Special Kitty litter for substrat?

Patrice

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Jan 6, 2006
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Hi,
I found lot of information about substrat made from kitty litter on the Krib and on a french forum.
many people seam to have great result with that. some say that some litter brand are'nt realy good and some say that Special Kitty from Wall-Crap should work well.

What do you guys think about that? have you test it?

If it work, that would be great cause it's cheap!
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Special Kitty litter for substrat?

It works suprisingly well.

When you uproot, you must be careful, not top cloud the water, it's a mess if you do.

It's excellent substrate as far as I am concerned, many low techy folks seem to go with soil for some reason, but if you enriched this stuff, it'll do better over time IME.

If you do EI and use this, it'll do very well without any enrichment.
Just find the unscented type.

Tropica now sells a clay based similar product that's not as messy and have some other goodies mixed in.

I've not tried it but will at some point.
I had a luch lawn of dwarf hairgrass and it was as clean as could be and thick and short.

I tried a RFUG on it, it made a mess initially but then cleared up.
I do not like layered substrates as rule and gave up entirely on that concept back about 8-10 years ago.

If you can get the ADA aqua soil, it's more $$ but it's a better color and nicer to work with, I think most feel it's worth it.
But they are both clay.....

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Patrice

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Jan 6, 2006
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Re: Special Kitty litter for substrat?

thx tom,
When you say ADA substrat, are you talking about this:
http://www.adgshop.com/Substrate_System_s/1.htm
I would use ADA substrat but I think shipping will be a little to mutch due to my location. anyway, just cause i'me curious, how mutch of that ADA substrat would I need for my 50g tank that is 36" X 16". They sell it by litter so it's hard to figure. do you mix it with something? do you have to put sand overtop to make it stay there?

about kitty litter,
I am use to clay in my substrat. the one I use work well but cost lot so thats why I am looking a special kitty.
What would be the best way to use it? would you mix it to something? and how mutch is enough (in inch).

regards,

Patrice
 

turbomkt

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Jan 24, 2005
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Re: Special Kitty litter for substrat?

Patrice,
ADA is available in some places in Europe. It's available at least in the UK.

--Mike

p.s. I'm guessing on where you are.
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Special Kitty litter for substrat?

Then use the kitty litter, about 1 inch will be fine, you can dope it with KNO3, KH2PO4 solution for a day or two prior if you wish, some add laterite etc or a dusting of ground peat.

I never did, just some mulm and 1" and then capped with 2-3 " inch 2-3 mm sand.

Search Dan Quackenbush, he was a proponent of that and the bleach to kill BBA.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Patrice

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Jan 6, 2006
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Re: Special Kitty litter for substrat?

Tom Barr said:
Search Dan Quackenbush, he was a proponent of that and the bleach to kill BBA.

Regards,
Tom Barr

what is Dan Quackenbush?

Also, how would you compair ADA substrat to Special Kitty. does ADA work way mutch better? cause in an other post, your say that a 9 litter bac is enough for a 20g tank. that seem not bat if it's worth it. you see, some time I want to save a few $ on things like that and after 1 year of frustration, I realize I would have pay 10 time what I paid to not have to endure that cheap one I bought and all consequences that came with it.

thx

Pat
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Special Kitty litter for substrat?

The ADA stuff is very nice and makes things mighty easy.
I'm of the mind that you get what you pay for wuith the ADA stuff, more than other name brand products.

Now........that said, I also like to try and play around also, but I don't like to waste $$ doing that either.

Kitty litter is good, so is soil for that matter.

Both are cheapy DIY type of substrates.

I use soil extensively in my research, 950 pots to be exact.
That's a lot of soil and sand.

Regards,
Tom Barr