Re-using fluorite

[PuppyFluffer]

I had a cute little 20 tall planted tank, finally spent the bucks and got a better light and kicked off a terrible algae bloom and really lost my spark for the hobby. I tossed the plants and finished out the natural life of my fish and got out of fish for several years.

I have the bucket of fluorite still and am curious if I should have any concerns with reusing it. I assume I just rinse the heck out of it. Any other concerns? Will the algae lie dormant in it?

 

[Belltrain]

I think aslong as it was totally dry(and I mean bone dry) for a while you should be okay on algae coming back. Atleast I hope, I'm battling algae right now and it is not fun. I think you should be okay after a thorough rinse .

 

[PuppyFluffer]

Thanks. It's been bone dry for at least 3 years!

 

[myswtsins]

As long as it was not exposed to chemicals, pesticides and such it is perfectly fine to reuse it.

 

[SnakeIce]

Algae is always present and waiting for conditions favorable to it. Plants that are not nutrient starved usually can outdo algae and that is what makes for an algae free tank. Light is the accelerator pedal so to speak. Add more light and you drive growth faster which uses nutrients up faster. When nutrients get used up there are specific algaes that take advantage of conditions when plants can't grow well because they don't have what they need.

Low phosphorus is often heralded by that hard green spot algae.
Low Nitrate can give blue green algae (cyanobacteria) an advantage since that one can fix nitrogen and doesn't need nitrate in the water to grow.
Each kind of algae has it's parameters where it grows best, but none of them do as well as plants can if they are fed well enough for the lighting level you have.