# How to clean Fluorite



## Crash_171 (Jan 15, 2007)

I'm bored today at work, and I have a very cloudy tank at home :icon_sad: and was thinking of when it would settle. I just started looking arround and found this:

Fluorite

Just a little reading to pass some time


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

It's great to see one of Vicki's pages again.


Mike


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

I like to think that the dusty stuff is beneficial not just for your Tomato plants, but also for the aquatic kind. Therefore, I have stopped washing Flourite when setting up new tanks.

After adding the substrate, but before filling the new tank, I siphon out as much water as I can, which moves the majority of dust stuff into the lower layers of the substrate.

Then I fill the tank very, very slowly, over a couple of hours. Not good for the impatient type, but keeps the dust for plant roots, and gets you a clear start anyway.

There is an initial time where stuff collects on the surface, but again, after a few weeks of skimming that goes away all by itself. 

Just offering a different opinion, a different way of doing things.


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

Also see the Substrate section of my Guide.


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## Crash_171 (Jan 15, 2007)

Rex Grigg said:


> Also see the Substrate section of my Guide.


Your guide was my starting point on gathering information on DIY items for my tank.


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## osxVictoria (Apr 11, 2012)

Rex Grigg said:


> Also see the Substrate section of my Guide.


Indeed it was my starting point too.


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## brains613 (Aug 18, 2010)

5-year thread bump, huh?


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

brains613 said:


> 5-year thread bump, huh?


 Agreed! :flick: Vicki's page remains to be sage advice. I'm still using Flourite (except now I use Black) and use the same method. I've found that by pursuing the methods she employs, you may lose the fine particles of the substrate, but that eventually is in one's best interest if, like me, you tend to replant and rearrange your tank occassionally. In the past, I didn't follow her method and found that every time I replanted or moved something an immense cloud of dust would be produced. Following Vicki's advice, I've yet to have even the mildest dustup yet, years and years later, lol. Of course individual preference and YMMV always applies...


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