Ordered fluorite last night

I have sand in one of my tanks and I use a python too.You have to keep it about a 1/2" above the sand and swirl it around in a circular motion to get the debris up or if you put it any closer and you 'll be sucking sand up.

nursie said:

I finally ordered my fluorite from Big Als last night. I'm planning to mix with either sand or small gravel...which do people feel is better?
I have 55 gal tank, and am getting 30 lbs fluorite.
The other question is do you mix or put in layers.
and if you use sand, what keeps it from getting sucked up in your python?

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Congratulations. I am jealous. Sort of. I like my sand a lot too. Anyway, many folks mix it with success. I think the sand mix sounds good becuase I like how sand acts as a nice grip for plants. Planting stems in gravel can be tough at time, so sand is handy that way. When I have seen mixed substrates Flourite is usualy on bottm with a layer of sand over top. Sand is simple to clean, you just skim the surface and all the poo and dead leaves come up and the sand stays put.

nursie said:

Ok guys, this leads to my next question. I've heard about the potential for toxic gas or whatever pockets developing in substrait..does this happen when you have plants? WHen I pythoned my tanks with all gravel I would work the end of it down into the gravel to get all the guck out all the way down. So if you have sand you can't do that, right? You'd suck all the sand out.
And how often do you "vaccum" when you have plants? Weekly?

BTW..I came home from work and there was a box on the front step..I thought wow, that is really quick customer service from Big Al...lol, it was something my husband had ordered a few days ago.

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You can avoid anaerobic pockets by stirring the sand up as you refill the tank. Blinky said she uses a chopstick to stir the sand around. i currently move my plants around a lot, so am not too worried. I also vacuum my sand at least ocne a week, usually every 5 days as part of my normal maintenance.

I do weekly water changes, and each week I run the back end of my fish net slowly through the gravel to eliminate the possibility of toxic gas build up. I've had both sand and gravel tanks, and I vastly prefer sand, from an ease of cleaning standpoint as well as aesthetics. To me, it just looks more natural, plus my fish really enjoy it.

I used to only use sand and I have created all those nighmares, bubbles black roots. Always it was my own fault, neglect. But I assume you want a heavily planted tank or you wouldn't bother with this substrate in the first place. One thing that will mean is that it will get harder and harder to vacuum, if you do it at all.

I also suspect that you want the sand to be on top and that the sand will not be very deep. So I see no problem. One thing I used to do when I vacuumed the sand was stick the tube down into the sand and then cover the outlet with my thumb. All the sand would then fall back on the floor of the aquarium.

I am in the process of setting up a new tank, and I went with about a 60/40 ratio of tahitian moon sand and flourite. I was planning to go with sand and eco-complete, but went with flourite to avoid added shipping costs (I can get flourite locally). I really like the look of it, and I'm hoping the plants will like it as well. My other tanks have a 50/50 mix of flourite and estes natural gravel.....they look alright, but not nearly as nice as this new mix IMO.

My Display tank is about 50/50 Flourite/Sand. I originally added about 2" of Flourite (70lbs) and 2" of Sand (probably more than 100lbs) to make a 4" substrate, then slightly mixed the two together. I did this just to see a bit of the Flourite on the sandy surface (very natural looking). Anyways, my Blackbelt Cichlid is big on interior decorating and decided he was going to dig deep pits and create huge piles (hills). My tank is lightly stocked with plants now, but I will continue to propogate and add to this tank. I already inject CO2 and will have the light to do it also. Remember this is a 5' x 22.5" (custom) aquarium. I didn't like how he piled all the sand up in the front of the tank so I leveled some of it outl, and now it has some minor pits/hills. I'm not too worried about anaerobic areas because as I continue to plant, they will carry O2 to the substrate. Also, the Blackbelt seems to have stopped digging (for a while) and I don't think he'll unearth anything detrimental. These anaerobic areas are also known for de-nitrification Breaking down Nitrate back to harmless forms. My deepest areas are now about 5", while some may get to 6" before I lower them. For ideas, check out my tank listed in my signature area.

Will a heavily planted tank take care of any detrius that was missed during vacuuming?