Where to get flourite?

[Fergy]

I just got my second tank and was thinking about making it a planted tank. I'm pretty new to everything regarding fish/plant keeping, but have been reading up quite a bit. Are there any places in Edmonton that are better to get flourite at than others? I wanted to do a flourite base with gravel over top. Is there a lot of variance in quality and price from store to store?

[byte]

There are a few different colors of flourite available. It also comes in black sand. I have always been impressed with the quality of the flourite, just the price is hard to take. There is a calculator at the bottom of the link below to estimate how many bags you will need.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flourite.html

I would phone Nature's Corner for a price and mention you are an AA member and they might give you a discount

Flourite is a gravel type substrate anyways so I am not sure why you would want to cover it with gravel.

[Fergy]

There are a few different colors of flourite available. It also comes in black sand. I have always been impressed with the quality of the flourite, just the price is hard to take. There is a calculator at the bottom of the link below to estimate how many bags you will need.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flourite.html

I would phone Nature's Corner for a price and mention you are an AA member and they might give you a discount

Flourite is a gravel type substrate anyways so I am not sure why you would want to cover it with gravel.

Err... I can't see why either. I was under the impression it was much more fine and light than gravel. But I've never seen it, only read about it. Thanks for the link.

[byte]

There are a few different colors of flourite available. It also comes in black sand. I have always been impressed with the quality of the flourite, just the price is hard to take. There is a calculator at the bottom of the link below to estimate how many bags you will need.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flourite.html

I would phone Nature's Corner for a price and mention you are an AA member and they might give you a discount

Flourite is a gravel type substrate anyways so I am not sure why you would want to cover it with gravel.

Err... I can't see why either. I was under the impression it was much more fine and light than gravel. But I've never seen it, only read about it. Thanks for the link.

The links work for me... you can always cut and paste into your browser

http://www.naturescornerstore.com/NaturesCornerStore.html

[werner]

I wanted to do a flourite base with gravel over top. Is there a lot of variance in quality and price from store to store?

Fluorite is a brand name for an aquatic plant substrate, so no variance in quality since it's only made by one company. It does come in different colors and sizes, You can mix it with gravel or use it alone. You will find the best prices for it online... until you factor in the shipping costs. Another brand you might consider is Eco Complete.

Perhaps you're thinking of laterite? This is a clay based gravel additive. You need to put it under gravel since it can get pretty messy and cloudy.

[Fergy]

There are a few different colors of flourite available. It also comes in black sand. I have always been impressed with the quality of the flourite, just the price is hard to take. There is a calculator at the bottom of the link below to estimate how many bags you will need.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flourite.html

I would phone Nature's Corner for a price and mention you are an AA member and they might give you a discount

Flourite is a gravel type substrate anyways so I am not sure why you would want to cover it with gravel.

Err... I can't see why either. I was under the impression it was much more fine and light than gravel. But I've never seen it, only read about it. Thanks for the link.

The links work for me... you can always cut and paste into your browser

http://www.naturescornerstore.com/NaturesCornerStore.html

Yeah I was saying thank you for the links, they worked fine for me.

[Fergy]

I wanted to do a flourite base with gravel over top. Is there a lot of variance in quality and price from store to store?

Fluorite is a brand name for an aquatic plant substrate, so no variance in quality since it's only made by one company. It does come in different colors and sizes, You can mix it with gravel or use it alone. You will find the best prices for it online... until you factor in the shipping costs. Another brand you might consider is Eco Complete.

Perhaps you're thinking of laterite? This is a clay based gravel additive. You need to put it under gravel since it can get pretty messy and cloudy.

Maybe. For someone not looking for 'extreme' growth, would 100% flourite base be overkill?

[werner]

For someone not looking for 'extreme' growth, would 100% flourite base be overkill?

Depends mostly on your budget. If you are setting up a large tank, the cost of a Fluorite-only substrate can be prohibitive (and possibly better spent on lighting or CO2.) Laterite mixed with gravel is somewhat more affordable. Even less expensive is plain gravel.

The nice thing about Fluorite is that it has CEC (cation exchange capacity- the ability of media to provide a nutrient reserve for plant uptake) right from the start. Plain gravel doesn't have any until you start getting some mulm built up. If you're going the gravel route, you can do a really good gravel vacuum on an established tank and mix that in.

[jvision]

And, if you don't have any mulm to add, you can add a thin (1/4") layer of peat, which also has a very high CEC.

[byte]

Maybe. For someone not looking for 'extreme' growth, would 100% flourite base be overkill?

Pick a substrate that you like as it is very hard and messy to change it out later. You might find a few months down the road that you want to add those better lights and a CO2 source to get those plants really growing. I believe the "plant type" substrates hold the plant's roots in the "ground" better than normal aquarium gravel.

If you are planning on having a fish tank with a few plants, then normal gravel will work just fine.

[fishclubgirl]

Maybe. For someone not looking for 'extreme' growth, would 100% flourite base be overkill?

Pick a substrate that you like as it is very hard and messy to change it out later. You might find a few months down the road that you want to add those better lights and a CO2 source to get those plants really growing. I believe the "plant type" substrates hold the plant's roots in the "ground" better than normal aquarium gravel.

If you are planning on having a fish tank with a few plants, then normal gravel will work just fine.

I have several planted tanks and am a big fan of laterite mixed with regular gravel. When I set up the tank, I give it a couple days to let the dust "settle". My plants seem to do well and have swords, crypts, hygrophilia, limnophiia and many others. I'm not a technical person and don't use Co2, fancy lighting and remember to fertilise once a year if I need to.

I think the laterite gravel mix and healthy fish help my plants grow!!!

[Fergy]

Well I bought a bag of the black sand flourite and mixed with a smaller ratio of light/white gravel just for looks. Just waiting for the dust to settle now.

I want this to be a fairly heavily planted tank eventually, so I thought I better go safe than sorry and get a decent substrate right at the start.

Thanks for all the advice people!

[firestorm]

The black sand is so nice looking. I was going to use some of that when I get my 33 set up for the plants. I have some of the regular flourite mixed in with dark grey gravel, and it still looks pretty good. I find swords and heavy root feeders really appreciate the fluorite as well How much did you end up paying per bag? Down here the cheapest I have found was $36 per bag :boxed:

[Fergy]

The black sand is so nice looking. I was going to use some of that when I get my 33 set up for the plants. I have some of the regular flourite mixed in with dark grey gravel, and it still looks pretty good. I find swords and heavy root feeders really appreciate the fluorite as well How much did you end up paying per bag? Down here the cheapest I have found was $36 per bag :boxed:

I paid 30$ at BA for a 15lb bag. I saw on the petsmart site it's listed at 25$ I think, but that might be american or something? I've never seen flourite at the petsmarts I've been to..

[Fergy]

Little bit of a topic change.. Has anyone used the black sand flourite before? My waters been in and the filters been running for almost 24hours and the dust has not settled at all.... Does it normally take this long?