# Seachem Flourite (Black) vs Turface & Equivalent



## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

I've tried to find cheap alternative substrate for as long as I been in the hobby. To be honest, I probably spent more money doing this than buying the premium stuff on the onset.

I've decided to try out one of the premium product, namely Seachem Black Flourite, in place of the current Safe-T-Sorb clay.

The motivations are..
1. Grain size,
2. Colour (BLACK!),
3. Porous fracted clay (high CEC),
4. Resilient (does not break down with time)
5. Does not affect pH

As I change my aquascape often, I am hoping that the black flourite will significantly reduce cloudiness after plants uprooting. I was happy with gravel, but want to add high CEC material to buffer the nutrients for the plants.

Do not suggest mix substrate as it is not my current interest.

Plants grow great using Safe-T-Sorb which is similar to Turface/SMS, but I find that there is still cloudiness issue when uprooting, and that the material is a little lighter than I like.

Seachem claims that the flourite do not break down and I wonder if someone who have used it can comment on this, especially related to cloudiness when uprooting plants.

I am also looking for performance comparison relative to Turface/SMS.

Again and specifically,

1. Does Flourite break down with time, and does cloudiness occur when uprooting plants?

2. How does Flourite performs relative to Turface/SMS/Equivalent?

3. How dense is flourite relative to Turface/SMS/etc?

4. Does flourite truly does not affect pH? 

Thanks very much in advance.


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

as far as i know, flourite does not affect pH. It is not that cloudy when moved around either. It has small grain sizes but it looks as if it has like sand inbetween granules. pretty cool. Helps keep small roots like DBT rooted. Hope that helps. I have a 33 gallon with floulrite black in it.


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## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

Kimchi24 said:


> as far as i know, flourite does not affect pH. It is not that cloudy when moved around either. It has small grain sizes but it looks as if it has like sand inbetween granules. pretty cool. Helps keep small roots like DBT rooted. Hope that helps. I have a 33 gallon with floulrite black in it.


How dense is this stuff Kimchi? Did it cloud up the water when you pull out plants and roots together? I am getting mixed feedback on the web with regard to the cloudiness issues.


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## greg (Apr 29, 2012)

Hey. Missed you at the BBQ - hope you're feeling much better now.

I have 8 tanks with Seachem's black flourite sand. No affect on ph at all. Initial issues with cloudiness if you don't take care not to disturb substrate. This is more of an issue with flourite sand than regular flourite from what I've read. This cloudiness issue with flourite sand disappears quite quickly and I don't find any issues replanting - which I do all the time! Recently uprooted all my blyxa and subulata in 145g tank with no cloudiness resulting. Just take your time pulling the roots out, shaking them as you go.

I really like the flourite because as you mentioned no affect on water parameters and does not break down. Personally I didn't like the thought of having to take apart my tank after a year or two to replace the substrate - my fish live 5 years after all! I'm happy to rely on fertilizer tabs to initially put nutrients within easy access of plant roots.

Send me a pm if you want to come over and take a look.

Greg


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

LTPGuy said:


> How dense is this stuff Kimchi? Did it cloud up the water when you pull out plants and roots together? I am getting mixed feedback on the web with regard to the cloudiness issues.


sorry for the late reply. As far as cloudiness goes, i only notice that the cloudiness is from the miracle grow under the flourite. As mentioned already, i dont know much about the sand but the regular flourite does not cloudy the water very much. as far as I can tell, even if it did get cloudy, it would subside in 5-10 minutes. The initial fill was the longest it was every cloudy which was two days. other than that, crystal clear


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## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

greg said:


> Hey. Missed you at the BBQ - hope you're feeling much better now.


I don't know if there will be another like that one! You did a great job organizing. I am still recovering but feel much better.



greg said:


> This cloudiness issue with flourite sand disappears quite quickly and I don't find any issues replanting - which I do all the time! Recently uprooted all my blyxa and subulata in 145g tank with no cloudiness resulting. Just take your time pulling the roots out, shaking them as you go.


This is exactly what I was interested in!



greg said:


> Send me a pm if you want to come over and take a look.
> 
> Greg


Will take you up on this when I get a little better. Thanks for the offer. I'd love to see your setup. Look forward to meet SwimmyD and her daphnia also!



Kimchi24 said:


> sorry for the late reply. As far as cloudiness goes, i only notice that the cloudiness is from the miracle grow under the flourite. As mentioned already, i dont know much about the sand but the regular flourite does not cloudy the water very much. as far as I can tell, even if it did get cloudy, it would subside in 5-10 minutes. The initial fill was the longest it was every cloudy which was two days. other than that, crystal clear


Thanks Kimchi, this is good information.

I just need to look for good prices on these. I know Angel Fin has great price, but they stop their GTA run. I'll have to see if some arrangement can be made.


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