Adding Fluorite - Any Ideas?

Still tweaking a new plant tank, 1 month old 90 gallon. Initial startup
plants are in, co2 running, chemistry good. I have some final re-arranging
of rocks and wood to do, plus I need to add to my fluorite substrate. Any
ideas on how best to get more fluorite to the bottom without turning the
tank into a particle soup?

I was thinking of using a margarine container, gently top up with water,
then put the lid on. Bring it to the bottom and slowly pour out the
fluorite. Make little piles in this way all over, then spread it out later.

Another suggestion from the LFS was to use a PVC tube, a couple inches in
diameter, and pour the fluorite down the tube. Might work.

Ideas anyone?

Phil
Ottawa

"P&L" wrote in message
.. .
Still tweaking a new plant tank, 1 month old 90 gallon. Initial startup
plants are in, co2 running, chemistry good. I have some final re-arranging
of rocks and wood to do, plus I need to add to my fluorite substrate. Any
ideas on how best to get more fluorite to the bottom without turning the
tank into a particle soup?

I was thinking of using a margarine container, gently top up with water,
then put the lid on. Bring it to the bottom and slowly pour out the
fluorite. Make little piles in this way all over, then spread it out
later.

Another suggestion from the LFS was to use a PVC tube, a couple inches in
diameter, and pour the fluorite down the tube. Might work.

Ideas anyone?

Phil
Ottawa


I'm in the same boat here. I want to supplement my existing gravel with some
Fluorite. I had the very same idea as you with margarine tubs, seems like it
should work. Although I recently (not so gently) emptied some pots of
Fluorite that had been at the bottom of the aquarium for some time. I still
ended up with Fluorite soup. Fortunately the Diatom filter cleared it up in
a couple of hours. Perhaps using plastic bags and gently slitting them open
on the bottom would work better.

As for the tube idea. this would only work if you waited for the dust in the
tube to settle before you removed the tube. I imagine it would be a painful
process in a large tank.

P&L wrote:

Still tweaking a new plant tank, 1 month old 90 gallon. Initial
startup plants are in, co2 running, chemistry good. I have some final
re-arranging of rocks and wood to do, plus I need to add to my
fluorite substrate. Any ideas on how best to get more fluorite to the
bottom without turning the tank into a particle soup?

I was thinking of using a margarine container, gently top up with
water, then put the lid on. Bring it to the bottom and slowly pour
out the fluorite. Make little piles in this way all over, then spread
it out later.

Another suggestion from the LFS was to use a PVC tube, a couple
inches in diameter, and pour the fluorite down the tube. Might work.

Ideas anyone?

Phil
Ottawa

--

If you start by rinsing the flourite then what little cloudiness that
you get will go away within a day. For small batches of flourite you
can use a fine mesh kitchen strainer and a gentle stream of water. Stir
the flourite a little until the effluent is clear. For larger amounts,
you can use a 5G bucket. Fill with a strong hose, stir if necessary,
and pour off the dirty water. Repeat until you are satisfied with the
result. Usually it takes at least four repetitions but it goes fast.
The result is clean enough to put in the tank without special measures.

The first time I rinsed fluorite, I used a bucket and hose and filled,
stirred and dumped again and again and again. After about 10 cycles, I
realized the rinsewater wasn't getting any clearer. The process was just
wearing the grains down and creating more dust. The guy at the LFS told a
story of people washing their fluorite until the $40 bag was down to a cup.

The trick is to do a reasonable rinse - gently a few times. - then you're
done. Now you need to get it to the bottom of your tank with a minimum of
agitation. That's the part I'm trying to find an easy solution to.

Phil


If you start by rinsing the flourite then what little cloudiness that
you get will go away within a day. For small batches of flourite you
can use a fine mesh kitchen strainer and a gentle stream of water. Stir
the flourite a little until the effluent is clear. For larger amounts,
you can use a 5G bucket. Fill with a strong hose, stir if necessary,
and pour off the dirty water. Repeat until you are satisfied with the
result. Usually it takes at least four repetitions but it goes fast.
The result is clean enough to put in the tank without special measures.

"P&L" wrote in message
.. .
Still tweaking a new plant tank, 1 month old 90 gallon. Initial
startup plants are in, co2 running, chemistry good. I have some final
re-arranging of rocks and wood to do, plus I need to add to my fluorite
substrate. Any ideas on how best to get more fluorite to the bottom
without turning the tank into a particle soup?

I was thinking of using a margarine container, gently top up with
water, then put the lid on. Bring it to the bottom and slowly pour out
the fluorite. Make little piles in this way all over, then spread it
out later.

Another suggestion from the LFS was to use a PVC tube, a couple inches
in diameter, and pour the fluorite down the tube. Might work.

Ideas anyone?

Phil
Ottawa


Two gravel vacuuming tubes and two people. One to pour fluorite down a
tube, and the other to vacuum the fines which get released into the
water. I've never tried this method, but it sounds like it has
possibilities.
--
www.NetMax.tk

On Sat, 3 Dec 2005 08:53:57 -0500, "P&L"
wrote:

Still tweaking a new plant tank, 1 month old 90 gallon. Initial startup
plants are in, co2 running, chemistry good. I have some final re-arranging
of rocks and wood to do, plus I need to add to my fluorite substrate. Any
ideas on how best to get more fluorite to the bottom without turning the
tank into a particle soup?

I was thinking of using a margarine container, gently top up with water,
then put the lid on. Bring it to the bottom and slowly pour out the
fluorite. Make little piles in this way all over, then spread it out later.

Another suggestion from the LFS was to use a PVC tube, a couple inches in
diameter, and pour the fluorite down the tube. Might work.

Ideas anyone?

Phil
Ottawa



What I did, dump it in and wait. It all settles out eventually.

If you want a real mess, try pottery clay.