Planted tank with flourite question

jabo01

Member
Dec 23, 2009
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Hemet, California
Hi I am new to the plant world, I have been keeping fish for a long time. I have a question about the tank. I have a 29 G tank with flourite for the gravel and a few plants for now it has about 80-85 WPG. I also plan to dose flourish excell and have DIY co2. My question is I did not was the flourite prior to setting it up and there is quite a bit of dust, this dust has landed on the plants and I want to know if this will hurt the plants. I have some pictures in my gallery. I think I will try and rinse and start over this weekend but I want to know if I will be wasting my time if it will not hurt the plants.

picture.php
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1966&pictureid=16894
 
1. I think you are fine with the flourite dust. If I recall you aren't even suppose to rinse it. If there is dust on the leaves... knock the dust off the leaves. No big deal.

2. You do not have 80-85wpg... That would mean you have at least 2320 watts of light over that tank. WPG = watts per gallon. :rofl:

EDIT: forgot to say, welcome to the world of planted tanks!
 
Welcome to the planted side of things. It is very catchy :)

Don't bother rinsing, you're wasting your time. I've had the same flourite for ~4 years or so and I've used it over and over again in multiple tanks and the most recent one I set up still had dust all over after I was done. Its a fact of life. Use a syringe or turkey baster to blow it off after everything has settled.

I find that if you put several layers of paper towels or newspaper in the tank after you plant and before you fill, it helps to keep from getting too messy.

As far as your 80 WPG (!!!!) goes, whether you have 80w over the tank or 2320w over it, you need to get more plants in there asap. Those few little guys will be covered in algae in no time if not.

Keep us posted on your tank and best of luck!

-Mike
 
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