SeachemFlourite Black Dark Gravel, 7.7 lb

Love the color of Flourite Dark, it gives the aquarium a natural look. In bright aquarium light Flourite Dark has the color of Hershey's Milk Chocolate. The substrate pieces are irregular and rough and seem to grip the plants better. I had absolutely no problem with cloudiness. The attached picture was taken 30 minutes after I changed my old gravel substrate to Flourite Dark and placed all the rocks, driftwood and plants back. I followed the suggestion of one of the reviewers, C. Anderson, and rinsed Flourite Dark in paint strainer bags.This is what I did:1. Poured half of the 7kg bag in a 5 gallon paint strainer bag.2. Placed the paint strainer bag on a plastic outdoor chair with slotted seat.3. Used a garden hose to rinse the Flourite in the paint strainer bag. The fine silt/mud/dust flowed out of the bag and through the slots of the chair. The Flourite remained in the bag.4. After about 10 minutes the water flows clear.5. What is left in the strainer bag are particles ranging in size from coarse sand to pieces approx 1/4 inch.6. OPTIONAL: I opted to remove the coarse sand particles. So I dumped the cleaned Flourite into a Sifting Pan, 1/8” Mesh Screen and rinsed it again. This effectively removed the coarse sand particles.With the above process, I did not have any cloudiness. Even when the substrate is disturbed (to place the rocks, driftwood and plants) I did not experience any cloudiness.

Flour ore really helped my rooting plants!I have a 40 gallon breeder tank and I really wanted sand for a more natural look (but still wanted black sand because white sand is just so hard to keep clean). So I searched high and low for the perfect combination so that I can have thriving plants without using root tabs. Which is when I came across flourite and after reading all of the reviews I considered using just flourite black however I planned on getting Cory cats so I had to put sand over flourite.I bought a bag of the cheapest flourite (dark) which was only slightly cheaper than the flourite black at the time....and upon its arrival I noticed it was WAY too rough for the bottom dwellers I wanted so I covered it with Black a diamond Blasting sand and stuck my rooting plants in. The plants have really flourished without ANY plant food whatsoever-100% low tech. No fertilizer. No root tabs. Just old fashioned pruning to keep my plants from outgrowing my tank.I’m sure this would be great substrate without anything covering it but if you plan on having bottom dwellers, cover with softer substrate for happy fish!

I purchased the 15.4lb bag and started rinsing it right away once I got it, my process was using a fine metal strainer (As shown in the picture, I don't suggest using a one with larger holes) put it over a bucket and took about 1-2 quarts of the gravel out of the bag and washed it until the water in the bucket filled the top and covered up the gravel, I then dumped the water in the bucket down the drain and washed out all of the finer particles/dust that collected at the bottom of the bucket then repeated the process of rinsing and dumping 4 more times for each quart or two of the Flourite until I ran out of the bag. In between rinses I took the Flourite that I already washed and laid it out on a towel on a table and let it all dry for 24 hours, I then transferred it to a clean bucket until It will be time to use it in the following days.As said in the headline, I suggest ordering more if you will be using it for a 15 gallon and up aquarium and/or just want to stay on the safe side, this is because during rinsing you will wash away about 11% of the substrate, the dust, and other particles make up most of the weight that is 15.4lbs per bag.I am very happy with the purchase and had fun while rinsing it.

Most people complain anout the dirt in washing flourite. Wasn’t an issue with me as I used a 5 gallon bucket and a painters screen. Veey little cloudiness if washed using a gargen hose and the paint screen you can pick up at box stores. Planting small rooted plants in this stuff can be challenge nit can be done. A word of caution if tou put it in a male betta tank. It shredded the tail fins so I would not recomend this substrate for betta fish with lomg tails.

I literally just poured half the bag in a small storage container, added some water, moved it around in a circle and poured out the water, three times, didn’t even wait for the water to get clear. Then I added it to the tank. It was reeeeaally cloudy, looking like mud, at first but the key is to simply wait. It’ll settle. I went to sleep and the next morning it was settled. I did the same with some sand I already had (my fish’s natural habitat is a sand bed). I planted my plants, poured the sand on top and it didn’t even cloud up again. The sand is still settling as you can see in the pic but my fish and two mystery snails are in there and doing just fine. My fish is used to a little sand kicking up and the snails just never care about anything. As you can see the substrate works just fine and your fish will be fine. Don’t overthink it.UPDATE: These are the pictures, 36 hours later, both substrates completely cleared up. Again, don’t overthink it.*As you can see looking at both pictures, the lights change colors and dim by the wayTo future customers, the bad reviews are most likely from people who destroyed the substrate themselves (over-rinsing, heating, chemicals, etc.). Give it a go.

I started out with sand - terrible mistake: it was so light that every bit of poo stood out; my ADF ingested grains as he tried to eat; and my plants weren’t thriving. I rinsed the Flourite for about 10 minutes and added them to my tank - it's 60l and this bag was sufficient. Everything immediately looked so much better. It’s a great chocolate color. Frog eating happily. Hopefully plants will thrive.

Not my first time using this product, have several tanks with their black substrate. This photo is after what I thought was an adequate rinse; Turned my tank into chocolate milk."Rinse" is not sufficient for this product, you need to heavily wash and sift this stuff. It took me hours to properly separate the very fine dust from the large flakes; it was a messy process that took a lot of work.I very much like the product but I just want to let you all know that the directions on the bag are very misleading about being "pre-washed" and needing a "rinsing"; Installing this substrate properly with out headaches is going to take a lot of effort, my hands are cut up from turning the substrate over and over during washing, little pieces are embedded in my hands from how much labour was required.Final product installed looks amazing, I know the plants are going to love it.

The clay gravel is a natural brown color that resembles rocks and goes well with a planted aquarium. It did not help my plants grow which was the main reason why I bought it. I tried fertilizers but that didn't help either. I switched to soil with a layer of gravel on top and now my plants are thriving. I added crushed coral for the health of my shrimp. The gravel required a lot of rinsing and clouded the water for the first week but then it cleared up. Would recommend this gravel for the look and the longevity of it but not for growing plants.

This looks great in the tank. I just put a small amount in a fine strainer, rinsed and rinsed. Then rinsed with warm water and then put it in aquarium. Just do a little at a time Very little dust. I had cloudy water for awhile. Just used a filter with a sponge and floss to help clean it. Not as bad as some reviewers said. It took maybe a day to clear up. Would highly recommend. Just a note. You need more than what the company says. It said all I would need is 1 bag. Not nearly enough. Only covered about an inch of the tank. So far so good though.

Seachem Flourite is a well known substrate for planted tanks, with a fairly well-established track record.All non-painted aquarium substrates need considerable rinsing before use. Flourite requires a bit more time to settle before the cloudiness disappears because it is a clay-based product. Clay produces a much finer and lighter particulate dust compared to sands, calcium-carbonate based substrates, and gravels. Clay particles are also more easily scratched when shifted around (such as when stirring them in a bucket to rinse them). This is one reason why this product appears to never rinse clean (because many people use a washing process that actually generates more dust as they're rinsing).Seachem makes a sand-grain version of this product which I used to use. In my personal experience I found the sand to be harder to plant in (plants without well-established roots would tend to slip out of the small-grain substrate), and found the sand to be more vulnerable to compaction and anoxic conditions. The benefit of the sand is it's softer on the barbells of bottom-scavengers and burrowers like cories, loaches, etc.The reasons I don't give this product 5 stars:As a nutrient source, this substrate is virtually useless... No macro-nutrients, and most of the micro-nutrients are locked in an insoluble form, useless to your plants. Note that most plant-specific aquarium substrates fall short in this category, as aquarium substrates aren't developed to act like garden soils.The clay-base for this substrate is baked... On the one hand, this makes it MUCH easier and less messy to work with, on the other hand it greatly reduced cation-exchange-capacity of the substrate (which is really what makes flourite work as a plant-specific substrate in the first place).In short - there are better products on the market, but you will pay an arm and a leg... Flourite falls short in some respects, but they're mostly necessary compromises in my eyes...Oh, and my bag had a hole in it when it arrived, so I'm not thrilled with that... Plus Purolator shipping... So that sucked.