# Washing Flourite



## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Holy crow! This stuff is filthy! Iv'e been washing it in small batches, and then letting it sit a container of water with a couple of drops of Prime (dechlorinator) in it. I am not going to dry it. I'll put it straight in the aquarium and let it dry in there a bit before I add the water. i have no idea how you users of Onyx Sand or Tahitian Moon Sand did it!


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

don't let it dry after you rinse it out. What will happen is you will get more "dust" from the dried Flourite. You will have a slightly clouded water but by the next day it should be cleared up. I would clean the filter out in about 1 week to remove the collected dust.

I don't think you get any Iron benefits from the onyx in fact I think it will make your ph to rise. The flourite has not effected my pH but I also use R/O filtered water.


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

The best way I have found to wash either Flourite or Onyx is to put about 1/3 to 1/2 a bag in a rubber maid dish tub and then using a hose end sprayer just spray away. Tilt the tub at a slight angle to allow the dirty water to flow out. After about a minute carefully drain the water out and repeat. I have washed full bags of Flourite in less than five minutes this way. Onyx sand takes a little longer.


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## RayB (Dec 23, 2002)

I used a large aquarium net. I put the flourite into the net to about 80% capacity and rinsed the gravel with the outside hose. It cleaned out VERY quickly, as noted by lack of color coming out. I then put it right into the tank. When I was done, I filled the tank carefully, not to allow disturbance of the substrate. I had VERY little cloudiness. CLEAR water 12 hrs later.


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## geoff (Feb 10, 2003)

I just put it in the tank and let it settle for about a week with a couple of filters running. Eventually the really fine particles that cloud the water will settle to the very bottom and they won't be a problem anymore.


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## m.lemay (Jul 28, 2002)

geoff said:


> I just put it in the tank and let it settle for about a week with a couple of filters running. Eventually the really fine particles that cloud the water will settle to the very bottom and they won't be a problem anymore.


After trying to rinse mine and watching half of my Flourite go down the drain I did the same thing. :lol: I couldn't even see 1 inch into the tank the first day. The tank was cloudy for about 4 days. I had fish in my tank, poor little guys, none of them died. :shock: 

Geoff, thanks for admitting that. I thought I was the only nutcase here. Welcome to the club. :wink: 

Marcel


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## corvus (Dec 23, 2002)

I did a similar thing, washed a few bags, then said heck with it (well i actually said someting else), and dumped it in. Filled tank, muddy as the Mississippi!

Then I had a brilliant idea. took all hard media out of my cannister, filled it with all floss. tank nearly clear in 3-4 hours. chucked the floss, and hooked up the eheim properly. Worked pretty good if i do say so myself.


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## STAT 007 (Feb 26, 2003)

I washed my Flourite REALLY well before putting it in my tank. I went down into the parking lot beside my apartment, put each bag of Flourite (I bought and used three) in my biggest bucket (not all that big, but hey), and used my Python hooked to an outside water faucet to stir it up and then let the dirty water overflow and run into the parking lot (sped it up a little by actually pouring off the dirty water as it formed). I probably did it all in an hour or so, so I'm sure you can imagine how much water I used. But hey...I don't pay that water bill! LOL. As a matter of fact, one of the apartment maintenance guys walked by and gave me dirty looks because I was using so much of their water and flooding the parking lot, but oh well...they'll get over it. So when I put the Flourite in my tank, it was really dirty for a bit, but I used some Kent Clear-Up type stuff (like Accurel F) and all the fish were in my 10 gal. quarantine, so it cleared up totally in about 2 hours. Looks really nice now.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Six bags! What a pain, but it's done! I took a plastic shoe box, filled it halfway with Flourite, and kept agitating it while running water into it. After it was clean, or as clean as I could get it, I filled the container with water, added some dechlorinator and agitated it to mix the dechlorinator into the water. I then let it sit for 15 minutes, drained it, and poured the Flourite into the aquarium. Fun! Fun!! Fun!!!


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## STAT 007 (Feb 26, 2003)

I wouldn't worry too terribly much about using dechlorinator. In fact, I didn't use any when I washed my Flourite. I think the amount of water the Flourite holds is negligible in regards to chlorine levels.


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## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

tonight i rinsed some flourite in a large bucket, stirred well, then poured off the sludge. after about 20 minutes of this futility, i figured i'd look around the kitchen for some sort of strainer. i found a metal one about 9 inches in diameter that would fit over the top of one of the buckets without falling in. i then placed a mound of flourite in the strainer, let the water run over it for about half a minute, then emptied the clean flourite into another bucket. if i had have done this from the start i could have cleaned all 3 bags in less than 45 minutes (includes time looking for strainer!). the advantage to this method is that i lost very little flourite in the process, since the strainer was sitting on top of a bucket. although not novel by any means, i would highly recommend this method.


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## jake (Feb 20, 2004)

I added my flourite, then added my water to the tank. As it was filling up, I stirred the flourite up. Got the tank about halfway full and kicked up as big a cloud as I could, turned the python on and sucked it back out, ocassionally using the gravel vac like a skimmer to get the scum. Did it again, sucked it back out. Filled it up and everything was kosher. I figure it's like the washing machine.. it wouldn't work good if it just sprayed water instead of filling up with water, eh?


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## gnome (Mar 9, 2004)

I see that none of you know "The Trick"! You can let the Flourite *completely* dry (no rinsing necessary). Put it in the tank, add water, and the worst you get is a slight haze, which should take no longer than a few hours to clear with a regular filter. I don't know why this works, but it does. Next time (should there be a "next time") you should pick out a nice, hot day, lay out tarp or some sort of hefty plastic material in direct sunlight, spread out the Flourite in a thin layer, then let it go bone-dry. Make sure there are no cats in the yard . Once dry, move it into your tank and proceed as if you'd washed the dickens out of it. 

Not a single drop of water wasted and no muddy water. 

-Naomi


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## Q (Mar 12, 2004)

I rinsed my flourite the way Rex Grigg mentioned. I bought a 15 gallon Rubbermaid tub (only like $5 at Home Depot), dumped a few bags at a time in and rinsed it with a hose outside. I just kept mixing as I filled the tub and let the cloudy water spill out. I did about 8 bags in under 30 minutes. Then I placed it in the tank and put a plate on top of it so the incoming water wouldn't stir it up while I was filling. The tank was very clear by the time it was filled. roud: I will say this wasn't Flourite "Red" though. That may have been a different story.


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## Flossforbreakfast (Sep 30, 2009)

corvus said:


> I did a similar thing, washed a few bags, then said heck with it (well i actually said someting else), and dumped it in. Filled tank, muddy as the Mississippi!
> 
> Then I had a brilliant idea. took all hard media out of my cannister, filled it with all floss. tank nearly clear in 3-4 hours. chucked the floss, and hooked up the eheim properly. Worked pretty good if i do say so myself.


The same thing happened to me. I washed my flourite out for about an hour just to make sure. But, when I poured the water in(with a bucket so you can understand why) the tank clouded up to the max. I have the filter going through it now so it should be clear in a couple of days when the dust settles


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

My tank took well over 3 weeks to fully clear, and still 3 months afterwards if I disturbe the substrate it still gets cloudy. I did rinsed it but not a lot because my concern was loosing the nutrients. I can´t believe Sera says this comes "pre-washed"

Still I don´t regret the decision, the plants are growing very nice


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

Bringing back a thread from 5 years ago...


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

> Bringing back a thread from 5 years ago...


Good!

There is nothing wrong with reviving an older thread instead of starting a new one on the same topic. In fact, we prefer it. It is a great way to re-introduce a topic or revisit an idea.

Also goes to how a member did a search to find older pertinant information instead of just starting a new thread. Search...that thing everyone moans and groans for new members to do when they join the forum and start asking questions that seem to be posed in nine or ten other threads. You know questions about things like heating cables and that Carbo Plus carbon block CO2 dealy-thing? 

In the future, lets not try and denegrade someone for posting in an older thread. Lets just answer the question or leave it and hit another thread!:icon_wink


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

This thread reminds me of something that I've wanted to ask about rinsing substrate for a while. Let's say that my water supplier uses chloramine. Should the last rinse or last few rinses have Prime or a similar product added to neutralize the chloramine? I've never seen this stated.

We might think that some chloramine will be left in the wet substrate and stall the formation of the bacteria that we need.

On the other hand, chlorine may not be much of a problem because it will flash off.

What do you think?


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## bradac56 (Feb 18, 2008)

Left C said:


> This thread reminds me of something that I've wanted to ask about rinsing substrate for a while. Let's say that my water supplier uses chloramine. Should the last rinse or last few rinses have Prime or a similar product added to neutralize the chloramine? I've never seen this stated.
> 
> We might think that some chloramine will be left in the wet substrate and stall the formation of the bacteria that we need.
> 
> ...


In my opinion it will flash off and not be a big factor unlike your fill water itself since your adding something to break both down in large amounts (say a 55gal tank full of conditioned water vs maybe a gallon of water contaminated by the substrate.

With that said I can't see how it would hurt anything to add prime while your washing the substrate as long as you stay within the recomened levels.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

Chloramine doesn't flash off like chlorine does.


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## Mannie Bothans (Oct 8, 2011)

So, really, all I need to do is let dry-- no rinsing needed? All that muddy water shown at http://www.vickisaquaticplace.com/fluorite.html really scares me.



gnome said:


> I see that none of you know "The Trick"! You can let the Flourite *completely* dry (no rinsing necessary). Put it in the tank, add water, and the worst you get is a slight haze, which should take no longer than a few hours to clear with a regular filter. I don't know why this works, but it does. Next time (should there be a "next time") you should pick out a nice, hot day, lay out tarp or some sort of hefty plastic material in direct sunlight, spread out the Flourite in a thin layer, then let it go bone-dry. Make sure there are no cats in the yard . Once dry, move it into your tank and proceed as if you'd washed the dickens out of it.
> 
> Not a single drop of water wasted and no muddy water.
> 
> -Naomi


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## Capsaicin_MFK (Nov 15, 2009)

I'll be washing 8 bags of Flourite Dark when I wake up...oh joy. I think the key thing to do it let it dry on a towel after rinsing as said on the Vicki's Aquatic page.


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## Robert H (Apr 3, 2003)

I don't get that. It is completely dry when you buy it. Its not wet or packed in water like Eco complete. Do you wet it and then dry it?

It is just clay dust that comes from the particulates rubbing against each other in the bag. All the times I used Flourite, I never had the cloudiness last for more than a few hours. Couple water changes and surface vacuuming and it was fine.

After looking at the instructions, I answered my own question! I think its cool that people are still reading Vicki's page. She passed back in 2003 and was a good friend.


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