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Cat litter

Hi all,
It is the "non-clumping lightweight cat litter" you want, it is pink in colour and somewhere on the bag should say "100% Moler clay" or "diatomaceous earth". You need to wash it for a long time to get rid of the smell.

cheers Darrel
 
I've used this one in a temporary tank, and am so impressed I plan to use it in my new 3 x 2 x 2 as well:
tescos%20cat%20litter1.jpg
 
Until it doesn't smell any more and runs clear... Where it is fairly light it is easy to wash out of the bucket if you get too vigorous with the hose, though...
 
Thats exactly the same stuff i use in my 5ft. only needed 5 bags and at a total of 15 pound it saved me a fortune. it does need a fair bit of rinsing and so far hasnt had any affect on my fish what so ever. just put some newspaper or a plate over it when your filling as it still gives off a little dust. its great stuff IMO and wont use anything else now.

Alastair
 
The one pictured above is the one I've used.

The tanks have been running for about 2 years now, no water changes in the last year !! :woot: just top-ups - plenty of plants - El Naturel

The fish and plants are fine :D

The only thing I'd change in my largest tank is that I wouldn't put in a layer of soil in first. I put straight cat litter in the other tanks and have had few less trouble with Algae. The large tank, I followed the Walstad idea and put in potting soil first. This means if I want to change things round or remove a plant it gets very messy :?

Couldn't do it last year as I broke my wrist, but may get round to it soon. It'll be a complete strip down and replant with new cat litter substrate - as it's so cheap and works so well LOL
 
After using cat litter in my previous tank (25 gal) I can tell you there are various problems with it. The biggest is that it is very light! A tank with the recommended 10x turnover won't keep gradients very long and will most likely end up flat. This goes for Any bottom feeders too. Bah brb work calls

Ok back! So yeah bottom feeders like to stir it all up! It's great for growing plants but you will have to constantly replant them and if you cap it (I capped with sand eventually) it works it's way to the top very quickly!

All in all for £3 a bag it's great as a cheap alternative but just be aware of how light it is.
 
Hi all

I agree with Johno2090, it is very light.
If you want to maintain a gradient long term, I used some cut down plastic lawn edging under it (standing upright of course :lol: ) to prevent any landslides.
Works well.
 
Can't say I've had to replant much ??? Once the plants have been placed they root and stay :)

In fact uprooting them is going to be a major job, which is why I'll do a strip down in the main tank. Potting soil coming up everywhere will not be pretty :rolleyes: I found that this stuff keeps plants in better than fine or coarse sand or small gravel.

As far as gradients is concerned, even the largest size pea gravel that I have used in the past has eventually flattened out. I suppose that's what I get for keeping large fancy goldfish with pea gravel and Cories in the tropical tanks :D
 
If you want to add some slow released nutrients to your cat litter, I'd buy a kilo of "Osmocote" for about £6.
<http://www.greenfingers.com/superstore/product.asp?dept_id=260&pf_id=PP0051A>.

Could you still do this with it, uncapped ?
 
lil-lynx said:
If you want to add some slow released nutrients to your cat litter, I'd buy a kilo of "Osmocote" for about £6.
<http://www.greenfingers.com/superstore/product.asp?dept_id=260&pf_id=PP0051A>.

Could you still do this with it, uncapped ?

Yep. You don't need to cap the cat litter at all. Just put a little bit of the osmocote down, then cover with cat litter. My cat litter isn't capped either. I have aquabasis under mine though bit there is a few journals on here where people have used tesco cat litter with osmo under
 
I have some aquabasis as well great stuff , how are you finding yours as to , growth , cloudyness?
I was also tempted to put aquabasis, osmocote, and some dry ferts like trace... will all this be to much ?
 
I got an initial cloudiness from the cat litter when first filled, and then a bit when I'd started planting, but other than that it was fine. I couldn't really comment on how good the aquabasis is as I've also just started co2 injection and EI dosing so the difference in growth rate could be down to all 3. I didn't bother with osmocote or adding dry ferts to substrate as the cat litter being clay etc will absorb some of the excess nutrients that the plants don't absorb anyway.
I did notice a little clouding when I disturbed the aquabasis too much once but has been fine since. Just pack your filter with floss for first few weeks but I'd say cat litter is definitely worth all of the £2.78 a bag ha ha ;0)
 
Could you use some kind of netting to seperate the cat litter and sand ?

Just wondering because I am doing a 6x2x2 soon and would like to try the cat litter but dont want it mixing with the sand
 
Just read through all of these posts and I'm quite surprised that we can you use cat litter. Think I'll be getting some for my next tank setup. Have a 30l tank lying empty which I'm gonna make low tech in the next few weeks so watch this space.
 
ive been using it for 8ish weeks now it starts of really light weight but after 3 or 4 weeks seems to get heavier so might be worth soaking it in a bucket
 
of I was to use this I would be using EI in my 120ltr tank but have a 1200lh filter with spray bar right across the back glass would this push and ramp the litter up so become shallow at the front glass and all pushed to the back?

could i put a netting divider in the tank and pour the littler into the half of the tank with no fish the do the same for the other half? or would this cause too much clouding and problems fr the fish? also anyone know roughly how many bags for 1-1.5" substrate for 4'x12" tank I calculated 14ltrs buydont know how much the bags cover
 
I used 5 bags for my 5 ft but to give me a deep substrate. To be safe I'd get 2 or 3 bags, 10 litres each so you dont end up with not enough. Just short of 9 pound so not expensive. With trying to change it over, try to remove as much of the previous substrate but still leave some in for bacteria. Then do a bloody big water change after then another a day or two after that aswell. It should be fine with that filter. I doubt it will get blown about. I run two fx5s through spray bars and it stays pretty much still unless my corys really shift it.
 
perfect :) I have sand substrate at the moment so say just leave 1cm on bottom? the litter over the top or leave more? you say make sure I do big WC is this because it will lower the pc because o the clay?
 
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