# Newbie with FloraMax: Am I doing it right ?



## Fred Mau (Oct 24, 2010)

I'm not a complete newbie to aquariums, but I AM a newbie to properly planted aquariums. This time I want to do it right; I want to do something more than just shove the plant stems down into ordinary gravel and then wait for them to die off  I'm also moving up from a 10 gal to a 45 gal long.

My 10 Gal has been running about 4 months and is doing nicely. 5 Black phantom Tetras, 4 platys, 1 pleco. (I really ought to have more than 5 tetras, but I'm not sure the 10 gal is big enough) Undergravel filter, with about 1-1/2" ordinary petco-brand colored gravel. I tried several live plants but they didn't last - I didn't realize it took more than just shoving the stems into the gravel; I thought the fish waste alone would feed the plants. I also didn't know that plants don't thrive with a UGF. 

Now I know these things, and this weekend I found a deal on a used 45 Gal. I want to do it "right".

I already made one mistake: I bought some floramax, and what I read on the web implied I could rinse it but didn't need to. Big Mistake. I spread it out on the bottom of the 45 tank, added about 10 gallons of water, and the water turned jet black, with a film of dust on top. Even after letting it sit overnight I still couldn't see the back of the tank. Okay, I need to rinse this stuff. 

The bag says 'lightly rinse'. What exactly does that mean ? I take about a pound of it out of the tank and put it in a 2-gallon white plastic bucket. Fill the bucket with lukewarm water, swirl the floramax around, dump out the water. I repeat this 3 times. Still, when I swirl around the floramax the water gets so dark I can't even see the bottom of the bucket. If I let the bucket sit for several hours, the water will get clearer but not clear - if i pour off some into a glass jar it still looks gray-ish.

Am I doing it right ? It seems like I've gone way beyond "light rinsing" but the rinse water still isn't clean like I'd see with "normal" gravel.


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## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*I dont want to burst any bubbles but I have read on many forums that FloraMax does not work well. I would probably look into Flourite or Eco-Complete. They are the same price or cheaper. Eco is only $15.99 online at petco, shipping is free if bought a certain amount and the substrate has GREAT reviews. I use it and my plants flourish. 

When you rinse, you just put it in a bucket, fill with water, mix it, and dump it. *


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