Planted tank starter?

[Jimmy16]

One option is to put the filter on the short end, so the water has longer distances to travel and spread.

heaters fine.

and yeah one bag of eco will work

So tonight I'm going to petsmart to pick up the Eco-complete and some dwarf hairgrass(of they have any..) when should I add the shrimp in? Shrimps are quite expensive where I am ($2.50 each..) should I put some ghost shrimp in first to test out the water? The filter will be mature and I'm going to use water from my 230 gallon tank to fill it.


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[Will Hayward]

No don't use ghost shrimp. they are used to poor water conditions anyways as they are kept, bred, and sold as feeders.

Consider using Molar Clay for the substrate if you want to cut costs. It's the ingredient in Special Kitty Non Clumping Cat litter. gotta be about 1/6 the price of eco.

 

[Jimmy16]

No don't use ghost shrimp. they are used to poor water conditions anyways as they are kept, bred, and sold as feeders.

Consider using Molar Clay for the substrate if you want to cut costs. It's the ingredient in Special Kitty Non Clumping Cat litter. gotta be about 1/6 the price of eco.

Where can I find this "molar clay"? Will petsmart have this also? kitty litter has nutrients for plants? Haha. Will it be just as effective as Eco-complete?


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[Good_Times]

Consider using Molar Clay for the substrate if you want to cut costs. It's the ingredient in Special Kitty Non Clumping Cat litter. gotta be about 1/6 the price of eco.

Can u use just the cat litter instead and is the molar clay good as a fert or mineral source?

 

[Will Hayward]

Special Kitty Non Clumping Cat litter. It IS molar clay.

You can buy it at Walmart, perhaps pet stores too.

Has many minerals for plants to use. Not likely to contain any nitrate phosphate or potassium though.

It has a high CEC - Cation Exchange Capacity. look that term up.

 

[Good_Times]

Special Kitty Non Clumping Cat litter. It IS molar clay.

Hahaha lol, I just imagined someone saying that angrily at the top of their voice in the middle of a busy street.

Special Kitty Non Clumping Cat litter. It IS molar clay.

You can buy it at Walmart, perhaps pet stores too.

Has many minerals for plants to use. Not likely to contain any nitrate phosphate or potassium though.

It has a high CEC - Cation Exchange Capacity. look that term up.

Oky that's cool, a cheap substrate for plants.
I guess it shouldn't be the scented one?
As for CEC, looked it up. Something about cations/ions being released by soil according to pH, I'll just trust you're word on it.

 

[Will Hayward]

No anger here, I'm chill.

I've know people who use the scented one. they soak it for a week to remove most of the scent, but even still it doesn't seem to hurt the fish after even only a rinse. Seems the scent is a natural substance- pet safe. While I wouldnt want it, it seems that its fish safe too.

Either way, the non scented one would be better, but it reportidly doesn't harm the fish. jsut makes your water smell funny for a couple weeks.

 

[Jimmy16]

Special Kitty Non Clumping Cat litter. It IS molar clay.

You can buy it at Walmart, perhaps pet stores too.

Has many minerals for plants to use. Not likely to contain any nitrate phosphate or potassium though.

It has a high CEC - Cation Exchange Capacity. look that term up.

I'll give it a shot bro. Thanks for the tip, a bag of Ecocomplete is like $20. So I guess a bag of special kitty litter is only $5?

Do I need to rinse it over and over for the kitty litter? Because I googled it and people said they had to vigorously rinse it and it still had a scent or something.


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[Will Hayward]

Try to buy the Non-Clumping, Non-Scented version.

Non clumping is the important part. Use carbon in the filter to help remove scent, even on a bucket its in if you want to soak it.

$20 for eco is even good. Locally it's $29 at lowest.

 

[Good_Times]

No anger here, I'm chill.

Didn't mean it that way, just my crazy mind runnin round.

Found this link http://www.catbreedsjunction.com/clay-cat-litter.html here they say the non clump is dusty and they don't mention clay, but at the clumping one they mention bentonite clay.