Flourite for plants

[Lady Hobbs]

Now this is about some expensive stuff! Like $1 a pound. Sounds to me like $100 plus for a 75 gallon tank.

I was thinking of trying peat mixed with gravel topped off with only gravel but I think it would be a mess whenever plants were transplanted and that peat got pulled to the top. I read peat can also go sour and cause a stink.

What are you planters using? Now I am thinking of using half Flourite mixed with a bag of play sand from Home Depot.

[Chrona]

In the long run, it'll save you a lot of money with trace elements and iron supplements though I believe. Also, wouldn't sand (yellow) and flourite (brown) look weird?

[Glasstapper]

EcoComplete all the way! You can put your own substrate on top, but I like the look of it. It's black (I think it might come in one other color, can't remember, though) with with different sized "chunks" in it. Over time with siphoning, the larger pieces move to the bottom and the finer sand pieces move to the top creating a sort of half gravel/half sand substrate. It's full of vitamins for the plants and you really won't need to add other stuff to the water (unless you want to do it to promote even more growth).

It's a tad expensive, but I think it's worth it. It didn't cloud my water, it looks great, and it's a all-in-one for both plants and bottom feeders that sometime sift sand through their gills.

[cocoa_pleco]

i think the yellow and brown would look like if you put a flashlight down a porta-potty. not pretty.

But mixing it with playsands a good idea

[Glasstapper]

here's some pics. It looks very natural, in my opinion. For the short time I had my two albino corys in there, they would bury their nose in the substrate and you could see black sand coming out of their gills from them sifting it looking for food. The last two pictures show the plants I have growing in it. The first one is a corkscrew valisneria. It's constantly sending out new runners. I just set this tank up in the beginning of January, and already last week I had to take out over half of the plant because it was just going crazy! What you see is what I kept. It's very green and seems to be doing well. I also put a few leaves of java fern in there that fell off my log in my other tank, and they are also growing new daughter plants. The other picture is of my anubias nana. When I bought it, it was just the one tall leaf (they gave me a discount since it was so bare), and now eight weeks later, it has sprouted four new leaves. The substrate is about 4 inches deep in the back, and about 2 inches deep in the front.

*oh, and no special lighting or additives put in the tank. The bulb is just your standard 9 watt hood light that came with the tank.

[cocoa_pleco]

NICE betta!

[Lady Hobbs]

It does look nice. I checked on the Econ-complete and it's rather expensive, as well, but not as expensive as Flourite.

Regarding the yellow/brown effect. I was thinking of mixing the sand and Flourite together and only putting the sand on top so only that would show. I do think eventually it would all get mixed together, tho.

[Chrona]

It does look nice. I checked on the Econ-complete and it's rather expensive, as well, but not as expensive as Flourite.

Regarding the yellow/brown effect. I was thinking of mixing the sand and Flourite together and only putting the sand on top so only that would show. I do think eventually it would all get mixed together, tho.

The sand will eventually seep down, and because Flourite is a kind of porous clay, it weighs less than sand (per given volume), so eventually, you'll have sand on the bottom and Flourite on the top.

[*Sarah*]

Well, I don't know if I'm doing it the "right" way, but I just have gravel, and I'm adding liquid ferts.

[Glasstapper]

hey, hobbs if you do decide to go with flourite, here's an article that a guy/girl/idon'tknow wrote step by step and he/she/idon'tknow explains how to prevent the cloudiness. Apparently, you can use an all-flourite substrate just fine.

http://www.vickisaquaticplace.com/fluorite.html

Personally, I find the reddish-brown color quite attractive. Besides, if you do some sort of carpet/lawn/grass throughout your tank, you won't even see it. (yep, that would mean ZERO siphoning and probably just some close hovering with that suction tube to get the poop.)

[minabird]

Hobbs-

I just bought 5 bags of the fluorite from Drs. Foster and Smith on sale for $16.09. Here's the link.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4870&N=2004+113555

Cheaper than the eco-complete and easier to mix in with the pea-gravel I already have in my tanks. I also have some black sand in the front of 2 of my tanks with the pea gravel in the middle and back for the plants and I didn't want to remove the sand; I wasn't sure how well eco-complete would mix with the sand and was too lazy too lookup info if it was a good idea to mix it the pea gravel and sand.

[Lady Hobbs]

Super! That just went on sale, too, just since I was checking the sites out. Aquariumguys have it for 17.99 which is the next cheapest place to buy 20 pounds since this one is now on sale. Thanks minabird!

[Lady Hobbs]

http://www.vickisaquaticplace.com/fluorite.html

Your link to planting with fluorite and having a clear tank is very, very good. Hard to believe that just letting it dry first will give such good results. I thank you as I know you saved me some work in the future.

[Glasstapper]

you're qiute welcome, darlin'. :)

[Lady Hobbs]

Well, I don't know if I'm doing it the "right" way, but I just have gravel, and I'm adding liquid ferts.

I just read this article and thought of you so copied it to show you.
____________

As for additives like laterite: Some people like to use laterite mixed into an entire layer of substrate. This is making the entire substrate very Iron rich, but it's not needed everywhere. A better alternative is to get a small bag (several ounces) of laterite, mix some in a bowl with water, and make small (1/2" in diameter) laterite balls that can be pushed down into the substrate at the roots of the heavy root-feeding plants (like amazon swords!).

____________

If you find later that your plants are not doing well, you may want to try this. Just make little clay balls and stick them down in your soil near where the roots can get to it.

I will have to use Laterite as I can't go thru a cycling process with all my tanks already populated. Using the same gravel I have in there now will prevent this.

New tanks will get Flourite for sure!

Beware of over fertilizing, as well. This will give you algae. I would personally use the spikes that you can stick down into the gravel.

[Chrona]

I just read this article and thought of you so copied it to show you.
____________

As for additives like laterite: Some people like to use laterite mixed into an entire layer of substrate. This is making the entire substrate very Iron rich, but it's not needed everywhere. A better alternative is to get a small bag (several ounces) of laterite, mix some in a bowl with water, and make small (1/2" in diameter) laterite balls that can be pushed down into the substrate at the roots of the heavy root-feeding plants (like amazon swords!).

____________

If you find later that your plants are not doing well, you may want to try this. Just make little clay balls and stick them down in your soil near where the roots can get to it.

I will have to use Laterite as I can't go thru a cycling process with all my tanks already populated. Using the same gravel I have in there now will prevent this.

New tanks will get Flourite for sure!

Beware of over fertilizing, as well. This will give you algae. I would personally use the spikes that you can stick down into the gravel.

Actually, hobbs, I just replaced the gravel in my 10g with fish with flourite. I kept the old, ripe filter, and a pantyhose filled will old gravel in the tank. It's been 3 days now and I haven't seen any ammonia or nitrites. I'm also using Purigen though....plus the plants are probably absorbing a lot of the ammonia, but I think it's fairly safe. Lemme know if you want to know how I did it while minimizing cloudiness and hassle.

[minabird]

Another thing to consider before buying fluorite....

I finally got some free time this past weekend and while I was washing it, a couple of pieces managed to poke my hand and fingers. Upon closer examination, I noticed that fluorite has some pretty sharp edges and points. I'm now reconsidering fluorite in my tanks since all of my tanks, except my quarantine, has cories and/or java loaches, which could damage their barbels, or for burrowing loaches like my java, kuhlis, or weather loaches, could cut up their bodies. And if you have excavating cichlids, it could injure their mouths.