# Cat Litter Question



## Antipofish (13 Dec 2011)

Hi, I have used the Tesco lightweight cat litter as referred to by a lot of people on here.

However, having rinsed and rinsed and rinsed it, my tank is STILL partly cloudy having been running with filter for 48 hours.  ALSO the cat litter seems incredibly light and the slightest movement in the water column near the substrate seems to have it wafting all over the place.  It seems to be too light and I am worried about plants not staying in it for starters, and that it will just not stay in place when my Corys are in rooting around the bottom.

Can anyone advise ?  Does it soak in the water eventually, or will it be the same in three months as it is now ?  I have to be honest, I am close to sucking the stuff out and putting Play sand or Unipac Limpopo in instead.  Feel a bit disappointed with it to be honest.  Another alternative could be to leave a small layer above my aquabasis+ and top it with something heavier.  

Would appreciate whatever advice you can give, thanks.


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## hinch (13 Dec 2011)

mines still light and fluffy after 2 months I suspect once plants get rooted into it and it gets filled with fishy poop it'll settle down but no idea nobody else seems to complain 

give it a while unti you stick corys in though


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## Antipofish (13 Dec 2011)

hinch said:
			
		

> mines still light and fluffy after 2 months I suspect once plants get rooted into it and it gets filled with fishy poop it'll settle down but no idea nobody else seems to complain
> 
> give it a while unti you stick corys in though



Why give it a while before I put Cory's in there ?


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## mitchelllawson (13 Dec 2011)

They will mess up the substrate big time.


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## Antipofish (13 Dec 2011)

mitchelllawson said:
			
		

> They will mess up the substrate big time.



In what way ?


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## Alastair (13 Dec 2011)

I've had it in my tank for over 6months now. Was light at first but seems fine now. I have Corys in and they don't seem to make any problems, and I also have glosso growing great in it so can't be that light now


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## foxfish (13 Dec 2011)

I have had success using cat litter, although I used the slightly bigger grain aristocrat product, I never had cory problems.
The corys seem to enjoy rooting around in the stuff - how do you predict this to be a problem?
To be honest my litter days are over now as I needed a change from the colour.


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## Antipofish (13 Dec 2011)

Alastair said:
			
		

> I've had it in my tank for over 6months now. Was light at first but seems fine now. I have Corys in and they don't seem to make any problems, and I also have glosso growing great in it so can't be that light now
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk



Cool, thanks Alastair.  Glad you got the glosso growing now, I read you had a few issues first time round ?


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## Antipofish (13 Dec 2011)

foxfish said:
			
		

> I have had success using cat litter, although I used the slightly bigger grain aristocrat product, I never had cory problems.
> The corys seem to enjoy rooting around in the stuff - how do you predict this to be a problem?
> To be honest my litter days are over now as I needed a change from the colour.



Only problem I perceived was if they sifted around to the extent it moved the substrate away from the plant stems/roots thus allowing the plants to float.  I am probably worrying unnecessarily, and can get over the Cory thing, but I DO wish it would damn well clear soon.  I will do what Alastair said in the first place and see what a decent water change achieves.


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## Alastair (13 Dec 2011)

Yes I did mate. It was more down to me not getting optimum levels of co2, flow etc. it's like a weed now it grows that quick. 
Definitely do a 50 percent water change mate n should definitely clear the tank up. If it was really clOudy is change the floss inside the filter too as that's prob caked in dirt now


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## Antipofish (13 Dec 2011)

Alastair said:
			
		

> Yes I did mate. It was more down to me not getting optimum levels of co2, flow etc. it's like a weed now it grows that quick.
> Definitely do a 50 percent water change mate n should definitely clear the tank up. If it was really clOudy is change the floss inside the filter too as that's prob caked in dirt now



Sweet as    Thats my task for tomorrow   I also noticed as soon as your tank was filled you had plants sitting in there waiting to be planted.  I added some bacteria starter today just to see if it reduced the clouding any further.  Who knows what tomorrow morning will bring.  If I chuck in a load of plants over the next few days am I ok to add some fish ? (Was reading about non fishless cycling on another site).


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## Alastair (13 Dec 2011)

I'd get the plants in first, give it a week then pop in a couple if fish to start with. Give it another week and if alls well pop a couple more in :0)


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## PeteA (13 Dec 2011)

I'm using that too in my new tank. I've noticed today that it's pretty much cleared/settled - that's a full 7 1/2 days in 190 litres.  What I think happens is that the cat litter contains dust within it (which just needs to be soaked out), once this goes it'll settle a bit better (as the dust wants to float).  It'll still go everywhere if it gets a direct jet of water on - I knocked the angled lily-head off and now have a crater at the back of the tank 

There was a topic on here not long ago that covered the fishless cycle and how it's less necessary if your tank has live plants as they will act as a biological filter in their own right - however, you need to make sure that the plants are established else they could die off and as such you'll end up with a tank that is completely unfiltered!


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## Antipofish (13 Dec 2011)

PeteA said:
			
		

> I'm using that too in my new tank. I've noticed today that it's pretty much cleared/settled - that's a full 7 1/2 days in 190 litres.  What I think happens is that the cat litter contains dust within it (which just needs to be soaked out), once this goes it'll settle a bit better (as the dust wants to float).  It'll still go everywhere if it gets a direct jet of water on - I knocked the angled lily-head off and now have a crater at the back of the tank
> 
> There was a topic on here not long ago that covered the fishless cycle and how it's less necessary if your tank has live plants as they will act as a biological filter in their own right - however, you need to make sure that the plants are established else they could die off and as such you'll end up with a tank that is completely unfiltered!



Cheers.  Sorry to sound dense, but "angled lily head" ??  What on earth is that ? LOL.  I see what you mean about the dust.  It sure was dusty when I cleaned it. It almost looked like *smoke* coming off of it and the pong of the perfume.  Yuck, I would rather smell cat poo !!  Anyway, the smell is all gone now..

On the subject of the dust floating, is there something I can get as a surface skimming attachment for my external, or are they a bad idea ?


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## hinch (13 Dec 2011)

i meant hold off on the corys until your plants have had time to root in and matt up the litter not don't put them in at all


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## Antipofish (13 Dec 2011)

hinch said:
			
		

> i meant hold off on the corys until your plants have had time to root in and matt up the litter not don't put them in at all



Ahh I get ya   Damn damn damn damn damn !!! I wanted to put them in first but what you say makes sense.  OK I will take that advice.  See how long I last .... Im a huge Cory fan.  The first fish I had were 7 Corydoras Julii and they were unbelievably adorable. I loved the way they swam round the tank in all levels of the water column like a bunch of Tank Police patrolling their domain, hehe.


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## roadmaster (14 Dec 2011)

Plant's established,cool water,cat litter not too sharp edged,and cory's will do well.


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## hinch (14 Dec 2011)

Antipofish said:
			
		

> Im a huge Cory fan.  The first fish I had were 7 Corydoras Julii and they were unbelievably adorable. I loved the way they swam round the tank in all levels of the water column like a bunch of Tank Police patrolling their domain, hehe.



see i dislike corys just don't like them at all they're like pretend bottom feeders


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## PeteA (14 Dec 2011)

Antipofish said:
			
		

> Cheers.  Sorry to sound dense, but "angled lily head" ??  What on earth is that ? LOL.  I see what you mean about the dust.  It sure was dusty when I cleaned it. It almost looked like *smoke* coming off of it and the pong of the perfume.  Yuck, I would rather smell cat poo !!  Anyway, the smell is all gone now..
> 
> On the subject of the dust floating, is there something I can get as a surface skimming attachment for my external, or are they a bad idea ?



Lol, doesn't sound dense.  The bottom of my filter pipe is a clear 90-degree "joint" that has a flange on it that makes it act like a lily pipe 

I've left one of the "polishing pads" (the white sponge that looks like toy stuffing) in my external which seems to be doing the job OK (though slowly).

I'm planning on doing a complete water change before I put in fish and letting that run for 24/48 hours so that I know 100% there isn't any kak left in the water.


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## Antipofish (14 Dec 2011)

hinch said:
			
		

> Antipofish said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Pretend bottom feeders ?


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## hinch (15 Dec 2011)

compared to the lovely pleco's


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## foxfish (15 Dec 2011)

I love corys, since mine stated breeding a few months back I love them even more!
In fact my new project is based around keeping then as happy as possible.


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## Antipofish (15 Dec 2011)

hinch said:
			
		

> compared to the lovely pleco's



LOL but the poo much more and the really nice ones COST a lot more too


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## hinch (15 Dec 2011)

but so much prettier and grow to a decent size


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