# Flourite use



## fishfan (Feb 19, 2006)

Am thinking of going back to Flourite but just curious if anyone has kept Flourite in their tanks for a long time (years) and how well does it hold up and grow the plants? Is it easy to clean like regular aquarium gravel and safe for bottom fish? I have been using Eco Complete for some years now and only tried Flourite briefly so I am not familiar with long-term use of it.


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## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

I've been using the same flourite for over 5 years with no degradation that I can see. You can gravel vac it just like normal gravel but, I don't. Why suck out all of the nutrients just to put it back? I just hold the gravel vac about 2 inches above the flourite and move it around to get just the surface stuff up. When you first setup Flourite, rinsing it will make you hate life but, it's worth it because it lasts longer than some of the other substrates used.


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## WhiteDevil (May 7, 2009)

Mines been in for a year now and no issues at all. good stuff IMO


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## freshyleif (Jan 9, 2008)

I have had mine in for about two years now and am very happy with it. So far no problems. Like WhiteDevil said good stuff.


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## Andy Ritter (Nov 26, 2008)

Hey fishfan,

I've had the same original Flourite in my 75 gallon since 1997. I had the tank up and running until 2000, but then moved houses and I took all of the plants and fish out when I moved. However, I left the tank about half full of water, and before I knew it Cryptocoryne wendtii started coming up out of the Flourite just from the leftover roots. The tank sat until 2008 with no filtration, fertilization, or maintenance. All I did was top off the water. I did leave the stock 40 watt 48" T12 bulb going and the heater, but otherwise did nothing. When it became time for me to set the tank back up, it was completely full of Crypt plants. All I did then was drain the water so I could move it again, and then I filled it with water, stirred up the Flourite, then drained it again. I then replanted the tank and it has been going fine ever since.

I like the Flourite and seem to do okay with growing plants. It's pretty cool to see how the roots will actually attach to the Flourite pieces (I guess that's a good thing :noidea: ). Like bosmahe1, I don't vacuum the substrate, but may occasionally suck up the mulm that lays on top (although I really haven't done that in a long time because the filters do a good job of picking it up). 

As far as the safety of the bottom dwelling fish, I have noticed that my Corys barbels are noticeably worn away. In fact, a couple of months ago I added a couple of Corydoras agassizi and their barbels were definitely longer when I got them than they are now. For awhile their barbels looked kind of frayed, but now look okay, just shorter. My Corydoras sterbai almost don't even have any barbels at all anymore. I hope that they aren't in pain, since I am the one to blame for putting them in there. I don't remember having those problems back in the nineties with my Corydoras trilineatus. The Bristlenose Pleco, SAE, Dwarf Chain Loaches, and Black Line Sand Gobies are all doing fine and I can't tell that they are affected by the Flourite at all.

If I was going to be buying new substrate now, I would definitely research whether I should get some of the ADA Aquasoil. It seems to me that there sure are a lot of people making some really good statements in favor of how well it works. At this point, there is no way I'm going to tear my tank apart to start over with it though, so I'm hoping my Flourite will last for a really long time.


Andy


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