it dry COMPLETELY that it will reduce cloudiness. I did this for my tank, and I didn't get ANY cloudiness. But I did rinse it rather well, so I'm not sure which had the most effect. I will say that the last time I rinsed the water didn't run completely clear, but when I filled the tank after I had let the flourite dry there was no cloudiness at all. I think it's worth taking the time to let it dry out.


----------



## DogFish

Thanks everyone!~ 

I'm thinking for me this is the way to go. I was thinking MTS/Sand cap but, I think this will be a lot less stress on me.


----------



## mwebb

I have flourite in mine that i purchased about 9 years ago. I thought Flourite was supposed to have iron in it that would be released to plants as needed. I wonder if it is really so however.


----------



## Coursair

I have Black Flourite sand in my 10g capped with Tahitian Moon Sand. I wanted really black sand 

I add Leaf Zone to the water weekly and just got some Osmacote that I will be burying in the substrate. 

Low light, low tech. Happy plants. My shrimp love sand also 










I rinsed the Flourite, but not enough. But used included Clarity and left my HOB filter off till sand settled. Had "dust" for days but all gone now.


----------



## MCHRKiller

An even easier route would be Eco-Complete if you wanted a black substrate, there is no rinsing required. I will never do Flourite in a large tank again for that very reason.


----------



## Wwh2694

I have used florite black in my 60H tank for 3yrs. I like it and never put any root tabs. I was using pps pro for 2 yrs till I switch to EI dosing solution on auto doser. That made my plants happier. Now comparing it to Eco which I used it on my 120H tank, eco seems like its lighter than flourite. Planting on eco seems like my plants are barely hagging on than planting on flourite. Both have high CEC which gets the nutrients from the water colum. The only problem with flourite is washing it so it would not cloud the water in the beggining. On eco clouding is not a problem but i got a green water problem in the beggining and algae all over this is probably because of the amonia in the beggining. Using eco for almost 2 months im loving it, now my algae is in control and plants growing crazy.


----------



## mach_six

I use a strainer that you would use for cooked pasta or washing your veggies when I got the pea gravel from Lowes. That was much easier on my hands than having to stir the bucket and staining it that nasty silt that was covered in the gravel and my back from having to bend down and lift the bucket to dump it in the sink basin.

I just bought a few bags of flourite that I haven't opened yet, hope the strainer I have is fine enough for that.


----------



## lauraleellbp

My 29gal has only Flourite black.

My 90 and 46gals have an inch or so of Miracle Gro Organic Choice underneath an inch or two of Flourite and I find the plants grow dramatically more quickly in that.


----------



## Wasserpest

Regarding rinsing... I don't, much. I empty the bag into a bucket, fill it with water, swirl around, slowly dump the water, move Flourite to tank.

I believe if you rinse too much you rinse away a lot of the finer particle goodness that will bind nutrients.

I only rinse the "cap", the last 1/4 in or so, more thoroughly. Perhaps three rounds of bucket/fill/empty/repeat. No strainer or such.

I think the trick to a clear tank is this: 

Before you add substrate, add a piece of plastic pipe or such towards the front of the tank to maintain a substrate free hole down to the glass bottom.

Once all the substrate is in the tank, rinse the glass (perhaps with a spray bottle) and the substrate. Now you will have an inch or so of murky liquid within the substrate. Using a small diameter plastic hose, suck out all of that liquid from the hole you created earlier.

This moves much of the suspended particles downwards in your substrate.

Now comes the difficult part - add water to the tank very VERY slowly. This is challenging for impatient folks who want their tanks filled ALREADY. Strainer works better for them. Basically, you want to add water without any water movement within the substrate (which is impossible). Especially until the substrate is submerged in water you need to trickle water in extremely slowly. If you manage to do that, the "fog" particles will stay within the Flourite.

You also need to wait a day or so before adding filtration/circulation, and then initially don't point the outlets towards the substrate.

I have done this a few times and it works. When you plant, little dust devils will come up, but settle down and into the substrate soon.

Again, this isn't a good solution for impatient planted tankers...


----------



## bubbleboy

I have 15 bags of the black stuff in my 120, gave me 3 inches.. the seachem calculator said I needed 9.. HA HA right. $100 worth per inch. I don't have any problems growing anything in it but I dose a lot and have enough light (2wpg for 4 hrs, 4wpg for 5 hours) and needless to say my weed grows like a weed.

Rinsing the stuff was a pain but you only have to do it once and it is not like it will take you days to do it...

I like it, no way am I about to cap soil with it because THAT can be a real mess to deal with when you want to re-scape. Its like shoveling mud when you want to clean that mix out so forget that... I use a ton of root tabs also.. its just plain easy, looks good, holds the plants well, looks pretty natural from a Hawaii standpoint (black sand found in the streams in some locations) 

But it is expensive. The gravel cost me almost as much as the tank did. I have used it exclusively in two good size tanks and I don't think I would use anything else.


----------



## m00se

You don't need a colander to strain Flourite. Any large bowl will do. Just run the faucet into the Flourite and move it with your hand and the brown sludge/debris will suspend into solution, which you pour off. Rinse a LOT and you will be fine. If you're adding it to an already filled tank, get a funnel and pour the Flourite into a 2 liter pop bottle or other suitable bottle (I like Arizona Iced Tea bottles because they have bigger mouths) and put the bottle full of Flourite into the tank and allow it to fill with water. THEN invert the bottle and let the Flourite out. As the Flourite exits the bottle, it's replaced with tank water, and that tank water magically holds all the suspended particulates that you missed during the rinse. Youtube has several videos of this phenomenon.

Here is one of many:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XB0bwtZh8&fmt=5

I have 60 lbs of black in a 30 gallon, and I love it.


----------



## BlueJack

DogFish said:


> If you are only using SeaChem's Flourite, are you adding any Ferts in the substrate or water?


EI Dosing. Root tabs maybe twice a year.



DogFish said:


> If so what is your schedule?


For my Med light/non-CO2 tank 1 X week. For my High light/CO2 tank 3 X week. 



DogFish said:


> I've read this product needs a lot of rinsing. Other than that point, how would you review it?


I've never ever rinsed, just dumped it in(empty tank of course). You just need to be smart when filling your tank. I use a bowl and slowly fill with water...taking care not to disturb the substrate. Plant and let sit for a day before turning on your filter. Clear as can be. 

It's kind of messy when pulling out plants for rescaping. To be honest I've had equivalent results to using regular topsoil...both are about as messy when replanting. I might even say my plants are doing better in topsoil.



DogFish said:


> Also how REd is RED wet? Same for the Black? I think I want some open space for contrast.Thanks


I currently have flourite black sand. It's also not very black, more like grey. I had to dump some tahitian moon sand on top to give it the color I wanted...Black.


----------



## reignOfFred

I started with Eco complete and hated it - heavily diluted it with flourite and am much happier. Rinsing involved placing in a 5 gallon bucket and filling/pouring out water several times, and dust was not bad and settled quickly. This is a co2 injected setup and I see no need to bother with more complicated substrate methods since my micro sword has developed into a thick jungly carpet like I was aiming for and all my plants are doing fantastic.


----------



## Wwh2694

100% flourite black for 3yrs. Flourite still same the first time i put it on my tank. I use pps pro and EI. I like EI better. Planting is good in this substrate its heavier that eco.


----------



## 150EH

First of all I didn't read any other posts so this may have been said. Flourite does need abit of rinsing or time to settle, it is a baked clay with little nutrients compared with other soils but it has a great ability to hold nutrients added to the soil. My Flourite is 8 years old and is about the same as when it went into the tank as far as I can tell.

I do use Osomocote fert gel caps under root feeders or demanding plants plus I dose EI at about 1/3 the rate for my tank size, but that's mainly because the tank is only 1/3 full of plants plus I have reduced my lighting to 2.15 wpg for slower growth so the plants don't demand as much nutrients.

I would like to try ADA AS in a tank but if it were a really big tank I think I would stick with Flourite.

Oh, I use the root tabs every 4 months, but not everywhere.

I don't really know that rinsing Flourite is best or if you could just add the water & plants without too much movement of the Flourite, never tried it. I like Wasserpest's Flourite ritual.


----------



## bl4nket

I use it for my 55gal at my parents house and it does the job pretty good for that one, it's not a very planted tank though.


----------



## bpb

lauraleellbp said:


> My 29gal has only Flourite black.
> 
> My 90 and 46gals have an inch or so of Miracle Gro Organic Choice underneath an inch or two of Flourite and I find the plants grow dramatically more quickly in that.


I have been planning on doing this exact same substrate combination in my 10 gallon. Right now it has locally dug clay rich topsoil capped with cheap black Walmart gravel. I used root tabs as well. Growth was spectacular for about 6 months but has really slowed down to a crawl lately. Probably because the gravel is a horrible plant substrate.

This summer i was going to remove everything and start over with miracle grow and fluorite. How long will the miracle grow last before it is depleted and do you think by that time, the fluorite will have stored enough nutrients to not need any further dosing? Does the miracle grow end up just being a root structure base then once depleted, or does it need to be removed and replaced after time? Will it be safe to add fish and inverts immediately since the filters are cycled?


----------



## HD Blazingwolf

rinse it. i didn't my second time around and the water doesn't flow as well through the roots. the dust gets compacted everywhere

im on my second run and i'd have to say im going to a less inert substrate next time such as aquasoil.
my ten gallon dirt tank grows like a jungle and has nothing in it but dirt water and plants plus shrimp. LOW LOW led lighting as well. it almost keeps up with my high tek-er

that being said flourite has served its purpose but if u plan on getting serious. root tabs are a must.


----------



## willknowitall

i dont rinse reg flourite and my water is clear from day one
this is how i do it
i put the flourite in the tank and fill with water slowly without disturbing it
then i drain the tank and then refill same as above


----------



## Jeffww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XB0bwtZh8 This is what I do with new sand. Should work with flourite sand. Go with a 2L bottle when you do it...the pint bottles take forever.


----------



## Rina

is it safe for shrimps ?


----------



## Goldchair708

What is the best root tab to use?


----------



## jeffkrol

Jadelin said:


> I've heard from several places that if you rinse flourite, spread it pretty thin and let it dry COMPLETELY that it will reduce cloudiness. I did this for my tank, and I didn't get ANY cloudiness. But I did rinse it rather well, so I'm not sure which had the most effect. I will say that the last time I rinsed the water didn't run completely clear, but when I filled the tank after I had let the flourite dry there was no cloudiness at all. I think it's worth taking the time to let it dry out.


WASH and DRY method:
How to Wash FLUORITE


----------



## Kubla

Put more backs of black fluorite in my 92 gal tank than I want to count. I rinsed all of it first and didn't have much cloudiness problem. I was dumping it in a bucket at first but then changed over to rinsing it right in the bag. Cut the top corner off, stick the hose in. Turn it on gently while making sure the bag doesn't fall over and manipulate the bag a and media while the dust flows out. Just adjust the water flow so it stirs stuff up but doesn't blast the media out.


----------



## jeffh129

Is Flourite inert like EcoComplete?


----------



## Rakaal

I have used Flourite in both of my tanks. I have not observed anything that would would lead me to believe that it adds and "hardness". It is a dirty substrate. I put half a bag in a bucket and put it in a utility sink and turn the water on and let it run. The water will be muddy looking for a while. Just keep in mind that it will never run completely "clear".


----------

