Nutritious Substrate

[sjolliff]

Would it make a difference washing it to get rid of dust,
or would it make it hard to work with,

Im goin to change to argos sand, as mine has bit of shell in it and iv heard good things about argos sand

 

[Truck]

Would it make a difference washing it to get rid of dust,
or would it make it hard to work with,

Im goin to change to argos sand, as mine has bit of shell in it and iv heard good things about argos sand

washing it will turn it into a paste
no need to wash at all.

i would use toysrus sand...its a nicer colour and it doesnt have silt...nor does it need washing

 

[sjolliff]

i would use toysrus sand...its a nicer colour and it doesnt have silt...nor does it need washing

is it more whiter, and no bits at all?

i think i would still wash it

cant see it on it on there site, guess its in store only

 

[Truck]

i would use toysrus sand...its a nicer colour and it doesnt have silt...nor does it need washing

is it more whiter, and no bits at all?

i think i would still wash it

no its darker which is better for you, as the fish wont tone down their colours down as much as they would with the argos.

they do this to avoid predation.

just a quick rinse will do it, although ive had multiple bags and have never washed it.

 

[sjolliff]

makes sense, argos is 5 mins away, toys r us is about 40mins away, bet it would look good with dark grey/black sand lol

 

[sjolliff]

Got 2 bags of sand today,

The cat litter has the same packaging etc but does not say 100% clay just made with natural clay, and i cant find the ingredients on the bag,
its got a different cat on the front he is called jacko the comfort captain, not jake the comfort captain

Just done a test with litter i put about 10mm of litter in a glass then 2" of sand on top, the water wet through the sand into the top section of the cat litter and soaked abit up

it says the same thing as the one as there site
will this be ok?

 

[aaronnorth]

The reason the KH & GH drops in akadama is because it is taking in Ca++ and Mg++ ions and exchanges them for a H+ ions.

usually it exchanges them for Na+ ions, this may be the case with cat litter, in which case only the GH will drop.

To prevent this, soak it in MgSO4 & CaCO3, this also cuts out the daily water changes.

 

[sjolliff]

Im goin to leave my sand in as iv been told it contains good bacteria, not alot, but i dont want to mess my cycle up again!


iv got a samll 10L tank iv put some cat litter in with a good 2" of sand seeing how it goes,

but only had it in for about 30mins and im haveing doubts, the water has gone down to most of the cat litter and a few of the bits have come up.

like i said in my other post it not exactly the same as the one on the P@H website, but it does say made with clay?

it really clumpy, when dry it does not crumble in my hands

 

[aaronnorth]

dont worry it wont mess anything up, if you want you can get the mulm and put a layer beneath the substrate, this will kick start the bacteria colony in the substrate again