[Dalic]

Edit

This post has been edited by daddyo72: 11 December 2004 - 07:17 PM

[KingFish]

That's just SILLY, I hope people don't get the wrong impression and not use flourite.

I filled my 75g. with 9, 15lbs bags of flourite. All I can say is you did a poor job of cleaning. You used a bucket for cleaning, that's your first mistake.

I used the wifes spaghetti colander to clean out the dust, something that a bucket
will not do very well. It was very simple and you don't have to waste so much water.

Just place a little flourite in a colander and rinse with a hose. Give a little shake, rinse and repeat. Place the washed flourite in the tank, then fill. Very simple and you wont have a mess.

My tank was clear in a hour and I was able to add plants and fish shortly after.

Note: This was a change from gravel to flourite in a well cycled tank.
With the fish out of the tank in a rubbermaid.

If your adding to a new tank don't worry about the mess.

This post has been edited by KingFish: 19 April 2005 - 08:13 AM

[TMB]

My method is to NOT WASH it, just lay the heat cable, then spread the flourite, then cover with fine gravel or sand. Why bother washing?

My experience with Eco-Complete has not been too great, good for the first month then seemingly useless. I guess I should try again to be sure though.

TMB

[Bichirdude]

When Is it ok to add fish?

When I upgrade to a 30 i'm planning on going with a layer of Flourite, topped with a layer of Onyx sand. I'm planning on using a pillow case to rinse it. The idea being that the Onyx sand with hold down the extra particles from the flourite. Hopefully this will reduce clouding, I'll post on how it goes one way or another.

My concern comes from the fact that I can't keep more than one tank running simultaneously. While I'm setting up the 30 my bichir will most likely end up hanging out in a tupperware thing with an airstone and the snail. would he be better off in the tupperware or the settling tank? I'm guessing the tupperware but i'm wrong rather frequently. Hopefully this goes as well as kingfish's experience and it doesn't come down to him staying cooped up for more than an hour or two.

[shev]

I use fluorite in a 55 gallon,a nbd a 20 gallon, on the bag it says not to rinse it so I didnt. It took a couple days for it to settle, but that was ok because the tank was cycling anyway. after that, my eel liked to burrow in there, he disturbed the sand easily with his big tail, but didnt seem cloud up the water. I'm going to get some eco-complete for a ten gallon I'm setting up. I would like to try laterite too, maybe a mix.

[shev]

well, the eco-complete said it was packed in liquid amazon buffered black water. any Idea what thats for? it also says it has bacteria for speeding up cycling a tank, which I know is crap because the bacteria needs oxygen and food to survive. anaerobic bacteria often replaces the good bacteria when they die of lack of oxygen, and the anaerobic bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide. but I didnt rinse it.





It took only a day, and a 40% water change to clear up.
I have all the stuff in there, like the gravel in a bowl from an established tank, and filter cartriges to cycle it faster by seeding bacteria.

20 lbs of that for $30-ish

This post has been edited by shev: 23 April 2005 - 10:20 PM

[DIESELMACK]

$30 is usually what it goes for..........and as for the bacteria...I think its some type of liquid cycle thats all. as for the flourite/laterite......in my 125 planted tank I used the bottom layer of flourite 3" deep or so...then topped it with 4-5" of sand....the plants root their way toward the base layer and the sand layer is so deep that none of the fish penetrate it deep enough. I have mixed eco complete with laterite in other tanks with good results also.

[grinders]

you are running 7-8" of sunstrate? WOW! but its obviosly working out great for your plants and everything, because your tanks are amazing.