New To Tropical Fish Keeping: My Cat Litter Tank (Tesco Low Dust)

[jacko32]

nutrafin water conditioner is pretty good as well and it goes a long way

 

[OldMan47]

Typical cheap cat litter is nothing much more than clay pieces. That should work fine as a substrate. If you get some of the fancier cat litters, they contain all kinds of scents and additives I would not want in any tank.

 

[pdludbrooke]

Typical cheap cat litter is nothing much more than clay pieces. That should work fine as a substrate. If you get some of the fancier cat litters, they contain all kinds of scents and additives I would not want in any tank.

I truly hope I managed to wash out all the additives.

 

[Tizer]

You washed yours a lot better than i did mine and my fish are fine 1 month on. Have a good read up on cycling your filter, its going to be a good month until you can add fish so some household ammonia and a liquid test kit should be your next buy. then you can plan the layout and plants while the filter cycles. The last thing you want to do is add fish and end up in a fish in cycle. You will be changing 50% of the water daily, or more, to keep your fish alive and being on a meter, that's going to be expensive

Fishless cycle with ammonia in the beginners resource section, its all there. Gluck!

 

[balajake]

you need

seachem prime
api liquid freshwater master kit
a heater
kleen off household ammonia (from local hardware shops or online its about £1.87 if getting it local)

and a fishless cycle

 

[pdludbrooke]

you need

seachem prime
api liquid freshwater master kit
a heater
kleen off household ammonia (from local hardware shops or online its about £1.87 if getting it local)

and a fishless cycle

Thank you very much for your help! I am very excited about all this. When can I add plants ?

You washed yours a lot better than i did mine and my fish are fine 1 month on. Have a good read up on cycling your filter, its going to be a good month until you can add fish so some household ammonia and a liquid test kit should be your next buy. then you can plan the layout and plants while the filter cycles. The last thing you want to do is add fish and end up in a fish in cycle. You will be changing 50% of the water daily, or more, to keep your fish alive and being on a meter, that's going to be expensive

Fishless cycle with ammonia in the beginners resource section, its all there. Gluck!

Thanks Tizer!

 

[pdludbrooke]

you need

seachem prime
api liquid freshwater master kit
a heater
kleen off household ammonia (from local hardware shops or online its about £1.87 if getting it local)

and a fishless cycle

Thank you very much, I will get these, I am really grateful for your support!

 

[Katch]

I've used cat litter in tanks a lot (technically it adsorbs not absorbs nutrients if you fancy a bit of googling)

The one a lot of people (and I) use is Sophisticat Pink (P@H carry it) - it has odour control that you can smell on it but it has never had any i'll effects on my stock (including some quite sensitive species).

I soak it in a bucket of warm water for an hour then rinse it through twice. Chuck it in the tank attach a mature filter and stock.

I haven't however found it to be a particularly good planted substrate and think it is the reason I have struggled with things like HC cuba, hairgrasses and chain swords - so I'm moving to mineralised soils.

 

[pdludbrooke]

I've used cat litter in tanks a lot (technically it adsorbs not absorbs nutrients if you fancy a bit of googling)

The one a lot of people (and I) use is Sophisticat Pink (P@H carry it) - it has odour control that you can smell on it but it has never had any i'll effects on my stock (including some quite sensitive species).

I soak it in a bucket of warm water for an hour then rinse it through twice. Chuck it in the tank attach a mature filter and stock.

I haven't however found it to be a particularly good planted substrate and think it is the reason I have struggled with things like HC cuba, hairgrasses and chain swords - so I'm moving to mineralised soils.

Do you use liquid fertiliser in your water with the cat litter ?
I have heard it holds nutrients it gets from the water column.

 

[pdludbrooke]

I've used cat litter in tanks a lot (technically it adsorbs not absorbs nutrients if you fancy a bit of googling)

The one a lot of people (and I) use is Sophisticat Pink (P@H carry it) - it has odour control that you can smell on it but it has never had any i'll effects on my stock (including some quite sensitive species).

I soak it in a bucket of warm water for an hour then rinse it through twice. Chuck it in the tank attach a mature filter and stock.

I haven't however found it to be a particularly good planted substrate and think it is the reason I have struggled with things like HC cuba, hairgrasses and chain swords - so I'm moving to mineralised soils.

Oh and also I heard if you use a layer of John Innes No 2 underneath the cat litter, you would need to google this, I didn't do this as just experimenting, to be honest I couldn't see the cat litter thing working, but it looks great, I'm yet to see how it holds and supports plant life, it's all good though!

 

[Katch]

Yeah I was running CO2 and EI - now I'm running low tech and still dosing but a lot less than EI. I think cat litter despite having a fairly good CEC isn't quite up to the job.

IMHO a nutrient rich substrate is the key to growing a lot of plants well.

 

[pdludbrooke]

Any good dechlorinator should do the trick, but the stuff that is most commonly recommended around here and I use myself is Seachem Prime. It can be a little more expensive than other brands to buy but it's super concentrated and you really don't need to use much of it at all, so it works out cheaper for the amount of water it treats.

Right I got the Seachem prime 100mls £7.99, I've added half a cap straight in the water in the tank (I won't do this when there are fish in there)I would like to get the plants, when can I add these ?

 

[balajake]

Any good dechlorinator should do the trick, but the stuff that is most commonly recommended around here and I use myself is Seachem Prime. It can be a little more expensive than other brands to buy but it's super concentrated and you really don't need to use much of it at all, so it works out cheaper for the amount of water it treats.

Right I got the Seachem prime 100mls £7.99, I've added half a cap straight in the water in the tank (I won't do this when there are fish in there)I would like to get the plants, when can I add these ?

next time buy it online at surrey pets online. its 10.73 for a 500ml bottle (4.50 delivery but worth it if you buy a few bottles)

 

[fishprotector]

You can add prime straight to a fully stocked tank and it is safe. I made a diy python water changer and normally siphon out, dose for the whole tank volume straight into the tank, then add the new water straight from the tap.

 

[balajake]

think im going to think about using that cat litter. its a nice colour.

also i am doing a fishless cycle with plants in my tank and they are thriving.