Cat Litter In Fish Tanks?

[Jenste]

While reading different threads - I have seen people using cat litter in their tanks?

What does it do (in the tanks of course - I understand its OTHER use haha)

benefits?

what kind of litter is being used?

 

[natalie265]

Really? I've never heard of this. Seems dangerous. Don't most cat litters contain chemicals such as deodorizors? I'm interested to see other responses!

 

[Amberleaf]

Isn't it under sand, for some sort of base?

 

[OldMan47]

Cat litter is used in place of some of the other plant substrates because the clay holds nutrients and lets the plants use them. I do not use it but that is what it is used for. It is more or less the same as laterite.

 

[ellena]

Yes, you use the plain, cheap-as-chips clay stuff with no added chemicals

 

[Truck]

I'm currently giving it a whirl after I saw one of D.walstads tanks with it in, I'm having great results, but i did mineralize it before hand.

The clay cat litter has a high CEC (cation exchange capacity) which allows it to take on nutrients from the water column over time, and then release them back to the plants roots.

Cheers,

 

[keenonfish]

Is it ok to put a layer of this stuff on top of gravel and leave as top layer truck or would there be problems with this?

Also how you load with minerals?

I'm currently giving it a whirl after I saw one of D.walstads tanks with it in, I'm having great results, but i did mineralize it before hand.

The clay cat litter has a high CEC (cation exchange capacity) which allows it to take on nutrients from the water column over time, and then release them back to the plants roots.

Cheers,

 

[thefubar]

If it has the ability to remove nutrients from the column and then release them back to the roots, i would think you would need to soak it in fertilised water before ading to the tank? Is that right?

Does it disintegrate over time? are you left with a huge lump of clay in the bottom of the tank to clean out?

 

[Truck]

If you have normal unbaked cat litter, you will need to add the clay and then a layer of sand or gravel of about 4+ cm to stop the clay coming into contact with the water, if that happens it will cloud.

Mineralizing is rather simple, you'll need some dry fertilizers (potassium nitrate (Kno3), potassium phosphate(KH2PO4) and trace elements), what I did was add 6 table spoons of KNo3 and 2 table spoons of Kh2PO4 to the clay and mix it in when it was dry, I then added a tea spoon of trace and mixed it in, I then capped it with sand and filled the tank up making sure the sand is not disturbed.

Cheers, Jack

 

[Honeythorn]

Where does one obtain these dry fertilisers? My lfs has none at all

 

[Truck]

Where does one obtain these dry fertilisers? My lfs has none at all

In the UK you can get them from Fluid sensor online, Aqua essentials, some hydrophonics and gardening places also sell them, but they will be cheapest online.

In my previous post when I posted what I added to the mix, this will of course need adjusting depending on the size of the tank, it doesn't really need doing, but it does help.

you can also make liquid fertilizers out of these chemical too.

 

[Honeythorn]

Ah ok thanks. I'll be breaking down and rescaping my 30 gal, 12 gal and 5 gal next year and I fancied trying it out.