# Fluorite and Fuller's earth questions



## Meum (Apr 21, 2010)

I have a couple questions about substrates. I have shopped the first question around quite a bit so I apologize if this is a repeat:
I have a substrate that is roughly equal parts gravel and red fluorite mixed together (started out layered) and I would like to separate them, does anyone know a good method for separating gravel (5mm) from fluorite?
Also, I found a bag of 'Aquatic soil' that is 100% Fuller's earth and I am trying it out with a layer of pea gravel on top of it in a 20 gal with DIY CO2. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff as a substrate that they could share?


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

i grew a few plants in sholtz aqautic soil under gravel and with the low light i used and no co2 dave said the plants did remarkably well ....


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## Fish Whisper (Apr 22, 2010)

Meum said:


> I have a couple questions about substrates. I have shopped the first question around quite a bit so I apologize if this is a repeat:
> I have a substrate that is roughly equal parts gravel and red fluorite mixed together (started out layered) and I would like to separate them, does anyone know a good method for separating gravel (5mm) from fluorite?
> Also, I found a bag of 'Aquatic soil' that is 100% Fuller's earth and I am trying it out with a layer of pea gravel on top of it in a 20 gal with DIY CO2. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff as a substrate that they could share?


This won't help but...
what what we did at my workplace (lab) was have a liquid that was the specific density between the 2 different substrates. again this won't help b/c the liquid is toxic.

My guesstimate would be to try panning it.. maybe that'l ruffly separate them. try doing it dry, might work better.


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## pacific (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm not sure what your fluorite gravel mix looks like, but I wonder if a soil sifter would work. Lee Valley sells a few different models, like this:

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=49554&cat=2,2200,33264

Although probably too pricey to bother for a 1-time use. You could try making a DIY version using something like chicken-wire. The key would be to get the holes in your sieve to be the right size so that the fluorite passes through and the gravel does not.


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