anyone used flourite substrate?

[go9ma123]

Hi.
I have question about this substrate called Flourite.
http://www.seachem.com/products/prod.../Flourite.html
My cousin bought it 2months ago to setup for fish tank.
But, he had Amazonia 2 left over and used that for the tank.
He gave me the whole bag because he didn't really needed.
I know many of the people haved used them for plant but, I want to know if this will reduce some pH like ADA amaznoia.
Trying to use it for cherry tank.
If anyone have used or knows information about this substrate, please share with me. Thanks.

[illumnae]

flourite isn't as widely used here as in the States. From my limited knowledge gleaned from reading American forums, flourite does not affect ph like some soil based substrates do. it's supposed to be rich in nutrients, especially iron, but it's hard to clean and has to be washed very thoroughly and carefully before use or it'll create a huge cloud of dust in your tank

[aquarius]

I bought flourite a few years back because it's supposedly rich in nutrients and unlike soil, it doesn't disintegrate into mud after a long period of time. After using it for some time i'm begining to have doubts about it's nutrients content and it's suitability as a substrate for planted tanks. I tried growing some stem plants in my low tech tank but most of the time was not successful. My red and green tiger lotus also don't seem to grow well and will die off after some time. It does a little better (has more baby leaves coming out) after i dose Seachem Excel but it doesn't seem to grow into mature and tall leaves. I've tried inserting ferka root tabs but don't see any difference.
I can't help but conclude that the substrate is not very good for growing a wide variety of plants which would otherwise be doing well in soil substrates. BTW my crypts seem to do well in it.

Hope the bros here who have had success with flourite could share your views.

[Quixotic]

Sorry, but I would not be that quick in pointing the finger at the substrate whenever something is not growing well in your tank.

To start with, it is a low tech tank, light and CO2 is limiting in the tank. So there will be limitations to the stem plants that can grow well in the tank. Even with using ADA aquasoil in a low tech tank, I really don't think you can grow all stem plants successfully. Ineveitably, some will grow better than others because of the limitations. Dosing Seachem Excel is not the same as CO2 injection, so comparisons on the growth can be way skewed.

Here are some of my low tech experience with Flourite. Firstly, it may be very dusty in the initial setup. Although the instructions(?) mentioned not to wash it, I still went through a rinse. After setting up, you may find brown/red particles (residues from the soil) on your aquascape. So you may need to stuff the filter material with e.g. filter wool as much as possible to clear the particles, or perform as much water change and siphon the particles.

Due to the nature of a low tech setup, I manage to grow these plants including Cryptocoryne, Bacopa, Hygrophila, Marsiliea, Rotala sp. "green", Anubias and Java/Taiwan moss. I also experimented with other plants but not too successful, partly because I don't dose fertilisers in the water column, don't use much of the fertiliser tabs in the first place and fauna is more important to me.

Personally, I find it to be an adequate substrate for my needs. Bear in mind that this is via a low tech concept, so if you are going high tech with CO2 injection, I am very sure you can get better growth with more varieties of plants. This substrate would definitely be in my consideration for future setups, but I am the type who always like to try something new, so a lot of substrates on my list, and I don't have any bias in my opinion.

It is also of my opinion that substrate is merely a part of your setup, so do consider the sum of all parts (how lighting, CO2, nutrients interact) and the maintenance with your setup (dosing, water change etc) as well.

As mentioned previously, not many here use this substrate, so for a more substantiated opinion, I would suggest browsing through the American websites e.g. Aquatic Plant Central.

[go9ma123]

I see... Thanks

[FishFan]

Hi Quixotic,

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am fully with you that other than the substrate, other imperatives are lighting, CO2 and fertilizers.

I am also toying with the possibility of using Seachem Fluorite in one of my future tanks when I am back in Singapore. I am attracted to the substrate because it does not seem to crumble over time (unlike ADA and GEX) and does not release base fertilizer into the water column (unlike the Lapis and base fert combo) during uprooting and replanting of plants. The disadvantages I have come across thus far is the massive effort required to rinse the substrate, it is rather expensive and not readily available. But I am willing to put up with the initial inconvenience and capital investment in order to have a substrate that is potentially self-staining over a longer time horizon so I can just focus on the other imperatives.

Well, still keep my options open while I learn more from veterans like yourself.

[aquarius]

Thanks Quixotic for sharing your views. I came to this conclusion because i dose weekly Macro and Micro ferts, use 2x39w T5 lights and later even resort to using root tabs to try and boost the survival chances of my lotus since they are nutrient hungry but they don't seem to grow well.
If the nutrients in flourite is what it claims then the lotus even if it doesn't flourish without root tabs would at least have some decent growth. Also after seeing some of the bros Low Tech tanks here using soil, i began to further doubt the suitability of using flourite for Low Tech plants setup.

[the_r0ck]

I myself have used Flourite and I liked it pretty much.

My crypts and toninas grew very well in it and it doesn't affect pH. Like mentioned, the inital part is very dusty and will take a while to clear. During rescapes, it gets cloudy very easily and my fauna gets affected.

From what I understand though, is that it is not very long lasting. I did see a lack in growth after about 9 months. When I tore down the tank and redid another setup using the old substrate (used for a year), growth of rooting plants were OK but weaker than before.

Oh, I used it in a "high-tech" tank

Just my limited experience with it, hopes it helps.