totally_vacant

A few weeks ago I swapped out my substrate, getting rid of the old junk and going with Black Flourite. When I bought it from my LFS (quite a good store with knowledgeable staff) the guy told me that it is best not to actual vacuum the Flourite. He said that during the water changes I'd want to skim the water from the top or middle rather than the bottom. Apparently it's good for some junk to fall in among the Flourite.

Can anyone verify that this is the case? Or should I clean the substrate just as I've always done?

hoppycalif

Flourite, whether red, brown or black, is not different from any other inert substrate as far as vacuuming it is concerned. You don't need to vacuum every week, nor do you need to do regular deep vacuuming. But, it is a good idea to vacuum often enough that a layer of debris can't build up. At least that is what I think is the current thinking on the subject.

lauraleellbp

IME you do have to be very careful when cleaning Flourite not to suck it all up through the vacuum tube. It's not a very heavy substrate. If you grow a dense carpet of plants, then I agree that vacuuming is not necessary (or even possible LOL).

I went for 4 years w/out ever vacuuming Flourite in my 10gal RCS colony tank. The tank LOOKED awful when I finally pulled it apart to make room to set up a larger tank, but the water parameters remained fine the entire time as long as I kept up with bimonthly water changes. (Nitrates would climb if I did not.)

freydo

if i have open areas of flourite, i always do a deep cleaning, without problems of sucking it all up and down. it just comes with practice.

i had also washed 7 bags of black flourite when i redid my 65 gallon last month. took about an hour to do them all, and the result was just slightly hazing water, which cleared up soon after when i plugged the filter back on.

the thing i did was wash each bag separately in a 5 gallon bucket with a hose, while agitating with my hand. filled and emptied the bucket about 4-5 times until the water was a little hazy in the bucket. no hot drying/baking required