seachem-flourite-black gravel

No but I have the red one, no problem so far.

But should of got the black one like you want.

Jeff

 

I had the red fluorite in my 75 gallon for 22 months. From the beginning, I gave it a through rinse until the rinse water ran clear. I rinsed about 8 lbs at a time. What I did not know is that this material continues to dissolve into a fine like mud. For about two weeks, I had to clean my filters two times aweek and replace the filter pads because of this mud. After which, the gravel finally settled down. When it came time to vacuum it, I could not tell the difference between fish waste or uneaten food from this fine mud and thought it was fish waste and uneaten food. When I started to add plants, the water became so cloudy; I could not see through it.
This is when I thought, maybe I did not do a good job cleaning the gravel. So I removed my fish and plants and placed them in a 30 gallon tank and proceeded to use the 75 gallon tank water to clean the gravel using a fine mesh sieve. A lot of the fine like mud was removed in this manner.
The cleaned gravel was placed in five gallon buckets. Then I pumped out the dirty water and removed all the mud and cleaned the tank and filled it back up.
When I got the temperature up, I placed my fish and plants back in. Everything seemed ok for about eight weeks and I decided to vacuum the gravel. I was still removing more mud then fish waste and uneaten food. From there on out, I just had to put up with it until I got fed up with it. Finally in October, I removed the gravel and replaced it with Eco-Complete and I am very pleased with this new gravel. It does not dissolve as easy as the fluorite.
I also suspected that the fluorite mud interfered with the free flow of oxygenated water through the gravel.

The only negative I see with the Eco-Complete is that it is so light that you have to use plant weights to hold them down or place them in a plastic pot that has slits on the sides and bottom for roots to find their way out. Its been about five weeks now since the change over and I can see it was a good move. The Eco-Complete also has many more traces in it then the fluorite.

 

I had the red fluorite in my 75 gallon for 22 months. From the beginning, I gave it a through rinse until the rinse water ran clear. I rinsed about 8 lbs at a time. What I did not know is that this material continues to dissolve into a fine like mud. For about two weeks, I had to clean my filters two times aweek and replace the filter pads because of this mud. After which, the gravel finally settled down. When it came time to vacuum it, I could not tell the difference between fish waste or uneaten food from this fine mud and thought it was fish waste and uneaten food. When I started to add plants, the water became so cloudy; I could not see through it.
This is when I thought, maybe I did not do a good job cleaning the gravel. So I removed my fish and plants and placed them in a 30 gallon tank and proceeded to use the 75 gallon tank water to clean the gravel using a fine mesh sieve. A lot of the fine like mud was removed in this manner.
The cleaned gravel was placed in five gallon buckets. Then I pumped out the dirty water and removed all the mud and cleaned the tank and filled it back up.
When I got the temperature up, I placed my fish and plants back in. Everything seemed ok for about eight weeks and I decided to vacuum the gravel. I was still removing more mud then fish waste and uneaten food. From there on out, I just had to put up with it until I got fed up with it. Finally in October, I removed the gravel and replaced it with Eco-Complete and I am very pleased with this new gravel. It does not dissolve into mud like the fluorite.
I also suspected that the fluorite mud interfered with the free flow of oxygenated water through the gravel.

The only negative I see with the Eco-Complete is that it is so light that you have to use plant weights to hold them down or place them in a plastic pot that has slits on the sides and bottom for roots to find their way out. Its been about five weeks now since the change over and I can see it was a good move. The Eco-Complete also has many more traces in it then the fluorite.

 

What is the recommended way to rinse the black sand?

 

Put one bag at a time into a 5 gallon bucket outside, run a garden hose into it, stirring through all of it by hand. Periodically dump off most of the water slowly. You're there when what stirs up settles back down fairly soon. Takes about 10 minutes per bag, but gets it really clear.

 

Tom,
You are comparing sand to gravel. The thread is about gravel. For what its worth to others who consider using Seachems fluorite gravel. I cannot see how one can keep this clay based gravel from breaking down into fine like mud. If the sand is clay based, then the same problem will develop.
Their gravel is more flat then granular and has sharp edges. This makes it difficult to plant a stem plant by using your finger to make a planting hole. When one does this, the bottom of the stem gets mashed. However, I did get around this by using a plastic spoon to make a planting hole; then by using another tool to guide the stem into the hole and then using the spoon to push the gravel in place. This gravel also packs down hard and is ok for plants with thick roots like swords.
If you compare the traces in both, Eco-Complete wins. It also is easy to clean by vacuum. Each has their pro's and con's but in the end, the gravel that causes the least amount of clouding is the one I would pick.

 

Tom,
You are comparing sand to gravel. The thread is about gravel. For what its worth to others who consider using Seachems fluorite gravel. I cannot see how one can keep this clay based gravel from breaking down into fine like mud. If the sand is clay based, then the same problem will develop.
Their gravel is more flat then granular and has sharp edges. This makes it difficult to plant a stem plant by using your finger to make a planting hole. When one does this, the bottom of the stem gets mashed. However, I did get around this by using a plastic spoon to make a planting hole; then by using another tool to guide the stem into the hole and then using the spoon to push the gravel in place. This gravel also packs down hard and is ok for plants with thick roots like swords.
If you compare the traces in both, Eco-Complete wins. It also is easy to clean by vacuum. Each has their pro's and con's but in the end, the gravel that causes the least amount of clouding is the one I would pick.

 

A good response Tom.
So it comes down to our needs and manufacturers hype on their products. Seachems black sand must be different then their gravel in some way. The only experience I had with sand was when I maintained a marine reef and eventually I had a problem with hydrogen sulphide when ever I disturbed the sand bed. So I will leave it to the user on what type of sediment he will be happy with based on other users experience.

 

A good response Tom.
So it comes down to our needs and manufacturers hype on their products. Seachems black sand must be different then their gravel in some way. The only experience I had with sand was when I maintained a marine reef and eventually I had a problem with hydrogen sulphide when ever I disturbed the sand bed. So I will leave it to the user on what type of sediment he will be happy with based on other users experience.

 

I have been very happy with black fluorite. It has stayed black and only becomes dark grey when matter settles on it. To rinse it, i punched a few small holes in a plastic bucket and put in a few layers of cheesecloth on the bottom. Put in one bag at a time and stir. Let the water drain out. It is absolutely true that as you jostle the grains, they will break down a bit so do not overdo the stirring.