Is it ok to use flourite in a non plated tank? I really like the natural look of it, but at least right I don't want a planted tank. I usually use sand as a substrate, but I'm looking for something a little darker this time around.
If you guys have any other suggestions let me know!
FlouriteŽ is a specially fracted stable porous clay gravel for the natural planted aquarium. Its appearance is best suited to planted aquaria, but may be used in any freshwater aquarium environment. FlouriteŽ is most effective when used alone as an integral substrate bed, but it may be mixed with other gravels
How dark would you like your substrate to be? There are lots and lots of substrate options out there. Dark brown? Black?
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Drat. The part of what I quoted that pertained to your question is hard to read because I picked yellow to color it. Sorry about that. For some reason the site is not allowing me to edit either. (Edit button gives me a blank field, instead of my editable post to work with)
Hopefully you can read it alright anyhow. I should have used red as most others do.
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I don't know what your budget might be, but it seems to me that this might be money better spent elsewhere if you don't need the planting attributes of this substrate. If you like black substrate, I have blasting sand in one tank. It was purchased at a Tractor Supply store and was inexpensive. You will also need to rinse this product very well, if you take that direction with your tank.
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Substrates aren't dependent on plants/no plants so you can certainly use Florite without live plants. There are many options for darker substrates and blasting sand as mentioned above is one. I personally like the Caribsea products - Tahitian Moon sand or Tahitian Moon Instant Aquarium are black substrate options from this line.
The only thing to keep in mind is that you may very well want to add live plants at some time in the future (maybe sooner rather than later ). So you might consider something that you will have not have to switch out later for something else - that's a messy job and an added expense. But most substrates will grow some plants anyway.
Thanks for the replies! I read that on their website, but I wanted to get other people opinions since they could be trying to sell their product. My biggest worry was if it would add too many nutrients into the water without plants to absorb them.
I like the dark reds and browns that is in the mixture. It's hard to tell online what different substrate looks like, and the local fish stores don't have many options. The price is pretty steep and if there was another option that had a similar look I'd go for it.
I would like to eventually have plants, but I'm setting up my old 75 gallon tank and I don't want to spend the extra money to relight it.
The initial set-up can be pricey and a 75g is a nice sized tank (my largest is only 40g). Phasing in upgrades, improvements is something many of us have probably done with ease so I can understand that. There's always some tinkering that goes on over the life of our aquariums.
With regular water changes, I doubt that mineral buildup in the tank from flourite would be an issue. Also, if my rusty memory is correct, flourite doesn't itself contain many nutrients from the get-go, but once in use accumulates minerals and nutrients for plant roots to draw upon due to its porous nature.
I ended up changing my mind and going with a black substrate. My wife and I saw a tank at a lfs about an hour away with black substrate and we loved it! Idon't have it all added yet, but here is where I'm at on my tank setup. (The tape measure isn't going to be decor lol).
Edit: I tried to add a photo using my phone and it didn't go through...
Flourite in a non planted tank?
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). So you might consider something that you will have not have to switch out later for something else - that's a messy job and an added expense. But most substrates will grow some plants anyway.
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