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Cat litter and Bog wood

french47

french47

Member
Joined
1 Jun 2010
Messages
39
Location
Caister on Sea, Norfolk
G'Day Guys,
A have a large tank to set up, I want to use cat litter in the substrate and large lumps of bogwood.
Problem, My wife will not give up the bath for a week so I can soak my wood to get some of the colouring out and as for washing many bags of cat litter to get rid of the perfume is a non starter.
Question, could I put the unwashed litter in the tank with the bogwood fill up and put the filters on, followed by daily water changes for a week. Would it work? I.E. get rid of the perfume smell and remove some of the colouring from the wood.
How do you guys get around this problem?
Cheers
 
Use a plastic dustbin, and maybe use a large air pump from the bottom? See if you can create a flow similar to a moving bed filter. That will shake as much dust off as possible for sure.

Never used cat litter, but apparently it stinks in the tank, so would go for Bon option.
 
The Cat Litter really needs rinsing. The bog wood could take a long time before it stops colouring the water but carbon in the filter can help minimise the effect.
 
Hmm,

Could this be a possibility, I don't know your layout, but something like;

1f5294de-96fb-2df2.jpg


Have a lid on the water but, and Vent it with hosepipe out window if you want to get rid of smell, make sure top is airtight to some degree.

Put an airstone on a large air pump if you can, to stir up water and change as often as you can.

Alternatively, use a filter with nothing in but filter floss and change daily, also running all the water out of the butt(easily by taking filter outlet out and placing in bath) and replacing with fresh water.

Just an idea.
 
I'd just throw them both in and accept you'll have a brown fragrant tank for a while. There'll be no fish so what's the difference between using your tank and the bath? The smell might go after a week but you'll still be left with a bit of colour from the cat litter, it will be gone soon enough though. Ditto the tannins.
 
Whatever you do, DO NOT put perfumed cat litter into your tank and hope that you will "water change" the smell out. You wont. I can guarantee it. I washed mine for half a day and thought the smell had gone and when I added it to the tank it was still there. I added wood and the wood absorbed the smell too. At that point, things got VERY NASTY, the smell worsened and I had to rip it all out.

If you dont have the means to rinse the cat litter, don't buy it. Buy Akadama (bonsai soil). Its much better as it is not scented ! Its not as cheap but it is STILL cheap enough. The wood is not such an issue. All it will be leaching is tanins. Some fish will thank you for it but you can, if you want, put the wood in the bare tank and let it soak that way can't you ?

If the wife wont even "alloa" that, the solution is simple. Change your Wife ! :lol: :lol: :lol: 8)
 
I gave my cat litter a 5 rinse rule to stop myself being there for hours, just used a bucket from b&q and put half a bag in each time and rinsed well 5 times. Tank is still cycling but everything seems fine so far, I also only have cat litter and bog wood although in 50L.
 
Cant help with the cat litter but I had a medium sized piece of bogwood that had spent 6 years outside in a flowerpot with a tree and after boiling it for hours and cleaning it very well it still leached tannins, ok if your happy with tea colour water I supose.
Anyway I tried the vinegar method of treating it and have had no more problems with brown water, this was before I found this site so if there are any risks with this method then I expect someone may advise but I have never had any problems with fish health, lots of issue with algae though but I dont believe the treatment is responsible.

I used one of those large plastic strorage boxes that come in many colours.
 
Whatever you do, don't put the cat litter in without rinsing it.

Knowing what I know now, if I used it again (I won't) I'd let it sit in a bucket for a week with daily water changes.
 
Thanks Guys for all your help, I have decided against cat litter, I am going to use ether J.I compost under a gravel tidy topped with Gravel, or Clay balls as used in Hydroponics then capped with Gravel. As for the Bog wood I will use activated carbon while I am doing a fish less cycle that should get rid of the colour.
I have time to make up my mind as the tank has not arrived yet.
Cheers
 
I dont blame you for not using cat litter, but the clay balls will cost you more than Akadama and IMO is not as versatile. Just food for thought :)
 
This is exactly as you plan, cat litter and bog wood, I put x6 Cardinal Tetra in 24hrs ago and have diy co2 running now so looking a bit greener than this.

IMO nothing wrong with cat litter in the slightest, best thing since sliced bread if you ask me.

shrimptank22.jpg
 
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