# substrate queery



## peter senior (2 Apr 2013)

Hi Al
I am just about to re-set my tank, i posted a thread in the lighting section and got the info i needed the new tube,s are on there way
the next bit of info i need is the substrate,
i want a low tech tank were i can grow amazons and any other plants that are easy to maintain
iv,e read the section on cat litter and i like the tesco,s brand that has the red look to it
here,s my question, if i use the kitty litter would you recommend a potting compost underneath or something similar
or would you go for kitty litter on it,s own, if used on it,s own do i have to add liquid fertilizers daily
i am trying to keep thing,s simple but have a nice planted tank
if this is a succsess i want to get another tank later this year and try something a little more advanced
thanks Pete.


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## NanoJames (2 Apr 2013)

No, I don't believe you would need to add anything extra to cat litter. It is made up of clay so it has everything the plants need. You also wouldn't need to add anything daily if it was a low light tank. I think your plants would benefit from a weekly dose of liquid carbon. That would perk them up. I think you would only need to dose one thing every week as some liquid carbons have added nutrients anyway. I hope this helps!


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## Alastair (2 Apr 2013)

Hi. The cat litter doesn't actually contain everything the plants need unfortunately. It just has a very good ability to absorb excess nutrients from the water column which in turn would feed the roots of plants. 
Also when you begin to add liquid carbon you also need to start adding additional ferts as it moves the tank up from a low tech tank.
Depending on your stocking level you can just use the cat litter on its own if you intend to have a high fish load or if not you could add additional low doses of ferts each week if your lighting is low. 
Or as you stated you could place some john innes no3 under the cat litter which would feed the plants for a long time and also create a form of carbon to the plant roots due to the process it goes through. 

Hope this helps


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## peter senior (3 Apr 2013)

Thanks for reply,s
 where do i get the liquid carbon ? and what else need,s to be added regarding fertilizers
Thanks Pete


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## NanoJames (3 Apr 2013)

Liquid carbon is pretty easy to come by. Just type in liquid carbon on google and you should get results. I think EasyCarbo is one that lots of people on here use. I think Aqua Essentials sell some too.


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## peter senior (3 Apr 2013)

Thanks Jame,s


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## tim (3 Apr 2013)

aquaessentials also sell their own brand of liquid carbon much more affordable


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## Pinkmummy79 (12 Apr 2013)

tim said:


> aquaessentials also sell their own brand of liquid carbon much more affordable


I use this and it's fine, but I have a 250 litre tank so it works out much cheaper for me to buy AE's large container of Neutro C02 rather than a normal bottle of EasyCarbo, but on your smaller tank you can obviously use less and take your pick


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## peter senior (17 Apr 2013)

I was reading up on liquid carbon and came across a vid by aquaessentials
in the vid the guy said liquid carbon would melt riccia as anybody had any experiance with this?
iv,e just orderd some riccia and dont want to kill it
thanks Pete


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## NanoJames (17 Apr 2013)

I don't know about that one. I use both Tropica Premium ferts and TetraPlant Plantamin in my nano with Riccia and it seems to do fine. I know that neither of these are pure liquid carbons like EasyCarbo but I would imagine they have some carbon in them? I don't know if that actually helps but I hope it does!


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