Fluorite - how much rinsing???!!!

[_Nemo_]

I picked up two bags of fluorite for my 25G. The instructions on the bag say rinse before use to wash off the dust. Well I rinsed for over an hour in a 22L bucket and the water is still brown.

It seems that warm/hot water get dirtier than cold(er) water. Am I simply washing off the fines, or am I forcing some of the active ingredients into solution? The bag says the material is chemically inactive.

Thanks

 

[Raimeiken]

i got 3 bags of this stuff last week and rinsed it all in a 20 gal bucket. I'd say i used well over a 100 gallons of water just rinsing this stuff. I let it settle for a day and see if the water clears up and yeah it sorta cleared up a bit and i rinsed it a little again. Water still turns a little brown but i'll let the filter do the rest .................hopefully :|

 

[fandsw]

I picked up two bags of fluorite for my 25G. The instructions on the bag say rinse before use to wash off the dust. Well I rinsed for over an hour in a 22L bucket and the water is still brown.

It seems that warm/hot water get dirtier than cold(er) water. Am I simply washing off the fines, or am I forcing some of the active ingredients into solution? The bag says the material is chemically inactive.

Thanks

I did 6 bags for my 72g last month, and I'm so glad I had a warm day that day so that I could rinse it in the driveway at a water hose outlet versus doing it indoors where I would have clogged the plumbing.

Used a 1 gallon bucket, filled 1/3 with flourite, added water to the top, poured off the sludge, refilled and so forth. I counted on average about 18-22 refills until it ran "clean", and even then it wasn't 100% clean. Poured it into the tank, and then filled the tank, letting the filter clean the water. After that I *still* had a dirty water ring around the tank that I had to clean.....

 

[madasafish]

Which Fluorite is this? Fluorite or Fluorite red? I've used both, and found red to be much much dustier. It took me ages (hour or so) to wash it out to an acceptible point. Afterwards, I put it in my 10G, and it clouded up the water for a couple of weeks.

Fluorite regular seemed to stop clouding up my 55 G quickly, and only took about 10 minutes to rinse out for each 1/3 of the bag that I rinsed out. So only 1/2 hour for the whole bag.

But yeah, it's a pain both ways!!

 

[fandsw]

edit: sorry....double post.....

 

[_Nemo_]

This is not the red stuff, just the regular fluorite. It seems to have organics in it and the like. Some folks suggested that I rinse it over a door screen. But I may lose too much of the finer (sand) grain sizes that way. Good to know I was not only my bad luck .

The black grains are very light. Could they be carbon by any chance?

 

[madasafish]

No... should be a type of clay--that's what fluorite is.

 

[Guest]

Go down to the local home improvement store or paint store and get a paint strainer. One that fits over a 5 gallon bucket. Make sure you have a 5 gallon bucket also. Then pour about 1/3 of a bag of the Flourite into the strainer and use your hose to rinse it out. Pull the paint strainer out of the bucket, pour out the dirty water and repeat. Avoid stirring the Flourite as much as you can as this seems to make it worse. It normally takes 2-4 cycles per strainer to get it clean. Then when you put it in the tank use the pie tin method to fill the tank and fill it slowly.

 

[_Nemo_]

Iwas actually "rubbing" the fluorite grains and that was producing more and more fines.

Ok, so I rinse well and place in the tanks. Will the murky water kill my fish (few neons and platys)?

I will be planting the aquarium over a period of time. Should I expect cloudy water every time I stick a plant in?

Thanks

 

[_Nemo_]

I used a fine sieve to wash small batches of fluorite over a bucket using *COLD* water (warm-hot water seems to cause a lot of fines to become suspended in the water). I didn't handle the material aggressively so it ran reasonably clear. I did a final rinse in the bucket. It was a little cloudy but not much. I then placed the gravel in the tank, put a plate on top, and filled the tank using an empty milk jug letting the water pour slowly over the plate. I got a little cloudiness, but I could see every detail in the tank; It just looked like a little fog. When I got up in
the morning, it was ~50% settled.

Now I have to watch for a mini-cyle. You should see the black water/waste I took out from the bottom of the tank when I removed the previous aquarium gravel.

 

[Guest]

You should have put that mulm back under the Flourite.

 

[_Nemo_]

Why do you say this Rex? What is this stuff?

 

[_Nemo_]

Got my answer! Thanks for pointing it out just the same, I would have done it again otherwise.

 

[Guest]

It's fish poop. And it's what you want in the substrate. It will also kick-start the bacteria population.