# Pets At Home Non Clumping Clay Cat Litter



## Edward Shave (25 May 2022)

I recently became aware that cat litter can be used as an aquarium substrate.
This interested me as I wanted to increase the height of my existing fine gravel substrate only to find it's out of stock.
So my thoughts turned to maybe getting something cheap to go underneath the existing gravel.
So when I came across references to cat litter being a cheap option it seemed like the ideal solution.
CEC is not high on my priority list but hey if it works it's a bonus. 
So which cat litter to buy? I found a brand being used by a UK youtuber and ordered some.
Pets At Home Non Clumping Clay Cat Litter
I was expecting it to be comprised of hard lumps of baked clay something like pea gravel size. Instead appears to be at least 50% dust..!

I did read it may not be successful underneath as it has a tendency to rise up to the top over time. However I will be testing this in a spare tank with no fish and am interested in seeing how it works on it's own too.

Questions:
Have I got a suitable cat litter for my project?
If not can someone recommend a more suitable alternative?
If this stuff is okay, am i supposed to somehow separate the dust and dispose of it or does it all go in?


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## dw1305 (25 May 2022)

Hi all, 


Edward Shave said:


> So my thoughts turned to maybe getting something cheap to go underneath the existing gravel.


It is very light, so you would need to put it in net bags etc to keep it under the gravel. 


Edward Shave said:


> I was expecting it to be comprised of hard lumps of baked clay something like pea gravel size. Instead appears to be at least 50% dust..!


It is quite fine (coarse sand sized), but it shouldn't be dust like. 


Edward Shave said:


> However I will be testing this in a spare tank with no fish and am interested in seeing how it works on it's own too.


It is fine on its own, I've had a tank with it in for ~12 years and it is still intact. 

cheers Darrel


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## Edward Shave (25 May 2022)

dw1305 said:


> It is fine on its own, I've had a tank with it in for ~12 years and it is still intact.


Thanks Darrel, that's very reassuring.


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## dino21 (25 May 2022)

Hi,

You want to get some Kitty Friend Pink litter, P@H etc,  which  when we bought sometwo years ago  was almost all good even sized peices, very little dust.
Substrate set up for heavy planting in long shallow tank

Did soak it in a bucket for a few days and ran the hose pipe through it to release all the pinky stain,

Was advised to add some pure peat to it and top with sand,   what a mess !  had to remove it and  clean everying again, without peat !

Hard to say if it really does have any real  growth advantages over sand and gravel as not run such tanks in parallel.


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## ScareCrow (25 May 2022)

Edward Shave said:


> I recently became aware that cat litter can be used as an aquarium substrate.
> This interested me as I wanted to increase the height of my existing fine gravel substrate only to find it's out of stock.
> So my thoughts turned to maybe getting something cheap to go underneath the existing gravel.
> So when I came across references to cat litter being a cheap option it seemed like the ideal solution.
> ...


The cat litter in the link looks to be a very light colour. I also bought some pets at home cat litter recently as I use it in my tanks and for better drainage when potting on plants. I got the kitten safe /friendly (can't remember the exact name) version in a 5kg paper bag. Although it was non-clumping it's not made of the correct clay for aquarium use. I think it is Fuller's earth. If you soak it in some water for 15 minutes or so then rub it between your fingers my guess is it will start to break down. You want moler clay which is a more red colour.
There's a recent thread about cat litter here that might help with identifying the correct product.
I've had it as the only substrate but as Darrel said it's very light and I struggled to get anything to root into it.
I now mix it 50:50 cat litter, leaf mould and add some miracle-gro slow release pellets. I put the mix into mesh bags which I cap with sand. This seems to be working but I've not run a side by side comparison. My view is that even if the cation exchange capacity isn't adding any benefit, the cat litter improves the substrate texture, helping avoid compaction.


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## dw1305 (26 May 2022)

Hi all, 


ScareCrow said:


> I think it is Fuller's earth.


I think that is the <"absorbent, clumping  one">. They used to mine it around Bath. 

You want the <"Moler Clay"> one. I think it is all <"mined in Denmark">.

cheers Darrel


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## dino21 (26 May 2022)




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## foxfish (26 May 2022)

It is an interesting product …. Moler


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## ScareCrow (26 May 2022)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I think that is the <"absorbent, clumping  one">. They used to mine it around Bath.
> 
> ...


Yeah that was what I thought but despite saying non-clumping on the bag it's not moler clay. 
I tried soaking it in water and then rubbing it between my fingers and it soon started to disintegrate.


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## Edward Shave (1 Jun 2022)

UPDATE
Well the bag I bought
Pets At Home Non Clumping Clay Cat Litter 20L​turned out to be completely unsuitable.
You could rinse it till the cows come home and never get the dust out of it.
I put it in a small empty tank to see how it would do and it just turned into a sort of sludge with bits in it.
Rather than throw it away I offered it it to my neighbour who has cats. This was her verdict...
"_That cat litter is rubbish! The boys use it but it doesn’t soak any wee up! Just leaves puddles. It’s too fine n dusty. I’m not even going to give it to Cats protection as it’s so awful. Sorry, but thanks for the offer. Throw it away._"
She gave me a small bag of the stuff she uses (CATSAN) to try...
The difference was night and day..!  Hardly needed rinsing, nice granular size , colour white and looks good. Unfortunately not clay though. Label says a mixture of quartz and limestone.  I'm going to leave it for a while to see how it effects the water parameters over time.


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## Hanuman (1 Jun 2022)

Not sure how expensive pumice is in the UK, but here in Thailand it is used all the time in tanks and it's very cheap. This could also be an alternative if you can't fine delux cat litter.


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