Anyone out there ever use kitty litter in their tank?

[cro117]

hi, im thinking about adding some kitty litter to my marine planted tank. nothing is really wrong with the tank or anything, but i wanted to see if i could get a little more growth out of my algae. also, i don't want them to become iron starved later on.

i've used kitty litter before in freshwater with good results, though last time i used too much at once and had a hair algae bloom which took a while to bring back into balance, so this time i was thinking of just adding a handful my filter box.

anyone out there have any experience with this?

 

[Calappidae]

Ask here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1

 

[cro117]

why in the general interests forum?

 

[Calappidae]

why in the general interests forum?

Reef discussion.

Unless the litter is for the plants and you're just asking if it safe in general for saltwater that might be a better place to ask.

I couldn't answer that personally, I just buy regular substrate.

 

[cro117]

no, it is for the macroalgae, it's made of an iron rich clay that should slowly become soluble and release into the water column where it can be used by plants or macros, but i don't know how it performs in marine conditions. so i thought id see if anyone has tried it as a replacement to dosing liquid chelated iron.

 

[Boom]

Interesting. What brand were you thinking of using and is it scented ? I would like to test that as an iron source for my phytoplankton cultures I have growing outside

 

[cro117]

pretty much any of the cheapest brands without any additives, like sented or clumping, work for an aquarium. the cheap walmart brand is what i've used in the past. saltwater is more corrosive though, so i don't know how it works with it. you'll have to let me know if you try it and what you notice.

 

[Plantbrain]

Akadama might be better. Realize that the Fe will not reduce much in marine tanks unless you get some reduction occurring in the sediment, so a DBS will work good for this if that's the goal. Most any source will work though.

 

[cro117]

ok, i kind of thought that iron in a deep sand bed would be mostly useless and locked away without a true plants root system to absorber it.

 

[Plantbrain]

Nah, it'll still leach up and out at low levels, but bacteria do that via organic matter, they use up all the O2, then go after Fe and NO3.

I think simply dosing DTPA Fe is the best option if you want more Fe.
Fe is a minor issue I think, the real issue for plants and macros, is a consistent ample supply of N, then perhaps a little bit of P, but good feeding takes car eof the P issue, so mostly just watching the N and then dosing.

Ca and alk also..but that's the case for any fuge and reef main tank or heavy macro/plant marine tank.

 

[cro117]

ya, i just want to be lazy about the dosing, and actually i notice that with freshwater planted tanks when i dosed iron there where a lot of ups and downs with the plants health revolving around the dosing, where as with the tanks i used fluorite and litter they consistently did well.

maybe i'll try digging some litter down in a few spots in the sand bed.

 

[DrPat]

kitty litter

kitty litter

I wouldn't advise the use of kitty litter.
who knows what might leach out of it and at what rate .Do you really want to take a chance like that when Fe supplements are easily dosed . there is potential for micro blooms and once its in its in! at least with dosing you can add more or less as needed

 

[saltwater sam]

I'm definitely inclined to agree with DrPat. There could be some pretty extreme unintended consequences to adding a substance with unknown quantities of different compounds.

 

[cro117]

ya, that's why i was checking to see if anyone else has tried it before. in freshwater fluorite is common enough along with other iron rich soils or substrates, but those cab also naturally occur in some freshwater environments, so adding them to a tank doesn't seem so unusual.