# Cat litter and Bog wood



## french47 (21 Aug 2012)

G'Day Guys,
A have a large tank to set up, I want to use cat litter in the substrate and large lumps of bogwood.
Problem, My wife will not give up the bath for a week so I can soak my wood to get some of the colouring out and as for washing many bags of cat litter to get rid of the perfume is a non starter.
Question, could I put the unwashed litter in the tank with the bogwood fill up and put the filters on, followed by daily water changes for a week. Would it work? I.E. get rid of the perfume smell and remove some of the colouring from the wood.
How do you guys get around this problem?
Cheers


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (21 Aug 2012)

Use a plastic dustbin, and maybe use a large air pump from the bottom? See if you can create a flow similar to a moving bed filter. That will shake as much dust off as possible for sure.

Never used cat litter, but apparently it stinks in the tank, so would go for Bon option.


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## Aqua sobriquet (21 Aug 2012)

The Cat Litter really needs rinsing. The bog wood could take a long time before it stops colouring the water but carbon in the filter can help minimise the effect.


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## awtong (21 Aug 2012)

Do you have a water butt that you could soak the wood in?

Andy


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## french47 (21 Aug 2012)

The BIG BIG problem is I live in a Flat.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (21 Aug 2012)

Hmm, 

Could this be a possibility, I don't know your layout, but something like;






Have a lid on the water but, and Vent it with hosepipe out window if you want to get rid of smell, make sure top is airtight to some degree. 

Put an airstone on a large air pump if you can, to stir up water and change as often as you can.

Alternatively, use a filter with nothing in but filter floss and change daily, also running all the water out of the butt(easily by taking filter outlet out and placing in bath) and replacing with fresh water.

Just an idea.


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## sr20det (21 Aug 2012)

How big is the bog wood.

TESCO are doing large clear containers 25l for a pair for £6 or something.

They do a 45l one for £6 single.

Would have thought that might be big enough?


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## Morgan Freeman (21 Aug 2012)

I'd just throw them both in and accept you'll have a brown fragrant tank for a while. There'll be no fish so what's the difference between using your tank and the bath? The smell might go after a week but you'll still be left with a bit of colour from the cat litter, it will be gone soon enough though. Ditto the tannins.


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## Antipofish (21 Aug 2012)

Whatever you do, DO NOT put perfumed cat litter into your tank and hope that you will "water change" the smell out.  You wont.  I can guarantee it.  I washed mine for half a day and thought the smell had gone and when I added it to the tank it was still there.  I added wood and the wood absorbed the smell too.  At that point, things got VERY NASTY, the smell worsened and I had to rip it all out.

If you dont have the means to rinse the cat litter, don't buy it.  Buy Akadama (bonsai soil).  Its much better as it is not scented !  Its not as cheap but it is STILL cheap enough. The wood is not such an issue.  All it will be leaching is tanins.  Some fish will thank you for it but you can, if you want, put the wood in the bare tank and let it soak that way can't you ?

If the wife wont even "alloa" that, the solution is simple.  Change your Wife !       8)


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## Danny (21 Aug 2012)

I gave my cat litter a 5 rinse rule to stop myself being there for hours, just used a bucket from b&q and put half a bag in each time and rinsed well 5 times. Tank is still cycling but everything seems fine so far, I also only have cat litter and bog wood although in 50L.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (21 Aug 2012)

:text-+1: Akadama soil


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## NattyAntlers (23 Aug 2012)

Cant help with the cat litter but I had a medium sized piece of bogwood that had spent 6 years outside in a flowerpot with a tree and after boiling it for hours and cleaning it very well it still leached tannins, ok if your happy with tea colour water I supose.
Anyway I tried the vinegar method of treating it and have had no more problems with brown water, this was before I found this site so if there are any risks with this method then I expect someone may advise but I have never had any problems with fish health, lots of issue with algae though but I dont believe the treatment is responsible.

I used one of those large plastic strorage boxes that come in many colours.


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## johnski (24 Aug 2012)

Whatever you do, don't put the cat litter in without rinsing it. 

Knowing what I know now, if I used it again (I won't) I'd let it sit in a bucket for a week with daily water changes.


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## tim (24 Aug 2012)

:text-+1: i have it in a couple of tanks its very light and hard to keep plants rooted also very dusty washed mine under the shower laid it out to dry then washed again and it was still as dusty turned my bathroom pink


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## french47 (26 Aug 2012)

Thanks Guys for all your help, I have decided against cat litter, I am going to use ether J.I compost under a gravel tidy topped with Gravel, or Clay balls as used in Hydroponics then capped with Gravel. As for the Bog wood I will use activated carbon while I am doing a fish less cycle that should get rid of the colour.
I have time to make up my mind as the tank has not arrived yet.
Cheers


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## Antipofish (26 Aug 2012)

I dont blame you for not using cat litter, but the clay balls will cost you more than Akadama and IMO is not as versatile. Just food for thought


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## ceg4048 (26 Aug 2012)

Yeah, no kidding. Just get any of the molar clay on these websites. That's all Akadama or cat litter are=> 
http://www.got-bonsai.co.uk/molar-clay-1-litre.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Molar-Clay-Bons ... B0040U6ICA
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-LITRES-BONS ... 0479466464

There is also unscented cat litter by the way...

Cheers,


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## Danny (26 Aug 2012)

ceg4048 said:
			
		

> Yeah, no kidding. Just get any of the molar clay on these websites. That's all Akadama or cat litter are=>
> http://www.got-bonsai.co.uk/molar-clay-1-litre.html
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Molar-Clay-Bons ... B0040U6ICA
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-LITRES-BONS ... 0479466464
> ...



The ebay item there is 2L for £7.55 ( 10L = £33.35inc postage ) 

Cat litter 10L under £3 from Tesco


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## Danny (26 Aug 2012)

This is exactly as you plan, cat litter and bog wood, I put x6 Cardinal Tetra in 24hrs ago and have diy co2 running now so looking a bit greener than this.

IMO nothing wrong with cat litter in the slightest, best thing since sliced bread if you ask me.


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## C00ki3 (29 Oct 2012)

Hi Danny love the scape but you have very few plants in the substrate, I used cat litter for my first scape and planting in it was a nightmare. I love the colour but wouldn't use it again as its so light.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (29 Oct 2012)

My current setup is the first time I have used cat litter and can highly recommend it. At first I was a bit dubious with the smell but this has faded after about 2 months of running. I probably spent an afternoon washing it over and over again in a 5 gallon fermenting bin then left it over night to soak followed by a couple of final rinses before putting it in the tank. At first planting was a bit of a nightmare with plants getting pulled out as I lifted my arm out of the water, probably would have been a lot easier with no water in but I was trying to get a feel of what it was going to look like. Seems to be a lot better now, I guess it must take a while to get fully water logged and compact down a bit. From what I hear some of the expensive purpose made substrates are also very light so from that aspect the saving is definitely worth the money.

One thing I did get caught out with was using an algae magnet to clean the glass. I guess it must be iron rich it sticks to the magnet and it caused a few scratches on my front glass.   All in all I would recommend it.


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## Dan-CR4 (19 Dec 2012)

I used molar clay, as its the same as cat litter just unscented, but its still dusty as hell. And if you are going for a planted tank and want the plants to stay down then it can get some what annoying. When ever I put new plants or cuttings in they come loose and float to the top, eventually they will stay down, but it is annoying keep having to go and replant, esp if you got fish that like to investigate the plants. my oto's love pulling my new plants up. I swear they think its a game.

I had play sand before the molar clay, although i really like the colour of the molar clay that I have, sand did hold my plants down better. Its horses for courses really, every one has their own opinion, which makes everyone's tanks different. Today im thinking about going back to sand, tomorrow who knows how I will feel.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (20 Dec 2012)

> I swear they think its a game.


I know what you mean. I'm trying my hardest to get some hair grass carpeting and have a pair of Kribs that seem to enjoy ripping it out strand by strand. I even find myself throwing a bit of food in their direction to try and distract them. Only works for a while though!

Where do you get the molar clay from Dan? Can't say I've came across it before. I have been having some bother mainly with stems when I need to have my hands in the tank. Doesn't seem to matter if I try and keep away from potential up-rooters the effect in the water seems to draw them towards you like jelly fish. One thing I have found a little bit of an help is to cut them down really short. They are not as buoyant and hopefully by the time they have grew a bit to want to float away the roots have managed to get hold of something.


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## Dan-CR4 (24 Dec 2012)

AverageWhiteBloke said:


> Where do you get the moler clay from Dan?


 
I got my moler clay from here http://Bonsai Tree & Bonsai Trees from Kaizenbonsai.com as I say dusty as hell but had no scent to it. but does work out more money than cat litter. Also its very light so planting is a right git until the roots take hold.​


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