Seachem fluorite cloudiness

[Pizzafan]

I’ve read about these problems but now am actually experiencing them with this new 5.5 gallon. I cleaned this stuff pretty well, but still have a haziness in the tank that’s been there for 2 days. Any tips? Should I just be more patient or will this never settle?

[Zac]

On 6/1/2022 at 6:57 AM, Pizzafan said:

I’ve read about these problems but now am actually experiencing them with this new 5.5 gallon. I cleaned this stuff pretty well, but still have a haziness in the tank that’s been there for 2 days. Any tips? Should I just be more patient or will this never settle?

Had the same issue with black fluorite sand in my tank except I didn’t clean the sand well enough lol. I ended up using a dense filter floss, and stirring the substrate up every day or so. After a while the filter cleared the water

[gardenman]

Fluorite is a softish, clay-like material. Think of it as chalk. When you rub two pieces together small pieces flake off. In time, good old gravity should grab the small pieces and settle them on the bottom, and they'll be safely tucked away, and your tank will be clear and beautiful. You can speed up the process by using a filter optimized to filter out small particulate matter like a diatom filter or one with a very fine mesh filter. Eventually, the water will clear on its own. It just takes some time.

[Pizzafan]

Thanks all! It has indeed cleared up after 3 days of running a filter with those crummy carbon pads that come with them (they will be thrown out now). 
 

Now the question is - what to put in here? Choosing between these options

1. a dwarf puffer (not sure I’m up for only frozen foods though)

2. A single apisto (can you do this in a 5g?)

3. Maybe betta 

4. chili Rasboras 

 

thoughts or other ideas??

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/1/2022 at 4:05 AM, Zac said:

Had the same issue with black fluorite sand in my tank except I didn’t clean the sand well enough lol. I ended up using a dense filter floss, and stirring the substrate up every day or so. After a while the filter cleared the water

Stir the substrate with your hand, then do a 50-80% WC.  Run filter floss.  It should clear up in 1-3 days.

There is also some chemicals you can use like clarity that help fine particles to get trapped in the filter floss.

 I vote a betta with cooler/darker colors!