# Rinsing cat litter



## mr. luke (16 Jun 2010)

I rinsed my cat litter (tescos premium) for about half an hour today.
It ran clear after about 10 minutes, but it stil honks of that odour control stuff they throw on it.
Should i just throw it in the tank and see whats what? I cant seem to get rid of the smell


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## Stickleback (17 Jun 2010)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

You need the stuff without the odour control. I once used a bucket that had once had had some of that cat litter in it, to fill a tank. That small contamination of of the odour control stuff killed everything.

R


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## squiggley (17 Jun 2010)

mr. luke said:
			
		

> I rinsed my cat litter (tescos premium) for about half an hour today.
> It ran clear after about 10 minutes, but it stil honks of that odour control stuff they throw on it.
> Should i just throw it in the tank and see whats what? I cant seem to get rid of the smell



This is all I did for my 2 tanks and I've had no problems so far. Left it in the tank for 24hrs did water change and then added plants and fish.


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## mr. luke (18 Jun 2010)

Stickleback said:
			
		

> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
> 
> You need the stuff without the odour control. I once used a bucket that had once had had some of that cat litter in it, to fill a tank. That small contamination of of the odour control stuff killed everything.
> 
> R



This is the one everyone uses, it should be ok 
I think im gonna throw it into the water but for a few weeks and see what s what.


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## Polly (22 Jun 2010)

I just rinsed it and put it in the tank too.  The smell was still there, so I ran activated carbon in the filter for a couple of days, just in case.   The shrimp and fish didn't seem to care either way 

The way I see it, if it had been dangerous to the fish, the shrimp would have let me know, they are far more sensitive   I did have mature water in the tank though, don't know if this makes a difference?


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## Stickleback (23 Jun 2010)

When I did it the crayfish were the only things to survive.


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## alan_uk (27 Jun 2010)

hmmm im intrigued by this is this stuff good for growing plants ??

and once in the tank is it there for good and nothing else need to be added to it to make it work and can it be used as a substrate only without having to add anything else?


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## Garuf (27 Jun 2010)

It's basically that clay has a high CEC this is very good for plants, I would vote that akadama is better than most cat litter clays but over all, all the products that are clay based are essentially the same and work on the same principle. As long as you're adding enough to the water column you can get a way with just plain ol' gravel, but if you have a nutritious substrate you can get away with a whole lot more.


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## arty (27 Jun 2010)

I think depend conntent of cat litter.
maybe better very cheap option from bonsai online shop  , that is clean cat litter - Moler Clay without any additions and 40L cost only Â£13.50
I personaly will order after some time. very cheap price, and there can buy JAPANESE FUJI GRIT too, looks like Eco COmplete, i think cover top with grit, there only 1 Liter bags sell of Fuji grit 

http://www.bonsai-uk.co.uk/moler-clay-s ... -1322.html


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## alan_uk (27 Jun 2010)

excuse me for being dense but what does adding to the water column mean exactly 

and that bonsai soil is that ok to use as substrate only without a top layer and would i be able to add that to my tank plant in it and leave it just doing 1/4 water change every week without anything bad happening as long as i carry on using my co2 and liquid ferts ??

also would i need to clean it before adding it to the aquarium 

thank you


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## arty (27 Jun 2010)

I'm not specialist in soils, but i read about best option is mix litter with something. to high CEC not the best, depend from fertilization methods and other factors. Last time i bought simply baked clay granules - Aqua clay from Aqua Essential, 10L bag cost only 10 pounds. I think later buy more and possibly will add some % or mix half of moler clay for better CEC or something similar.
Maybe better mix akadama and Moler clay ? But i'm not specialist in soils and will hear any advice too ?!

Best Regards,


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## dw1305 (28 Jun 2010)

Hi all,


> Maybe better mix akadama and Moler clay ?"


The CEC of all of these calcined clay substrates will depend upon the CEC of the original clay mineral and the temperature that it was calcined at. For example Kaolinite has a CEC of 5 meq/100 g. but other clay minerals, such as smectite and vermiculite, have in excess of 100 meq/100 g CEC, and organic matter has a  _c_. 150 meq/100 g CEC.

There is no problem with a substrate with very high CEC. Moler clay is a "Diatomaceous earth" so has  a CEC approx. 25 - 30 meq/100 g and the CEC of Akadama is quoted as "21 meq/100g", so realistically they are one and the same in CEC terms. 

The CEC of all these clay based substrates will decline as the temperature of calcination rises.

cheers Darrel


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## alan_uk (28 Jun 2010)

im still non the wiser from this sorry i really dont mean to sound thick but i just dont get all these numbers and amounts of things lol

all i need to know in my own mind is if i add just the cat litter or the http://www.bonsai-uk.co.uk/moler-clay-s ... -1322.html

would that be all i needed to add and will my plants grow well enough in it and will it be safe 

also which of the above 2 would i be better off with and would they last say a year ??

again sorry for being dumb and thank you to anyone who can finally clear this up for me


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## dw1305 (28 Jun 2010)

Hi all,
The answer is you can use any of the calcined clay products, Akadama, Cat litter, Seramis etc. The moler clay Bonsai substrate in the link and the non-clumping cat litter are basically the same,  you will need to wash the scent out of the cat litter.

The harder granules cooked at a higher temperature will stay together better ("last longer"), but will have less ability to hold onto nutrients ("a lower CEC"). If you use EI or similar the substrate becomes irrelevant as the plants will never need to draw on the nutrients in the substrate.  

cheers Darrel


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## alan_uk (28 Jun 2010)

superb well on that note i will use the bonsai soil as its 40l for Â£20 posted which is a bargain and its only really for the stem plants i will continue to use the ferts that was reccomended to me and my new lighting 

the only new thing to do is ditch the tetra co2 aerosol kit and make a home made kit


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