Seagrass - Flourite mixed with sand?

[acurro]

I am going to be planting Halophila seagrass when it comes in the mail in a few days. Has anyone tried using Flourite from a freshwater planted tank mixed with aged live sand as a substrate for growing seagrass?

[Samala]

Ah, this one I have tried. Flourite by itself turned my saltwater a lovely rusty brown color which did not settle out and did not filter out easily either. Heavy carbon and big water changes were needed to clear it. If you use it, keep it at the very very bottom of the substrate and avoid exposing it to the surface.

Flourite's claim to fame is mostly having available iron for freshwater plants. I think many of the commercial marine muds provide iron in small amounts without the rusty brown effect from even well-rinsed Flourite.

>Sarah

[acurro]

Did you use alot of flourite in the tank that turned brown? I won your ebay auction for stargrass, so this might be an imminent issue. By the way, great special on the Discovery Channel, "Seas of Life."

[Samala]

Heheh.. I've been watching that Blue Planet marathon all night! :D I used only flourite in that test tank that went brown. No aragonite. Even if you rinse the heck out of it for freshwater it can turn a tank rusty colored and saltwater almost seems to accelerate that leaching process.

Have you already put down flourite or are you just considering it?

PS: Did you see the part with the razorfish and the bottlenose dolphins? That was shot all within a turtle grass and I think a shoal grass bed. It got me thinking.. perhaps I need a big 180g with some razorfish!

>Sarah

[acurro]

Just don't keep a dolphin in the 180 gallon. Everytime I see a marine mammal or a hippo in captivity I feel bad.

Yes, I did see the bit with the razorfish, the pregnant bottlenose shuffling through the sand. I have seen razorfish before, but they looked alot "thinner" than the ones on the tv show.

The scene when tuna and marlines were going after the bait ball and the whale comes by and eats the entire thing by going right up to the surface was just amazing. I can't imagine being the diver that filmed that. I think the point of the show was to make you feel bad for baitfish.

In the episode on coral alot of the coral growth shots seemed to be computer generated, so looked a bit fake, but on the whole it was one of the best shows on the ocean I have seen lately.

I am considering using very little Flourite three inches down in the place where the star grass will be and then covering it with aragonite. Do you think this will be ok?

[crrichey]

You might want to try putting the flourite on the bottom and a fine sand on top.