# Washed and washed, still cloudy!



## tailfin (Jan 19, 2010)

Hello

I am new to this whole tropical fish tank business and planted garden thing! So please excuse my ignorance.

Yesterday I bought a 7kg bag of fluorite, much simmilar to the one below.










I washed initially around 5 times, filling up a bucket, emptying and repeating. I then put it in the tank, along with water and the result was a very dark brown mixture. I emptied out the water, washed it around 10 more times and put it back in the tank with some water. I left it for 15 hours to settle but it's still a medium dark brown but very dense in the water. I was wondering If I should wash it again? I'm worried that washing it continually might remove some of the nutrients? What should I do?

Thanks


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## trackhazard (Aug 24, 2006)

Fluorite is very dusty. You wash and wash and wash till all the water is running clear. Then, you wash it once more time for good measure.

Keep washing and it'll eventually clear up.

-Charlie


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## angc84 (Jul 21, 2009)

tailfin said:


> Hello
> 
> I am new to this whole tropical fish tank business and planted garden thing! So please excuse my ignorance.
> 
> ...



Hi, 

Oh, I have gone through the same thing! Here is a good link to washing flourite: (http://www.vickisaquaticplace.com/fluorite.html), in case you are to buy another bag! 

Did you place a plate on top of the flourite when you were filling the tank with water? Using a plate can greatly reduce disturbance and the water should not be as cloudy. The debris generally settle in the bottom of the tank over time and will not be stirred up as much in a month or so. 

Good luck!


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## jmowbray (Dec 20, 2009)

I used a small strainer and constantly stirred it with my hands with the water running over it. Took me about 2.5 days to do 2 bags.


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## datta_sid (Oct 22, 2009)

Flourite always keeps being ground with each other and generating dust. So it will never run clear ( unless you are very gentle with it ).

What I did was : No washing. Pour flourite in. Put a trash bag on it, covering it completely. Pour water in very slowly, so as not to disturb it. Water will probably still be cloudy. Keep it one day without running filter or powerhead (basically no flow ). The dust will mostly settle down. Whatever small amount you have left, the filter will typically clear it up pretty quickly.

From now on, anytime you rescape and make it cloudy again, usually it will settle down and/or be cleared up by the filter very quickly.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

flourite isn't nutrient rich, no worry to rinsing. Run your filter, that will clear it out.


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## tailfin (Jan 19, 2010)

Hi everyone.

Thanks for getting back to me. I followed the steps, kindly provided by angc84 and my result was quite succesfull. The water is still cloudy however this is a much lighter shade and looks more like a billowing dust cloud within the water. I will leave it for a day and see how it goes from there.

I did use a plate, however I was pouring in the water with the bucket so it was a bit rough.

Thanks


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

When I first put Flourite in my tank, cloudy for 8 hours. Cleared up a lot by 24 hours, cleared up completely by 48.

Give it time, it'll filter/settle in a day or two.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I take mine outside, fill a bucket about 1/3 or 1/2 way full of flourite, and then blast it with a garden hose till the water runs off clear. Works really well, usually takes about 10min per bucket this way.

Then I let the flourite dry (spread it out on a sheet in the sun) before adding it to the tank.

Doing it this way, I've never had any cloudiness at all, even if I just dump water in a tank instead of being careful or when moving plants around.

I've learned that the Flourite blacks are much less dusty than the other colors (used all of them but the "dark" to date)- I've no idea why.


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## IneedAbiggerTank (Jan 15, 2010)

I've used Flourite in at least 3 tanks now, I just wash it a few times and then put it in the tank. Sure it will be cloudy, but if you have a good filter it should clear completely overnight. Then it will get cloudy if you disturb the substrate but, again, with good a good filter it should clear pretty fast.


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## tailfin (Jan 19, 2010)

I finally got it clearish! Although it's a bit blue, I suspect the water conditioner might have done that.

I have a quite simple question to do with the GH testing. The instructions say count how many drops it takes in the test tube to turn the water green. What i'm a bit unsure of is what qualifies the water as green? the first time I see a greeny tinge? or full green water?

Thanks


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

IME that is one of the harder ones to read. If there is ANYTHING green in your field of vision this makes it worse. By a bright window is helpful, but not if there is a nice tree out there!

I have usually found that the difference between 'was it that drop?' and 'well, OK it is noticeably green' is usually just one drop, and I do not care if the GH is really 4 or really 5, I know the water is pretty soft. When I test the hard water tanks, again the exact number is not so important (did it change at 9? or really 10?) as the fact that I can reproduce that same parameter for a water change. 

Here is a harder Q: Is ONE drop ZERO? or ONE?


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## tailfin (Jan 19, 2010)

Diana said:


> IME that is one of the harder ones to read. If there is ANYTHING green in your field of vision this makes it worse. By a bright window is helpful, but not if there is a nice tree out there!
> 
> I have usually found that the difference between 'was it that drop?' and 'well, OK it is noticeably green' is usually just one drop, and I do not care if the GH is really 4 or really 5, I know the water is pretty soft. When I test the hard water tanks, again the exact number is not so important (did it change at 9? or really 10?) as the fact that I can reproduce that same parameter for a water change.
> 
> Here is a harder Q: Is ONE drop ZERO? or ONE?


I'm not alone obviously 

I worked out mine to be 6, apparently that is around 107ppm. The aquarium I went to suggests between 160-180ppm for a Community tank. They forgot to give me the stuff to adjust it :angryfire


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## tailfin (Jan 19, 2010)

I have one more question, not worth creating a new thread for these though.

I have a API freshwater master test kit. I'm doing PH testing and the scale has a oceany type blue for PH 7.6, and then a light blue/green on 7.2 and then on green until it gets to 6.0 which is yellow.

Anyway I tested my water with the 'pH TEST SOLUTION' and it produced a result lighter than 7.6 however not the 7.2 colour, somewhere in the middle it seems, I'm guessing that the pH is around 7.4 then? I also tested with the 'HIGH RANGE pH TEST SOLUTION' which came out yellow and looked around pH 6.0. I am believing that my first test was correct, however these variations have got me a bit worried.

Thanks


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

You've got a general idea of the pH and hardness of your water, and that's really all you need to know. Just write down/remember these results as a "baseline" should you ever have trouble with your tank down the road.

There's no need at all to alter your water parameters from what they currently are. If you start trying to adjust them, you'll more likely end up with unstable water parameters over time, which is really rough on fish. Stability is much more important than any particular "ideal" for the vast majority of the FW plant and animal species currently in the hobby.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Leave the GH alone. 6 degrees is fine for just about all community fish and soft water fish. No need at all to play around with it. If you have Rift Lake fish, then I would use some Equilibrium to raise the GH into their preferred range (over 10 degrees). 

The 2 pH tests have almost no overlap. If you are really close to the high end of the low range kit then test with the high range. 
The test will show the end range color even if it is beyond that test kit's range. 

Example 1: 
If the pH is 7.8
The low range will show 7.6, (blue) that is its top end. 
The high range will read correctly, 7.8 (brown). 

Example 2: 
If the pH is 6.8
The low range will show 6.8, (sea green?) that is well within its range. This is the correct reading. 
The high range will read bottom end, 7.4 (gold).

To reiterate: If either test seems to show an end reading that might overlap into the next test, try the other test. Low range goes up to 7.6, high range goes down to 7.4. If your pH is right there (7.4-7.6) then both tests will look like you should try the other. 

Yes, you can make a guess at numbers between the colors on the charts, but remember that these are just hobbyist level quality. Decent enough, but subject to error. Do not put too much faith in a number in the 10ths for example if you are trying to match waters for a water change. If your test seems to show it is off by a few 10ths it might or might not be. pH is less important than GH for the fish, anyway. Getting a reading somewhere in the right ballpark is my goal. 

How I use most tests:
It is not the exact number, but how the trend is going. Is the result much higher or lower than the last test? A minor difference is enough to think: "Hm... gonna watch that." A major difference is going to trigger "Hey, what is going on?"


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## tailfin (Jan 19, 2010)

Diana said:


> Leave the GH alone. 6 degrees is fine for just about all community fish and soft water fish. No need at all to play around with it. If you have Rift Lake fish, then I would use some Equilibrium to raise the GH into their preferred range (over 10 degrees).
> 
> The 2 pH tests have almost no overlap. If you are really close to the high end of the low range kit then test with the high range.
> The test will show the end range color even if it is beyond that test kit's range.
> ...


Amazing :eek5: Thanks!

The reason why I'm so worried about this is that the Aquarium wants to do a water test on 100ml of my water, before they sell me fish. :icon_cry: I have a feeling if it doesn't meet their perfect standards I might have no fish!

Anyway back to pH  I did the tests again with your post in mind and the low range test looked around 7.6 perhaps a little darker in colour than that one and the high range one looked lighter than the 7.4 one, So I'm about right in between at 7.5?


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Sounds to me that is where the pH is. 

Uh... sneak a little water out of one of their own tanks? :icon_idea

I would just make sure the nitrate tests low; under 20 ppm for sure, lower will probably look better.


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## tailfin (Jan 19, 2010)

Diana said:


> Sounds to me that is where the pH is.
> 
> Uh... sneak a little water out of one of their own tanks? :icon_idea
> 
> I would just make sure the nitrate tests low; under 20 ppm for sure, lower will probably look better.


hehehehe 

I just checked nitrate. It's between 2-4 it seems, is this too low? Or a good thing? The water around here has been surprisingly good. 

I think everything is now sorted! The water is clear fom the top and front, although it has a yellowish tinge when looking from the sides and isn't very clear. I guess the tank must have a minor tint on the glass or something perhaps. 

Thanks


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