Using A Cat Litter Substate

[ZoddyZod]

Hello all,

I've decided to use cat litter capped with play sand for my substrate and I just want to make sure I'm setting myself up for success.

What depth should the cat litter be?

What ratio for litter to sand should I be aiming for?

Should the roots of plants be pushed into the clay, or should I try to anchor them in the sand above and let them grow downwards?

Possibly stupid question alert
Is there a way to 'pre-load' the clay with nutrients - like a hefty measure of TPN poured on it before capping?

 

[Tizer]

i did think about a 'pre-load' but decided not to myself. I only push the plants into the sand, good luck trying to dig into the clay once its saturated with water

 

[lee2011]

B&Q sell aquatic compost, for ponds... its about £4 for a 20 litre bag, iv used it in my small tank under argos playsand n its working ok so far, iv already got healthy root growth on some stem plant cuttings just over a week after planting them in it.

It will make quite a mess if i ever disturb the suststrate too much though as it floats lol, i found that out when i tried to rinse it first, so i just put the compost in first unwashed, while the tank was completely empty then put the sand on top and filled it up, the water was crystal clear at first but theres a very slight yellow/brownish tinge to it now but its barely noticable. and its fish safe as i put 2 jewel cichlid fry in the tank after filling it as guinea pigs and they r thriving.

Its gotta be better than cat litter as its made for ponds, and just as cheap for the amount

 

[ZoddyZod]

i did think about a 'pre-load' but decided not to myself. I only push the plants into the sand, good luck trying to dig into the clay once its saturated with water

so what happens if I ever want to remove it

B&Q sell aquatic compost, for ponds...

interesting.....but sounds like it could be a pain if I'm rearranging the tank and since I constantly will be doing that (will take me an age to be happy with it) it worries me!

any pics of your tank?

 

[lee2011]

interesting.....but sounds like it could be a pain if I'm rearranging the tank and since I constantly will be doing that (will take me an age to be happy with it) it worries me!

any pics of your tank?
[/quote]

theres some a pic of it in the members tanks section, under my tanks, its the tank in the first pic. Its only been set up 11 days so it needs time to grow, i just put some spare plants and cuttings from my main tank in it, like i said, i had some stem cuttings planted in my main tank (without compost) for about 3 weeks and there was no root growth at all. Id almost given up on them so i moved them to the smaller tank with the compost and i pulled 1 up yesterday and i was pretty impressed with the root growth after just 11 days.

Its not messy as if u pull a plant up the sand usually back fills pretty quickly, but obviously u get some stuck to the roots. but for healthy plants and roots i will gladly skim the surface with my net to fish out the odd bit of compost that might come up if i rearange the plants.

 

[ZoddyZod]

just remembered that I can't have a 'proper' substrate like soil as it will leech ammonia when first set up. I need to transfer all my fish on day 1 so that's not an option.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

If you are using a mature filter and keep on top of water changes it won't matter. I'm doing this with my new set up, the filter is mature and the new substrate will leech ammonia so daily water changes and good maintenance will be fine.

 

[ZoddyZod]

If you are using a mature filter and keep on top of water changes it won't matter. I'm doing this with my new set up, the filter is mature and the new substrate will leech ammonia so daily water changes and good maintenance will be fine.

sadly it's time I don't currently have. 2yr old and 1 month old mean that 30mins on the tank each evening is not an option.

 

[StandbySetting]

You want about a centimetre of cat litter, 3-5cm of sand, I wouldn't bother dosing with TPN+, most of it will end up in the water column.

 

[ZoddyZod]

You want about a centimetre of cat litter

and what about removing it if required? Is that an easy thing to do?

 

[StandbySetting]

It's not difficult, but it's not the most enjoyable job, it does smell a bit, but it would mean draining the tank.

 

[ZoddyZod]

It's not difficult, but it's not the most enjoyable job, it does smell a bit, but it would mean draining the tank.

so it doesn't weld itself to the glass and make it very difficult to get rid of?

also, your Avatar message intrigues me.....

 

[StandbySetting]

No, it goes soft just slides off like sand would.

 

[ZoddyZod]

No, it goes soft just slides off like sand would.

ok, cheers. Good to know.

....cat litter substrate it is then!

 

[ZoddyZod]

Being reading some testimony about using this as a substrate. Lots of positive comments but I found one that concerned me. Scientifically it is out of my grasp so I was wondering if anyone has some thoughts on this information? I guess it still would not be harmful to use cat litter - but it may not have the benefits it is thought to have for planted tanks...

http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/cat-litter.html

"Commercial
substrates are made mostly of clay that has been highly weathered by exposure
to tropical temperature, precipitation, and forest derived humic acids. As a
result of this "geologic curing", the clay develops a crystalline structure
which has many negatively charged sites. Soils and clays from temperate
regions not exposed to accelerated wheathering such as this lack the
characteristic of being negatively charged, and also tend to retain an excess
amount of Ca++ and Mg++ (calcium and magnesium). The characteristic of being
negatively charged is very important in a substrate for the following reason.
Aside from decomposing organic matter, there are no other negatively charged
sites in an aquarium. All of the trace elements which are essential for
healthy plant growth (ammonium, Fe++, K+, and Na++ for example) are attracted
by the negatively charged sites provided by the substrate. The negative sites
in the substrate material attract and hold the positively charged ions of the
trace elements and hold them like a magnet until a plant root hair contacts
the substrate material and exchanges another positively charged ion for the
trace element ion."

"Is cat litter made of the same
types of clay? Good question...almost always the ingredients on a bag of
kittly litter simply state "natural clay" as a key ingredient. How can one be
sure that the clay used in the litter is of a type of clay that has been
exposed to the proper geological conditions as to develop the ability to
attract the positively charged ions of the trace elements? If it is not such
a type, it does no more good to have the kitty litter than it does to have
plain gravel."