# cat litter



## jimib (8 May 2013)

Hi all, I am busy trying to set up my first planted tank, I am using cat litter with Osmocote  underneath,  I am sure i have read somewhere on here (among the hundreds of threads i have read ) that it would it be beneficial to add some red clay and some sort of peat, but being a noob aquarist and gardener have no idea what sort of peat to use,  assuming this is correct  if someone could point me in the right direction  i would be extremely grateful thanks


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## Alastair (8 May 2013)

Hi
If you do feel the need to add peat, which most dont then sphagnum moss or I think irish peat moss is ok. 
The red clay is beneficial for adding iron but if the osmocote already contains trace elements you shouldnt need it and if your going to be adding any form of liquid fertilisers the cat litter will absorb some if this anyway and feed directly to tje roots.


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## biffster (8 May 2013)

i use Arthur j bowers aquatic compost under my cat litter its been running for nearly 
two years now and the plants seem to be growing well


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## grathod (8 May 2013)

Please pardon my really naïve question guys, but as I've heard the use of cat litter quite a lot recently and am raring to give it a go, could anyone advise what type of cat litter to use? Again a really noob question but I don't know much about it so some research yielded clumping and non clumping cat litter. Not sure if this comes scented or the ave bag of this stuff from pets at home would do? Any help or comments most welcome.


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## ceg4048 (8 May 2013)

jimib said:


> Hi all, I am busy trying to set up my first planted tank, I am using cat litter with Osmocote underneath, I am sure i have read somewhere on here (among the hundreds of threads i have read ) that it would it be beneficial to add some red clay and some sort of peat, but being a noob aquarist and gardener have no idea what sort of peat to use, assuming this is correct if someone could point me in the right direction i would be extremely grateful thanks


There is no requirement to add peat, for peats sake. The reason peat is added to substrate has to do with feeding carbohydrates to the developing bacterial colonies. You can add mulm from any mature filter/tank (which any LFS would be happy to supply) or even a little bit of dried grass clippings from your lawnmower. This is the same as adding peat. The organic material rots, breaks down and feeds sugars to the microbes. I'd just keep things simple for now and have one less thing to worry about.

Cheers,


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## jimib (10 May 2013)

Hi all,   thanks for the replies guy's


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## kevin1962 (20 May 2013)

if used would the peat/compost/dirt degrade over a time to such a point it would need to be replaced? and if so what sort of timescale in a ball park figure kind of way... as I'm sure it would depend on what was used


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## Michael W (20 May 2013)

I think this really depends on what kind of tank you have. If you have a low tech tank with no CO2 and the right lighting supporting your tank without causing the need to add CO2 then the soil would last for years ,since high lighting will drive plants' thirst for CO2 and nutrients even more therefore, degrading the substrate faster.
From reading it seems that in low tech setup with soil the fish keeper can maintain the soil's usefulness for a long while as the fishes' waste from feeding will add nutrients in the long run to your substrate. 

Michael.


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