Kitty Litter as a substrate
kevin john wilhite
moderate light plants will be used. I have seen bits and pieces on this
and other rec.aquaria.* groups about people using cat litter as a
substrate and I have just a few questions.
1. Obviously I need to avoid those brands that contain ingredients other
than the litter itself. What ingredients should I look for, assuming
it is marked on the bag and therefore avoid?
2. Could some recommendations be made about brands?
3. I assume the litter is placed on the bottom and covered with gravel.
How much litter should be added? Would 2.5 to 3.0 inches of gravel
be sufficient to cover?
4. What, if any, are the effects of the litter on water chemistry?
Thanks,
-k
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There's Johnny Cat (Fragrance Free) for about 2 bucks in the grocery
store and I used 3 or 4 inches of that plus maybe 1/2 inch of gravel to hold
it down to plant some water lillies & other plants in a 1/2 barrel outside
and then dumped 5 goldfish into it. It's been doing great and has been
crystal clear (well the sides of it have algae..) for 2 months now. I
suppose the only thing in there you can use as info is the brand of kitty
litter. It's basically just clay. You can buy hydroponic soil for ponds at
home depot for about the same price but it's really strange because I can't
tell one from the other in any way (sight, smell, feel, effect in water).
Don't quite know how that'll do with an aquarium because I only use gravel
in my aquariums but good luck,
Mick
Mick
Chuck Gadd
john wilhite) wrote:
>I am preparing to set up a planted tank, 10 gal. in size. Low-light to
>moderate light plants will be used. I have seen bits and pieces on this
>and other rec.aquaria.* groups about people using cat litter as a
>substrate and I have just a few questions.
>
>4. What, if any, are the effects of the litter on water chemistry?
I don't use it personally, but here is some interesting research that
was posted on the "Aquatic Plants Mailing List" a few days ago:
> Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 17:30:41 -0400
> From: "Jamie Johnson"
> Subject: Substrate research
> Hi All,
> It's been kinda slow this afternoon at work, so I started a little
> project I've been curious about for some time now. My tanks use a
> kitty litter/sand substrate and I've never had any complaints. First
> off, I don't move the big plants around to disturb anything serious.
> And, second, I don't have my 'mining cichlids' in those tanks,
> either. My cichlid tank is about to undergo big changes, I'm
> replacing the gravel bed with Fluorite. Being born with a very
> stubborn, analytical brain, I had to research. I was very curious to
> find what my substrates were made of, elementally. Since I work at
> a lab and do trace metal analysis, I knew it was only a matter of
> time before I got the best of myself.
>
> I did analysis on 3 samples: Fluorite, Wal-Mart Special Kitty litter,
> and soil from my garden. 1g of dry sample was pulverized by a
> mortal/pestal and digested according to Method 3050B EPA Soil
> method. *Disclaimer of method - This is not a total digestion. It is a
> very strong acid digestion that will dissolve almost all elements that
> could become "environmentally available". By design, elements
> bound in silicate structures are not normally dissolved by this
> procedure as they are not usually mobile in the environment.* This
> is still a VERY good representation of what is in the sample, as we
> use it daily for all kinds of solid samples. A Hydrofluoric acid
> digestion in more complicated, but more geologically correct, as it
> gets EVERY element in solution. I will do the HF digestion later to
> compare results. Should be quite interesting. Here's what I got:
>
> Element Soil (mg/kg) Litter (mg/kg) Fluorite (mg/kg)
>
> Al 5700 6000 6800
> As < 8.1 11.3
> Ba 156 11.6 133
> Be 0.2 0.5 0.3
> Ca 5800 14300 530
> Cd 0.6 2.4 <
> Co 2.6 2.7 3.4
> Cr 10 30 6.2
> Cu 73 12.6 13.8
> Fe 11500 14500 9610
> K 433 2200 1700
> Mg 1000 3760 1490
> Mn 136 47.5 85.5
> Na 570 395 444
> Ni 4.1 21.1 8.0
> Pb 218 ? 9.3 5.4
> V 24.5 12.3 8.8
> Zn 248 70.5 33.5
>
> Three things caught my eye. First, where did my garden get Pb
> from?? It's an old house and the garden in right against the wall, so
> maybe years of lead paint leaching from rainwater into my soil. I
> don't care, the veggies are delicious! Second, the As level in
> Fluorite. It's addressed in their website, it doesn't leach out and is
> no cause for concern. And, third, does my cat know he is standing
> in Cd laced clay? I don't know where it came from, either, but
> again, it doesn't leach out. My water tests sooo clean from my
> tanks, and the only thing that ever shows is the things I add. I was
> real surprised to see how dynamic my litter was. It's loaded with all
> kinds of good stuff, plenty of Ca, Fe, K, and Mg. The soil looked
> good, too, except for the lead. The Fluorite was the least reactive of
> the three. It's hard as hell to grind up and just sits in the acid,
> where the other two fizz and bubble, mainly because of the Ca
> compounds and the organics in the soil. Small amounts of the litter
> and soil went into solution, but I think all of the Fluorite stayed in
> the beaker. It's like a crumbled brick sample.
> I've got to admit I'm impressed by them all. I would've bet any one
> of them would have lacked something important, but they're all
> comparatively good. I didn't test my gravel, probably something like
> 950,000 mg/kg SiO2 ;-). I hope someone finds it all interesting.
> Now, it's time to wash and rinse 45lbs of Fluorite.
>
> Jamie
Chuck Gadd
Director of Software Development, Cyber FX Communications.
imzadi
I recently set up my 25 gallon tank using Wal*Mart Special Kitty cat litter
in the first 2 inches of the bottom of the tank. This has worked extremely
well. I used Tetra Initial mixed into the first inch or so and some Osmocote
into the very bottom 1/2 inch or so for some long lasting fertilization. My
only problem is that I used sand blasting sand on top and it has proved to
be a bit of a hassle because my clown loaches have a bad habit of stirring
up the sand and mulm on the bottom. My magnum 200 stopped pumping over the
weekend so I don't have any polishing going on to keep the stirred stuff
filtered out. The plants had a lot of settled gunk on them. I needed some
fine gravel on top to keep this from happening. Check out my web page in the
link at the bottom for more information.
When I set up this tank again I would probably use a layer of gravel on top
of the sand or mix it. The sand works very well to plant stuff in. The best
advice I can give you is to give it a try. Your mileage may vary.. My plants
are growing like crazy in the stuff. It seems to be very good for the plants
and does not affect the water at all.
My only problem is the already high phosphate levels in my tap water. I am
still working on getting this problem under control. If I can get my magnum
working again I should be able to clear the water again.
Summary:
1. Use the cheap stuff that is nothing but baked clay (no clumping kind or
fragrances added).
2. Use some sand underneath the gravel to seal off the kitty litter from the
surface.
3. Use some fine gravel in the top layer to keep the sand from being stirred
up by fish/water changes etc..
4. Use a good substrate fertilizer in the very bottom layer and don't stir
things up adding the water.
5. On a 10 gallon tank you probably will only want to use about a inch and a
half or more of kitty litter and a inch or so of sand or gravel. I used
about 2" K-litter and 1 " of sand in a 25 gallon. I would not go much more
than that even in a bigger tank. (hopefully I will be able to get a 75-100
gallon tank in a year or so!!)
Learning more and more everyday. Please let me know if you have more
questions.
----------------------------------------------
Scott Colvin:
Technical Support: Floral Accounting Systems Inc.
Computer Consulting & Repair: Home & Business PC's
Ruston, LA.
imz...@bayou.com
http://www.bayou.com/~imzadi
Check out my Aquarium Page
http://www.bayou.com/~imzadi/Aquarium
----------------------------------------------
kevin john wilhite <kwil...@ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu> wrote in message
news:7ohtr6$ase$1...@flotsam.uits.indiana.edu...
> I am preparing to set up a planted tank, 10 gal. in size. Low-light to
> moderate light plants will be used. I have seen bits and pieces on this
> and other rec.aquaria.* groups about people using cat litter as a
> substrate and I have just a few questions.
>
> 1. Obviously I need to avoid those brands that contain ingredients other
> than the litter itself. What ingredients should I look for, assuming
> it is marked on the bag and therefore avoid?
>
> 2. Could some recommendations be made about brands?
>
> 3. I assume the litter is placed on the bottom and covered with gravel.
> How much litter should be added? Would 2.5 to 3.0 inches of gravel
> be sufficient to cover?
>
> 4. What, if any, are the effects of the litter on water chemistry?
>
JAM
other fertilizers, but I did have quite a bit of light (60 watts of full
spectrum).
Bottom, 1 in of the cheapest kitty litter Walmart sells. Read the bag,
100% clay.
Middle, 1 inch of dirt dug out of my garden. Be careful about chemicals
that may be in there. Pick out as much of the plant particles as you
can.
Top, 2 in of general purpose sand from the hardware store. Rinse this
really well. Until the water runs clear. You will lose about 1/2 the
volume.
My plants did very well. I had to contantly trim them back as they
threatened to take over the tank.
I am presently using the same setup in a 75. I dont have nearly as much
light this time though. It has only been set up for about a couple of
months or so. I am still adding plants. So far, what is there is doing
well. Milfoils, Ludwidia, Dwarf sword, river moss, and some other sort
of foreground plant my dealer talked me into. The milfoil has had to be
trimed twice and the ludwigia once. Everything else is spreading across
the tank. The mellon sword and saggitaria have only been in the tank
about a week, so it is too soon to tell. However I expect no problems.
The tank was fully set up when I put some of the plants in. I dug down
pretty far, into the dirt in fact, when I put in the mellon swords, as
they are some fairly well developed roots. It didnt muddy up the water
at all. The tank is still very clear. Do be gently when you work
however.
John A.
kevin jo