Fluorite woes

[Elaine T]

I'm awfully glad I tried Fluorite in my 2 gallon tank before setting up
the 15 gal. I like to plant my stem plants Amano style, in single stems
with tweezers. This works fine in the 2-3 mm gravel that I've always
used. In Fluorite, the medium is so light that it doesn't hold the
stems down. The slightest disturbance, like my betta wriggling through
the plants in hot pursuit of a shrimp and the darned things are
floating. I was able to plant my new Telantheria in my 5 gallon tank
with gravel substrate, and I had to weight it down in the Fluorite.

Even worse, the roughness of the clay damages roots as I plant so it's
harder to get new plants to stay down the second, third, or umpteenth
time I replant. This is going to be an ongoing problem as I propagate
and/or refresh the stem pants by cutting off and replanting the tops. I
could use plant plugs but that pretty much defeats the purpose of the
Fluorite.

Is Eco-complete or Onyx any better? Are they smooth and heavier like
gravel? If not I'm going back to gravel and laterite because seeing my
stem plants floating around the tank (yet again) is not any fun at all.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Richard Sexton]

In article >,
Elaine T > wrote:
>I'm awfully glad I tried Fluorite in my 2 gallon tank before setting up
>the 15 gal. I like to plant my stem plants Amano style, in single stems
>with tweezers. This works fine in the 2-3 mm gravel that I've always
>used. In Fluorite, the medium is so light that it doesn't hold the
>stems down. The slightest disturbance, like my betta wriggling through
>the plants in hot pursuit of a shrimp and the darned things are
>floating. I was able to plant my new Telantheria in my 5 gallon tank
>with gravel substrate, and I had to weight it down in the Fluorite.
>
>Even worse, the roughness of the clay damages roots as I plant so it's
>harder to get new plants to stay down the second, third, or umpteenth
>time I replant. This is going to be an ongoing problem as I propagate
>and/or refresh the stem pants by cutting off and replanting the tops. I
>could use plant plugs but that pretty much defeats the purpose of the
>Fluorite.

1) You can mix flourite with anything, it even says so on the bag;
I mix it with fine beach sand and it looks pretty good I think.

2) You could let the stem plants float and root, then they have
something to anchor themseleves with.

I plant stems individually too. Tweezers huh? I just use my fingers.

--
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[Elaine T]

Richard Sexton wrote:
> In article >,
> Elaine T > wrote:
>
>>I'm awfully glad I tried Fluorite in my 2 gallon tank before setting up
>>the 15 gal. I like to plant my stem plants Amano style, in single stems
>>with tweezers. This works fine in the 2-3 mm gravel that I've always
>>used. In Fluorite, the medium is so light that it doesn't hold the
>>stems down. The slightest disturbance, like my betta wriggling through
>>the plants in hot pursuit of a shrimp and the darned things are
>>floating. I was able to plant my new Telantheria in my 5 gallon tank
>>with gravel substrate, and I had to weight it down in the Fluorite.
>>
>>Even worse, the roughness of the clay damages roots as I plant so it's
>>harder to get new plants to stay down the second, third, or umpteenth
>>time I replant. This is going to be an ongoing problem as I propagate
>>and/or refresh the stem pants by cutting off and replanting the tops. I
>>could use plant plugs but that pretty much defeats the purpose of the
>>Fluorite.
>
>
> 1) You can mix flourite with anything, it even says so on the bag;
> I mix it with fine beach sand and it looks pretty good I think.

Yeah - it says up to 50%. Maybe that would be easier to work with.
I've got fine gravel around. I haven't tried sand before but black sand
might be pretty - I like a fairly dark substrate.

> 2) You could let the stem plants float and root, then they have
> something to anchor themseleves with.

Good point. I forgot how well they root (and grow) when floating.
>
> I plant stems individually too. Tweezers huh? I just use my fingers.
>
I've always used fingers before too but I'm planting pretty close in a 2
gallon. The Fluorite is so light too that when I plant one plant with
my normally dexterous but now suddenly big, fat fingers I move too much
substrate and the adjacent plant floats away. Tweezers were working a
little bit better. ;-)

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Margolis]

"Elaine T" > wrote in message
m...
>
> might be pretty - I like a fairly dark substrate.
>


hmm, sort of like eco-complete ;op


--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[Nikki Casali]

Elaine T wrote:
> Is Eco-complete or Onyx any better?

Well, all I've heard about Eco-Complete is that it's even worse in terms
of weighing down plants.

Nikki

[Richard Sexton]

>I've always used fingers before too but I'm planting pretty close in a 2
>gallon. The Fluorite is so light too that when I plant one plant with
>my normally dexterous but now suddenly big, fat fingers I move too much
>substrate and the adjacent plant floats away. Tweezers were working a
>little bit better. ;-)

I can't say I've evrer damaged a root but if you're using tweezers to
pus the roots past sharp (relatively) bits of flourite I can see how
that would do it.

I just move some fluorite outof the way to make a depression, stick the
stem into it (about an inch deep works) then move the flourite back.
That's with plants with roots, you could go 2 inches if they're rootless.

Sometimes I'll use a river rock to hold a stubborn stem in place.

--
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[steve]

Elaine T wrote:

> Is Eco-complete or Onyx any better? Are they smooth and heavier like

> gravel? If not I'm going back to gravel and laterite because seeing
my
> stem plants floating around the tank (yet again) is not any fun at
all.
>


I bought a bag of Onyx for my 20g. It was perty expensive and I needed
more for depth, so I mixed it 50:50 with black Conga rock, a common
coated gravel. The Onyx is kinda grey, from extremely fine to coarse,
and very jagged. The Conga rock has larger more regular sized
particles. The Conga rock was purposfully put on top of the Onyx and
has stayed there. It's easy to help the Onyx sift back down after a
gravel vac job. The Onyx is very heavy and dense and holds the roots
readily and solidly.

steve

[Margolis]

I don't have any problems with it holding my rotala indica down. That's the
only stems I have in my 20 with eco-complete

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[Nikki Casali]

Margolis wrote:

> I don't have any problems with it holding my rotala indica down. That's the
> only stems I have in my 20 with eco-complete
>
I stick "lead" weights on all my stem plants. I guess if one doesn't
strip the bottom stems of its leaves that may help to anchor them.

Nikki

[Elaine T]

steve wrote:
> Elaine T wrote:
>
>
>>Is Eco-complete or Onyx any better? Are they smooth and heavier like
>
>
>>gravel? If not I'm going back to gravel and laterite because seeing
>
> my
>
>>stem plants floating around the tank (yet again) is not any fun at
>
> all.
>
>
>
> I bought a bag of Onyx for my 20g. It was perty expensive and I needed
> more for depth, so I mixed it 50:50 with black Conga rock, a common
> coated gravel. The Onyx is kinda grey, from extremely fine to coarse,
> and very jagged. The Conga rock has larger more regular sized
> particles. The Conga rock was purposfully put on top of the Onyx and
> has stayed there. It's easy to help the Onyx sift back down after a
> gravel vac job. The Onyx is very heavy and dense and holds the roots
> readily and solidly.
>
> steve
>
That sounds like more of what I'm after. I suppose I could do the same
thing with a larger coated gravel and any smaller plant substrate. I
haven't found Onyx around here yet.

So Fluorite/sand or Onyx/coated gravel I think. It will depend on what
I can find at LFS since I'm not gonna pay shipping on 20 lb of
substrate! And lead weights or river rocks, both of which I have been
doing some. Cool! Thanks, all.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Margolis]

"Elaine T" > wrote in message
m...
>>
> That sounds like more of what I'm after. I suppose I could do the same
> thing with a larger coated gravel and any smaller plant substrate. I
> haven't found Onyx around here yet.
>
> So Fluorite/sand or


It is not good to mix sand with larger grained substrates like gravel or
flourite. The two different sizes will seperate with the sand working down
to the bottom and the flourite will "float" to the top of the sand.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[Richard Sexton]

In article >,
Margolis > wrote:
>"Elaine T" > wrote in message
m...
>>>
>> That sounds like more of what I'm after. I suppose I could do the same
>> thing with a larger coated gravel and any smaller plant substrate. I
>> haven't found Onyx around here yet.
>>
>> So Fluorite/sand or
>
>
>It is not good to mix sand with larger grained substrates like gravel or
>flourite. The two different sizes will seperate with the sand working down
>to the bottom and the flourite will "float" to the top of the sand.

That's the theory. In paractice I have fine beach sand and flourite
and there's still an even mix of the stuff. Perhaps it helps that
the flourite is less dense.

--
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