Flourite Help

[orgetorix]

I am in the process of setting up my 300 planted tank. Substrate is approx 375lb flourite. After reading several posts, I decided that it should be lightly washed to get rid of the "mud" but not too much to reduce its beneficial effects. The result is that I filled the tank with water and ended up witha cloudy mess that took 2 days to clear. When I began to add my decorations, it clouded up again and I realized that most of the dust just resettled instead of filtered out. Now that I am about to start adding plants and eventually fish, I don't want to deal with this every time I change/add something. How can I effectively deal with this problem? I was thinking about doing massive gravel siphoning until the flourite was relatively cleaner. Does this seem like an OK idea?

On another note, after I installed my lights (6x96W PC), I noticed that in a couple days, I have a few sprouts on the bottom of my tank! I don't know what they are (or even if they are aquatic, as there are some now growing in my flower bed as well) but they are a couple of inches tall and seem to be doing fine. I expect that if they are indeed not a true aquatic species, they will die out shortly. Has anyone had a similar experience with flourite? Thanks.

[djlen]

For that very reason, I always wash new Flourite well.
My suggestion is that you do a thorough gravel vac. and go down about 1/2" to remove the fine stuff that is close to the surface. You're still going to have to be very careful when planting or moving objects around in the substrate. Eventually the fine material will sift it's way down to the bottom. Just be very delicate with moving or planting for a while.
As to the 'plants' that are sprouting......I have no clue what that could be. If your Flourite came in sealed bags and there's no way it could have been previously used, I can't imagine what that's all about. I had a similar experience with small plants sprouting on a piece of African Root(Bog-wood), but that had been submerged previous to my buying it which leaves some possibilities. But not in new Flourite.
BTW, do yourself a favor and stuff that tank with as many stems and fast growing plants as you can afford or you'll be writing in soon with an algae issue with just under 3 watts/gal. of PC lighting.
Hopefully you have CO2 going. That will help a lot, but if not even more reason to get tons of plants. Floaters too like Water Sprite and Salvinia. They suck up nutrients and shade the tank til the other plants can establish themselves.

Len

[orgetorix]

Thanks for your reply. The flourite was brand new...still in sealed bags in the flourite cardboard boxes. I'll try and post a pic of the sprouts as soon as everything clears up.

[Captain Hook]

To be honest I'm not much help on this subject but I am glad I read it because I will using Flourite in a tank I'm setting up soon. Also, WOW a 300 gallon planted with an all Flourite base and 2 watts per gallon!! That will be an extremely nice tank but definitely difficult to maintain. What are the dimensions of the tank?

[orgetorix]

the dimensions are 96x24x30. I admit that with a 30" height I was worried about light penetration, but everything seems to be covered well. Here are a couple of pictures of the tank empty. They're not very good, but here they are anyway...
http://www.orgetorix.com/images/01.jpg

...and he'll probably kill me, but here's one with my 6'4" brother playing dead inside (for size comparison).
http://www.orgetorix.com/images/02.jpg

[Captain Hook]

Wow really ncie looking setup you have. I like the dimensions and don't think it is too tall at all. I know it helps for light but I don't like tanks that are really wide but have no height. On the other hand I don't like really tall tanks either, yours is just right somewhere in the middle.

You should definitely keep us updated with the some pics as the tank continues to improve. So little shoots are growing out of the Flourite?

[orgetorix]

Yes. There are little shoots growing in the flourite. I'll try to take a picture of them today, but I fear that I may have buried them all when I vacuumed the substrate last night.

[superjohnny]

Is that a Tenecor Simplicity Plus? Wet/Dry filtration tends to gass off CO2 unless it is sealed. Let us know how it works out for you. That's going to be an amazing tank. Any idea what you're going to keep in it?

[orgetorix]

Yes it is a Tenecor Simplicity Plus. I know about the gas off problem and have been dealing with it. How do you suggest I seal the wet/dry system. I was thinking about heavy-duty plastic wrap. As for what I'm going to keep in it, I'm not really sure. I like the look of Angels and or Discus but don't have any real experience with either. I think I'm going to start with a community of fast-moving fish and see where that takes me.

[Captain Hook]

If you want a community tank with some nice colored fish that are pretty fast moving I am going to suggest rainbowfish. Some of them have beautiful colors and you have the room to keep a very nice school of them. I think they would look exceptional, especially with live plants.

[SnakeIce]

nice rock work in that second picture:D

I am so envious of your tank looks awesome, you will have to keep us picture updated on the progress

[125gJoe]

From the second picture I can see that 'maintenance worker' is way too lazy. Wake him up and find someone that at least shows an interest!

WoW! 300 G's........! Very Nice...! :D

Discus would be soooo goood in there......... ;)

[blitzen25bm]

probably too late but a lot of other people said it helped a lot was to wash it and then bake it dry in the oven. dont know how you woulda done with with the amount you brought but everyone says it cuts down on the dust.

[tanker]

THe human body is mostly made of carbon too. If you can convince you brother to stay in the tank you may not need the CO2. HAHA:p :D