# Gravel/Flourite mix?



## hsteve (Jul 9, 2005)

Anyone have any experience mixing flourite with gravel?
I'm setting up a new system and my LPS guy told me he had got better results using about 60/40 mix of flourite and a commercial sandblasting product called "tex-Blast". the particle size looks to be about .75-1.5 mm...
Should I run 100% flourite for the bottom 1-2"?
Thx in advance


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

That will work very well. Make sure youad a THIN layer of ground peat to the bottom of the glass, just a dusting. Also try to add some mulm from another tank to the peat. Tha wil seed you new tank with established bacteria and the peat acts as a food sourse for the first month or so. You can also add a little activated carbon on top of that. AC is very porus so it makes a good home for bacteria, plus it helps draw impurities and organics from the water column, at least for a few weeks while the tank stabalizes. Then add your substrate mix on top of all that and add water. You don't need a pure layer of Flourite. good luck and be sure to take photos to post here or in your APC contest layout journal


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## hsteve (Jul 9, 2005)

dennis said:


> You can also add a little activated carbon on top of that. AC is very porus so it makes a good home for bacteria, plus it helps draw impurities and organics from the water column, at least for a few weeks while the tank stabalizes.


Should I still run AC in my filter after the water clears, or just when I need to? My thinking is the AC will remove the additives that I'm supplementing...
Dumping fertilizer and iron, etc. into carbon doesn't make much sense to me...[smilie=d:


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

there is really no need to run AC in awell planted tank as youa re correct, it does pull out the micro nutrients plants need.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

hsteve said:


> &#8230;about 60/40 mix of flourite and a commercial sandblasting product called "tex-Blast". the particle size looks to be about .75-1.5 mm&#8230;


That's a pretty big grain size difference from Flourite. With any kind of disturbance to the substrate it'll all end up settling to the bottom leaving what Flourite you have on the surface. It's just like opening a box of cereal and finding all the large flakes on the top and nothing but crumbs and dust at the bottom of the box.


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## hsteve (Jul 9, 2005)

bharada said:


> It's just like opening a box of cereal and finding all the large flakes on the top and nothing but crumbs and dust at the bottom of the box.


 That's really Deep...
But will it end up being detrimental? I'm setting up a 30G 36X12X16(?) so i'm putting my pennies into an eheim2213
Coralife 36" 1X96W Striplight
 Hydor 200w in-line heater
Yeah, I know another bag or 2 won't break the bank but i don't want to end up eating PBJ's 'til the end of the month, so I'm economizing...


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Then mix the flourite with Shultz aquatic plant soil or Turface MPV. You can get shultz at walmart, although the price is not that great but still cheaper than flourite. Put the SAPS on the bottom and the Flourite right on top. Eventuallthey will mix but that won't hurt anything. I use a combination of Eco COmplete and or Onyx sand mixed with Black Beauty blasting grit, size medium but fine would also work. BB is $11 for 100pounds. Same color as Eco, black.


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## hsteve (Jul 9, 2005)

dennis said:


> Shultz aquatic plant soil or Turface MPV. . BB is $11 for 100pounds. Same color as Eco, black.


 I've read some sites/articles/books that I(being a novice and/orCanadian), should stay away from adding soil to the substrate, due to algae blooms. I understand the PO4 relationship with blooms, but I'm not so sure how good my water(tap) is. I live in Denver, so I can assume that the water is probably pretty hard,
Incedentally, Dennis, I was wondering about your comment re: peat.
does it(peat) really help as a filter medium? or is should my main concern be establishing the plants and THEN play around?
or like some other folks, am I over-analyzing and just set the [email protected]#@$%$ thing up and then see what happens?
thanks


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Sorry to confuse you, the 2 aquatic plant soils I mentioned are not actually soils. They are really a fractured clay product just like flourite. They are basically a cheap version of flourite, although I think flourite is a little better for th eplants, but not by much. Hence a 50/50 or 60/40 mix of flourite to the aquatic plants soils is a good mix.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

hsteve said:


> But will it end up being detrimental?


No. Not detrimental to anything the plants care about. It's more of heads up that in the end it'll looks like a sand substrate covered by Flourite.


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## jho51e (Jan 19, 2005)

dennis said:


> Sorry to confuse you, the 2 aquatic plant soils I mentioned are not actually soils. They are really a fractured clay product just like flourite. They are basically a cheap version of flourite, although I think flourite is a little better for th eplants, but not by much. Hence a 50/50 or 60/40 mix of flourite to the aquatic plants soils is a good mix.


just following this thread for my own set-up... if i used only Eco for my 6x2x2, it is a bit expensive... so was thinking of layering...

from your suggestion, can i then use:
layer 1: peat very thin
layer 2: mix of Eco/gravel or should i separate it, layering the Eco first then gravel on top?


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