# flourite,sand and ???



## Chris S (Feb 27, 2006)

I have a tank mature up and running for a couple years. (20 gallon)play- sand has always been the substrate and i dont really plan on removing it. I added some flourite when i decided to try a planted tank and i was wondering.... 
1ST: How well do you rinse out flourite red before adding it to the tank? That stuff has tuns and tuns of dust. 

2ND :After reading some stuff about mulm in this forum, I assume it is a good idea that when i add the flourite , i should mix some of the mature sand in with it, is this right for bacteria and such?

3RD : Carbon being so important to the development of plants; would it be benefitial to add some older activated carbon fragments to the substrate that plants could injest carbon directly from thier roots? I mean, it is not that usefull as far as i know after a few months in a filter, so what if I added some old used stuff into the substrate? 
thanx in advance!


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

> 1ST: How well do you rinse out flourite red before adding it to the tank? That stuff has tuns and tuns of dust.


Really, really, really well. And when you think you're done, do it some more. Turn your filter off when adding it. Trust me....



> 2ND :After reading some stuff about mulm in this forum, I assume it is a good idea that when i add the flourite , i should mix some of the mature sand in with it, is this right for bacteria and such?


Adding mulm is benificial when starting a new tank to help things get jump started. You won't need to add it to an established one.



> 3RD : Carbon being so important to the development of plants; would it be benefitial to add some older activated carbon fragments to the substrate that plants could injest carbon directly from thier roots? I mean, it is not that usefull as far as i know after a few months in a filter, so what if I added some old used stuff into the substrate?
> thanx in advance!


First, there are very few plants we grow in aquariums that are capable of extracting carbon dioxide from the substrate. _Isoetes_ species and _Littorella uniflora_ can, and that enables them to grow in areas of very low co2 levels that most other plants have a lot of difficulty with.

http://www.tropica.com/productcard.asp?id=081A

I don't think any plant could do much of anything with old carbon from a filter. Not the right form of carbon.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I have sand and flourite mixed together and it looks really nice. I did opposite of you though, I added sand to the flourite that was already in my tank. Here is a good article on rinsing flourite... http://aquaden.com/phpBB2/articles2.php?type=washfluorite


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## Chris S (Feb 27, 2006)

You guys have been super helpfull. After I posted these questions, I did a search on this site only in the search bar and VOILA! There are a tun of peeps that have asked this same question and got help already!  It is wonderfull that u are all patient and answered me and did not call me a stupid dummy! People like you are why I enjoy auctions and stuff. 
My flourite is rinsed, in the tank, and planted. I sure hope to get anything like the results that that porson got that wrote that article in that link that u posted. I have it mixed at about 75% flourite and 25% playsand and i forgot some guppy doo-doo! malayan trumpet snails are blasting their way in and out of it , so I'm sure that it is getting stirred already! thanx again.


Chris S


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Thanks, Chris... That's what we are here for and remember there is no stupid questions.


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## Blazerfrs (Feb 3, 2006)

I wouldn't add old carbon to the substrate, even for plants that may be adapted to use it. All the chemical gunk the carbon picked up in your filter will just slowly leech back into your water.


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