flourite and epsom salts

Paccula

Paccula

AC Members
Dec 14, 2004
232
0
0
41
Vancouver, BC, Canada
okay, so last night my boyfriend and I notice petcetera carries flourite- yay! so I buy a big bag of it, and we take it to his house, put some in a bucket, and proceed to rince it out. now, I've heard that with flourite, there's only a little dust and you hardly need to rince it at all. but, with ours it was almost like MUD!! it took a long time to get the water a bit clearer, and then I ran the water over it more gently and stopped stirring it around (I was before but not violently) because it seemed like more dust was being created when the pebbles rubbed against each other.
Is this normal? or did we get a bad batch? will it continue to cloud the water after its put in the tank? atm I have an undergravel filter, but with flourite should I remove it? I also have a power filter, but will that make too much movement and cause the dust to un-settle? I haven't put this in my tank yet.

also, I bought some epsom salts for Mg, and the bottle doesn't list any other ingreedients, but I'm causious (never done this before). the bottle says "Epsom Salts Magnesium sulfate, heptahydrate usp, laxative/purgative for relief of occasional constipation 250g" does it sound like good stuff? how much should I add to a 10galon aquarium and how often?
thanks!!
 
That si the right epsom salt. They are just pure magnesium sulphate. Flourite is supposed to be pretty dirty stuff. It will make the tank cloudy so don't have fish in there when you add it. The flourite will, IMO, clog the undergravel filter and make it useless. You can remove it or just unplug it. The other filter will make the dirt move around the tank but it should all setlle in a few days. That is why it is best to not do this in a tank with fish already.
 
I would chuck the UGF if you intend to keep a planted tank. They are not conducive to growing live plants, IMO.
Flourite is one of the messiest substrates and will eventually come clear if washed enough.
For a nicely set up planted tank:
Get some regular, plain old peat moss and take a handful and grind it up fine and sprinkle it over the bottom of the empty tank. If you have some gunk in the bottom of the tank after draining and pulling the UGF out, leave it in there and sprinkle the handful over that. Just enough to dust the surface of about 1/4" of water/gunk.

Lay the Flourite over that and take a small pot or large bowl and fill the tank by running the water into the bowl slowly allowing the bowl to over flow and fill the tank.
This will keep the Flourite from being disturbed too much when filling. I've done this and not even gotten cloudy water from it.
Just be careful when planting and placing wood/rocks onto the Flourite. Any dust will sift it's way down into the substrate over time.
The need for Mg depends on how hard or soft your water is. You will get some in a trace mix and might not need to dose extra.
If you post your gH,kH,pH and the size of your tank we will have more to go on as far as the need and how much to dose.

Len
 
thanks for the help.
pH - 7-7.5
KH - 200-240
GH - about 200
my tank is only 10g

the Mg I got at the pharmasy, but they said they don't have potassium nitrate, so I think I'll call around to some flower shops next. its winter so I don't know if any plant/greenhouses are open or if they sell that.
the only plant I have now is a java fern. from what I can diagnose, its deficient in fe, mg and K. (some leaves yellowing with green veins, tips of new leaves are glassy). I do add a liquid iron and trace mix, but I don't have an iron test so I don't want to overdose..
I wanted to get that plant tip top shape before I got any more. my other plants all went brown and melted soon after I got them. My flourecent bulb is brand new, with 1.5wpg, it seems very bright though as it scares my fish even when I take it off the canopy, turn it on and slowly lower it into place.
 
Last edited:
You probably scare the fish more than the light going on does. They will get used to it if you just turn it on.
My guess is that you don't need extra Mg at this time, based on the numbers.
Ask your pharmacy for Salt Petre. If they don't have it, they probably can order it.
It is pure KNO3(for K and N) and will do a good job for you if you have a light fish load.
Fleet's Enema will supply P, also at the pharmacy, and very inexpensive.
Or you could pick up some Flourish Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. Also, Flourish Excel(carbon source) would help a lot in your tank. These nutrients are a bit more expensive but for a small tank they would last quite a while and be very effective.
With that small plant load you want to dose very, very lightly.
That is not a lot of light for a ten. Go easy on the Fe. Java Fern does not need a lot of fertilizer.
What kind of plants have you tried? Ludwegia Repens and Rotala Indica are quite common stem plants that would look nice and fit in well in that size tank.
I suggest picking up some nice stems and start dosing nutrients lightly. I would start with 1/4 recommended dosages to begin with. The plants will tell you if they need more.
Dosing just one plant or a few, can be iffy, and lead to algae problems.
If you get the Excel you should notice a nice improvement in growth.

Len
 
excel is for use instead of CO2, right? would I get similar results by adding actual CO2? or does excel also contain other nutrients? (as far as I can tell from this chart my co2 levels are fine atm, but with increased plant load I'd need more, right?)
 
Excell is a liquid form of carbon and works great in smaller tanks and "low tech" tanks. CO2 gas is much better if you really want to get plants growing fast. Stick to one or the other. With either you will want to suppliment with a fertilizer as the plants will be able to use much more of what is available.
 
IMO, all the talk of additional nutrients is pointless unless you introduce more plants into the tank.
Java Fern is not a nutrient needy plant and you'd probably be over fertilizing it with more than minute bits of nutrients.

Len
 
Another alternative source of KNO3 is Spectracide stump remover. Walmart carries it and it runs $4 to $5 per 1 lb container. You can get it cheaper from Greg Watson but you have to factor in the shipping. I got this tip from another forum but I called the manufacturer and got a complete ingredients list just to be safe.
 
Len, I do intend to add more plants. I had 3 others, but they all died off very quickly, and the java was the only one to live. I want to add more plants, but I want to make sure that I have everything they need to live before I spend more money on new plants.

also, thanks Karnaaj, I'll definately look at walmart for that KNO3 you sugested!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom