Hello Doc, There is no amount of word sufficient enough to describe your contribution to this hobby. I am from India and I believe, the hobbyists , especially the ones who listen to you in all of your videos and show respect to you & their hobby by investing their precious time to your contents, will actually enjoy their hobbies a lot in the upcoming days. By your commendable work you are helping to create sensible mass of hobbyists across the globe , which I think was a due process for quite a long period of time. In my subconscious I always had a feeling that this world and all the lives in it through evolution if have reached a stable equilibrium to this day, which took four and half billion years of research performed by mother earth , how certain business houses are so easily making zillions of products claiming what they claim so easily over few decades ? I think its time mankind has to stop developing short term solutions and using them in order to reap long term benefits. I have been doing some research recently on High CEC substrates and found Vermiculite being one such clay mix which is natural and has around 100-150 meq/100 gm of CEC. Also it seems Vermiculite is widely used across the globe in waste water treatment plants and agriculture. My request to you would be if situation permits , could you throw some lights on this aspect of vermiculite because in India I do not find the kind of kitti litter you use , and most of them are scented ? regards.. Sourav Chatterjee
I have a Koi pond, Oase Screenmatic System, 8kl with 6 koi. I put plants in in the cloth bags and made up 'pond soil' to put them in. Year one, did ok, year two, string algae issues. Year three, took them all out, those that hadn't rotted, switched to mesh type containers, lined when with landscape fabric and replanted what was good in just sand. Algae gone. This year, I'm going to switch them all out for the BCB setup and plant back into those. However, I already solved the nitrate issues as the plants are taking up the koi waste nutrient, but the koi will get bigger so may as well start providing another denitrification system
Hey doc, I would also like to report that the kitty litter BCB baskets for some reason have a uncanny ability to clear the water column. I've placed a 3 inch puffer fish in a 8 gallon bucket with a 10x5 inch bcb basket and some amazon frogbit and an air stone temporarily for a few days. The water in that bucket was crystal clear the entire way through. It was kind of amazing as I've always expected the water to be extremely cloudy looking or dirty when you do this. Nope, completely crystal clear the entire time. I then placed that same bcb basket into a 20 gallon long tank, same thing happened. The water went from semi-cloudy to crystal clear overnight. I have a 40 gallon shrimp tank that has suffered from constant dustiness as I had removed some flourite substrate in the tank. The tank also has a 1 inch layer of decaying leaf litter + cholla wood mix for the shrimp to eat, which also contributes to the constant cloudiness. It's not just tanins, its legitimate cloudiness from free floating particulates. I have a very fine sponge filter running with a powerhead and it helps, but can never clear it up completely. I am going to make another large BCB basket and put it into that shrimp tank. If that shrimp tank also clears up immediately overnight, I think I really have to make a record a youtube video just to share my results. Maybe it has something to do with the kitty litter acting sort of like activated carbon and scrubbing the tank clean of particulates, either way there is 100% something going on with this filter that nothing else I've ever tested can do as well. Best part is these large BCB baskets dont even require any electrical outlets to run and can be made for $10 and 1 hour of time.
Dear Dr. Novak. I have been in the hobby for over 20 years now but never heard of using a plenum. After seeing your videos and clear explanation for our hobbyists I can wait to try this out my self. My suestion: how to verify if kitty litter is baked as you mentioned severzl timrs? Is it mentioned on the sac? You are an inspiration for all of us. Thanks for sharing your knowloge and experience for the hobby. Greetings
Thank you, for even bringing up CEC. Have you ever experimented with vermiculite? With a CEC 100-150 meq/100 g and its ability to absorb water it may be both a cheap and safe alternative. PS vermiculite does not contain asbestos as many believe.
Hello Dr.Novak You make very helpful video I think with a lot of technical information I like this a lot learning and trying things the best way to get better Have a great day and thanks a lot for all your video
Both my 75 and 14 gallon tanks are running undergravel slow moving with kitty litter and iron. Both are doing very well after the initial algae blooms settled about the two week mark in each tank. I'm understanding the CDC at least on the concept level. Got me wondering if using kitty litter and sprinkle of iron would have any benefits for outdoor terrestrial plants and shrubs? I'm planting some lilacs in the yard next season and wondered if you have any info related to this situation? As always, thanks for the info on the video. Hope you your channel continues to grow and reach more hobbyist. Of course I fully expect Kitty litter prices to explode once this is more mainstream hahaha. Follow the money!
Another question Dr Novak as you said the in video the zeolite or kitty litter attract cation like ammonium, does it repel anion like nitrate ? Thank you !
Absolutely not. It attracts all nutrients but it's able to lock in any of the positively charged nutrients so it is available to the plant roots. Plants must exchange cantons and anions in equal amounts. The higher, the CEC of your substrate is the less fertilizers you are going to need except maybe iron.
Nice video Dr. Novak makes sense, however, how does one know if the kitty litter is baked, I've been looking for baked litter but can`t find it. Even the litter you use does not say that it is baked. Thanks for all you do. As a side note you seem to be the only youtuber not motivated by money. (You should have millions of subscribers.)
The non-backed kitty litter will basically turn into a mud and some parts will carry the consistency of stones. It will be softer, so you'll be able to put it inbetween your fingers and actually squeeze it into a mush. The backed kitty litter on the other hand is going to be as hard as a stone and it will take more than pressure between your two fingers in order to crush it. It will have powder in it but it can be cleaned out and what y'all have left is like small stones of clay like I show on my pictures. Nothing but small stones are if you wanna call it a gravel you can. It will have a CEC of about 40meq/100g.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thanks for your respond Dr, i have bought zeolite granules mentioned that safe for aquarium to replace the kitty litter then i came to know that the zeolite need to be recharged every month,if using it in the BCB and tank layer with laterite does it need to be recharge every month..kindly clarify.it would be much helpful for me to setup the tank..all the materials will be received in a day for the setup.tq
If it has a high CEC and if the iron is available for the plants to utilize, yes, it would be a very good substrate. But I have used it and have not really been that impressed with that particular substrate. But that is just my opinion on the substrate others may have better luck than what I did.
I've had several people do Cichlid tanks, and all they do is use that craft screen to separate the Plenum from the substrate. They don't mind letting the fish dig up the 1st inch of substrate, but they can go no further. It seems to be working great for the people.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thank you! By craft screen do you mean the plastic light defusers or screen door screen? I have also seen a thin black plastic grid about 1/8” openings??
Hi Dr Novak I will use 1 inch of sand above zeolite in the substrate as I’m worried that my goldfish could swallow the larger zeolite , does sand has big impact to the flow rate ? Thanks for the video Dr Novak !
Amazing video! Thank you so much! I'm focused in growing plants. Could I use vermiculite in the same way as cat litter? I couldn't find baked cat litter and I know that vermiculite also has a great CEC. Thanks in advance! 🤩
Hello Dr. Novak, The manufacturers don't know what you and others know about cat litter. They've not field tested or lab tested cat litter for new application.
Hi Dr Novak. I have a couple of questions, which I hope you can shed some light. 1) I was researching on google on the Cec of different materials and came across one research article which says that firing the clay reduces the CEC value of the clay. Could you do a video to clarify on this and the level of reduction in the Cec if significant. 2) Just thinking out a loud, I was wondering if we were to create a hollow space or cavity in the middle of the bcb basket or bag using a mesh or container with holes, wouldn't it behave like a plenum inside the bcb basket/bag and if so wouldn't it enhance the effect of the bcb basket/bag by creating an anoxic zone in the center of the bcb basket/bag?
When you fire clay at high temperatures like they do for kitty litter of about I think 2000° and then it fractures into small crevices, which give it the crystalline structure. It's the same thing they do with sintered glass or any of your filter mediums that are sintered that manufactures are coming out with. It's the same principle, but on a smaller scale. You can compare it to let's say a sponge where it has all these small minute cracks and crevices in it right , but yet it's still is a solid. That's why a lot of people use sponge filters because of the large bacteria colony that can grow in them and not just on the surface of the sponge.
@@superaquaticsyou probably already know by now that a hole in the center of a bcb would contradict the purpose of a bcb. The plenum in the substrate allows water flow through the substrate thus oxygenating it. But not too much oxygen hence we have water moving slowly. Oxygen will become less with depth creating anoxic zones in 4in substrates. Whereas in the bcb we don't want water to flow through it. Instead we want positive ions to be attracted to the clay. An anoxic zone naturally occurs in the center of the bcb because oxygen is low. I personally think the bcb has to be a few inches thick to be effective. As the outer inch or so of the bcb will still be aerobic. As you move into the bcb oxygen becomes less because water is not flowing and the oxygen that does enter the bcb is depleted in the first aerobic inch by nitrifying bacteria. My experience with small bcb bags that are only an inch or two thick is they don't make much difference to nitrate levels. What you see with Dr Novak's bcb on his canister filter is it is quite large. He says that the smallest bcb he made was 4in thick.
Sir can u advise would bcb help in a cichlid tank where no plants can be kept. Is there a way to have self Ballance ecosystems. I am interested in cyclic ecosystem
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums sir want Tom make a 125 galleon tak for America ciclids is there some ratio for BCB? As I understand we need to use baked clay pebbles or does it need to be clay pebbles and soil? Also u mentioned sandwich later has to be laterite soil My question is can it me iron oxide mixed in soil ? I am in Thailand it's hard to source things due to language barriers Will ORP meter only be a good indicator or water health or are others testing also necessary. How did you test the orp of your plantum in your vedio did you use same green one or you used specialised one
I have a brand of litter that is labeled as "fuller's earth". Do you know if it'll would be comparable to the baked clay? One google search stated that Fuller's earth is bentonite and another google search gave bentonite a cec rating of 75 meg/100g. But fuller's earth could also be magnesium aluminium phyllosilicate. Should I just stay away from Fuller's earth cat litter?
I found this info. The CATION EXCHANGE CAPACITY scale ranges from a 1 (lowest level) to 100 (highest level) based on the type of soil and the “ph”. Sand has a CEC of 5 - 20; Clay has a CEC of 20 - 50; and organic soil has a CEC of 50 - 100. Depending on the particular lab reports, Akadama soil was identified as having a CEC of between 21 and 26.
In India, only catsun brand is available. Discription in quotes, "Catsan Hygiene Cat Litter has unique, fine pored mineral granules made from natural lime and quartz sand which quickly absorbs liquid. Each granule contains thousands of micro-pores which give Catsan its strong absorbency power, acting like a sponge. The granules are sprayed with a mineral salt solution for great odour control". Can it be used?
You're right. Anytime you use sand, gravel, P gravel, volcanic gravel all of those have very low CEC capabilities. The higher that CEC, the more nutrients that will come into the substrate and become usable to bacteria and plants, the lower, the less of these nutrients that will become available.
whats confusing is when you have videos from respected individuals saying cat litter works, as is, equally or better than other substrates at a fraction of the cost, but then videos from other respected individuals saying using cat litter without charging it first with fertilizer is dangerous because it will turn your water to RO water and harm your fish: ua-cam.com/video/041U19pa0Gw/v-deo.html
You mean like that 4 1/2 inches of kitty litter that's in the Betta tank? The fish are looking great, and the plants are growing even better with no algae problems like I had when I use sand. The sand was a nightmare of problems. That's the whole problem with the Internet. I'm finding that some people get miss information just so you can listen to their information. All I'm giving you is what is known in agriculture and sewage treatment facilities. This is what's being taught in our universities and colleges this is NOT something that I just made-up myself. Bentley is an IT person. He is not an ichthyologist, He is not a limnologist or an aquatic microbiologist. Listening to him is like asking a plumber on how to do electricity.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums maybe you could do one of those short videos the kids are into today about charging high cec substrates and why it's not necessary?
Hi Dr Novak - new to this hobby from the UK. After creating a plenum with kitty litter what if we cap it off with play sand mixed with horticultural grit and other small gravel like 1-2mm - will that not create drainage pathways then become a usable substrate as ions can get through to the kitty litter?
I know you're not one to give links but yeah, can't find this non clumping, non sented, baked clay cat litter. Could you give a link or at least a brand name we could search for??
A google search for "baked clay litter" will give you plenty of results, but I haven't been able to find the specific "Whiskers & Tails" product he displays at 27:11.
Thank you Dr. Novak. The fish hobbyist world is a better place because of your contributions.
Wow, thanks
Hello Doc,
There is no amount of word sufficient enough to describe your contribution to this hobby. I am from India and I believe, the hobbyists , especially the ones who listen to you in all of your videos and show respect to you & their hobby by investing their precious time to your contents, will actually enjoy their hobbies a lot in the upcoming days. By your commendable work you are helping to create sensible mass of hobbyists across the globe , which I think was a due process for quite a long period of time. In my subconscious I always had a feeling that this world and all the lives in it through evolution if have reached a stable equilibrium to this day, which took four and half billion years of research performed by mother earth , how certain business houses are so easily making zillions of products claiming what they claim so easily over few decades ? I think its time mankind has to stop developing short term solutions and using them in order to reap long term benefits.
I have been doing some research recently on High CEC substrates and found Vermiculite being one such clay mix which is natural and has around 100-150 meq/100 gm of CEC. Also it seems Vermiculite is widely used across the globe in waste water treatment plants and agriculture. My request to you would be if situation permits , could you throw some lights on this aspect of vermiculite because in India I do not find the kind of kitti litter you use , and most of them are scented ?
regards..
Sourav Chatterjee
Thank you very much for the compliment. I only try to do my best and sometimes I understand even that is not enough.
Yes I 100% agree patience is the key in this hobby. 👍
A good video that makes sense on CEC. Glad you talked about this again. Thank you!
Hi Dr Novak. Thank you for explaining the Cec. It makes a lot of sense and explains why kitty litter & zeolite work so well.
Glad it was helpful!
Every new video explaning basics is lika a x-mas for me.
Well then, merry Christmas.
I have a Koi pond, Oase Screenmatic System, 8kl with 6 koi. I put plants in in the cloth bags and made up 'pond soil' to put them in. Year one, did ok, year two, string algae issues. Year three, took them all out, those that hadn't rotted, switched to mesh type containers, lined when with landscape fabric and replanted what was good in just sand. Algae gone. This year, I'm going to switch them all out for the BCB setup and plant back into those. However, I already solved the nitrate issues as the plants are taking up the koi waste nutrient, but the koi will get bigger so may as well start providing another denitrification system
Don't you just love science!. Great video and wonderful information.
Yes I do! What I found out, is anything that's like gravel, sand, P gravel, volcanic rock all has extremely low CEC capabilities.
Hey doc,
I would also like to report that the kitty litter BCB baskets for some reason have a uncanny ability to clear the water column.
I've placed a 3 inch puffer fish in a 8 gallon bucket with a 10x5 inch bcb basket and some amazon frogbit and an air stone temporarily for a few days.
The water in that bucket was crystal clear the entire way through. It was kind of amazing as I've always expected the water to be extremely cloudy looking or dirty when you do this. Nope, completely crystal clear the entire time.
I then placed that same bcb basket into a 20 gallon long tank, same thing happened. The water went from semi-cloudy to crystal clear overnight.
I have a 40 gallon shrimp tank that has suffered from constant dustiness as I had removed some flourite substrate in the tank. The tank also has a 1 inch layer of decaying leaf litter + cholla wood mix for the shrimp to eat, which also contributes to the constant cloudiness. It's not just tanins, its legitimate cloudiness from free floating particulates. I have a very fine sponge filter running with a powerhead and it helps, but can never clear it up completely.
I am going to make another large BCB basket and put it into that shrimp tank. If that shrimp tank also clears up immediately overnight, I think I really have to make a record a youtube video just to share my results. Maybe it has something to do with the kitty litter acting sort of like activated carbon and scrubbing the tank clean of particulates, either way there is 100% something going on with this filter that nothing else I've ever tested can do as well. Best part is these large BCB baskets dont even require any electrical outlets to run and can be made for $10 and 1 hour of time.
snow balls 4u I had the same experience with crystal clear water when I started using kitty litter. It worked very fast.
Dear Dr. Novak. I have been in the hobby for over 20 years now but never heard of using a plenum. After seeing your videos and clear explanation for our hobbyists I can wait to try this out my self. My suestion: how to verify if kitty litter is baked as you mentioned severzl timrs? Is it mentioned on the sac? You are an inspiration for all of us. Thanks for sharing your knowloge and experience for the hobby. Greetings
Thank you, for even bringing up CEC.
Have you ever experimented with vermiculite? With a CEC 100-150 meq/100 g and its ability to absorb water it may be both a cheap and safe alternative.
PS vermiculite does not contain asbestos as many believe.
Vermiculite was tried at a time, and was found to make too much cyanobacteria.
Is that because the CEC is so high?
Hello Dr.Novak
You make very helpful video I think with a lot of technical information I like this a lot learning and trying things the best way to get better
Have a great day and thanks a lot for all your video
Both my 75 and 14 gallon tanks are running undergravel slow moving with kitty litter and iron. Both are doing very well after the initial algae blooms settled about the two week mark in each tank. I'm understanding the CDC at least on the concept level. Got me wondering if using kitty litter and sprinkle of iron would have any benefits for outdoor terrestrial plants and shrubs? I'm planting some lilacs in the yard next season and wondered if you have any info related to this situation? As always, thanks for the info on the video. Hope you your channel continues to grow and reach more hobbyist. Of course I fully expect Kitty litter prices to explode once this is more mainstream hahaha. Follow the money!
Another question Dr Novak as you said the in video the zeolite or kitty litter attract cation like ammonium, does it repel anion like nitrate ? Thank you !
Absolutely not. It attracts all nutrients but it's able to lock in any of the positively charged nutrients so it is available to the plant roots. Plants must exchange cantons and anions in equal amounts. The higher, the CEC of your substrate is the less fertilizers you are going to need except maybe iron.
Thanks Dr Novak you’re the diamond in this hobby …
Nice video Dr. Novak makes sense, however, how does one know if the kitty litter is baked, I've been looking for baked litter but can`t find it. Even the litter you use does not say that it is baked. Thanks for all you do. As a side note you seem to be the only youtuber not motivated by money. (You should have millions of subscribers.)
The non-backed kitty litter will basically turn into a mud and some parts will carry the consistency of stones. It will be softer, so you'll be able to put it inbetween your fingers and actually squeeze it into a mush. The backed kitty litter on the other hand is going to be as hard as a stone and it will take more than pressure between your two fingers in order to crush it. It will have powder in it but it can be cleaned out and what y'all have left is like small stones of clay like I show on my pictures. Nothing but small stones are if you wanna call it a gravel you can. It will have a CEC of about 40meq/100g.
Dr Novak,what happens if we use unscented natural clay clumping kitty litter,kindly advise the difference between clumping and non clumping
Unfortunately, the clay will just turn into one big brick if it's the camping kind.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thanks for your respond Dr, i have bought zeolite granules mentioned that safe for aquarium to replace the kitty litter then i came to know that the zeolite need to be recharged every month,if using it in the BCB and tank layer with laterite does it need to be recharge every month..kindly clarify.it would be much helpful for me to setup the tank..all the materials will be received in a day for the setup.tq
🎉🔥🙏 from India wow. Thanks mighty doc!
See if you can get it at a smaller size than what they usually sell it at.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums what is the average size of Zeolite? Thanks very informative.
So Flourite red, if it had a decent CEC, could potential be a very good substrate to use, as it also contains iron?
If it has a high CEC and if the iron is available for the plants to utilize, yes, it would be a very good substrate. But I have used it and have not really been that impressed with that particular substrate. But that is just my opinion on the substrate others may have better luck than what I did.
Can you do a video with some suggestions on a cichlid tank? How do you manage the layered substrate with “digging” fish?
I've had several people do Cichlid tanks, and all they do is use that craft screen to separate the Plenum from the substrate. They don't mind letting the fish dig up the 1st inch of substrate, but they can go no further. It seems to be working great for the people.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thank you! By craft screen do you mean the plastic light defusers or screen door screen? I have also seen a thin black plastic grid about 1/8” openings??
So do clay terracotta pots have good cec?
Do you get clumping cat litter or non clumping cat litter 🤷✌️🙏🇨🇦
Hi Dr Novak I will use 1 inch of sand above zeolite in the substrate as I’m worried that my goldfish could swallow the larger zeolite , does sand has big impact to the flow rate ? Thanks for the video Dr Novak !
Sand always has an impact on flow rate. As time goes on and it compacts the flow rate becomes slower yet.
I think I will use 2 lift tubes to compensate the problem , thanks Dr Novak !
Dr. Novak would 3" of kitty litter over a plenum work or should it be deeper? thanks a million!
3-4" will do just fine.
Amazing video! Thank you so much!
I'm focused in growing plants. Could I use vermiculite in the same way as cat litter? I couldn't find baked cat litter and I know that vermiculite also has a great CEC.
Thanks in advance! 🤩
No, do not use vermiculite. It's very poor CEC capabilities. You may wind up with a cyanobacteria problem as I did during my research..
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums
Thank you so much Dr Novak. Wow it is interesting. I finally found a non-cumpling cat litter. It is Tidy Cat, could it work?
Hello Dr. Novak,
The manufacturers don't know what you and others know about cat litter. They've not field tested or lab tested cat litter for new application.
The use of cat litter has been around for over 40+ years. It's nothing new.
Hi Dr Novak. I have a couple of questions, which I hope you can shed some light.
1) I was researching on google on the Cec of different materials and came across one research article which says that firing the clay reduces the CEC value of the clay. Could you do a video to clarify on this and the level of reduction in the Cec if significant.
2) Just thinking out a loud, I was wondering if we were to create a hollow space or cavity in the middle of the bcb basket or bag using a mesh or container with holes, wouldn't it behave like a plenum inside the bcb basket/bag and if so wouldn't it enhance the effect of the bcb basket/bag by creating an anoxic zone in the center of the bcb basket/bag?
When you fire clay at high temperatures like they do for kitty litter of about I think 2000° and then it fractures into small crevices, which give it the crystalline structure. It's the same thing they do with sintered glass or any of your filter mediums that are sintered that manufactures are coming out with. It's the same principle, but on a smaller scale. You can compare it to let's say a sponge where it has all these small minute cracks and crevices in it right , but yet it's still is a solid. That's why a lot of people use sponge filters because of the large bacteria colony that can grow in them and not just on the surface of the sponge.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thanks for the clarification Dr Novak. Please also advise on the second question.
@@superaquaticsyou probably already know by now that a hole in the center of a bcb would contradict the purpose of a bcb. The plenum in the substrate allows water flow through the substrate thus oxygenating it. But not too much oxygen hence we have water moving slowly. Oxygen will become less with depth creating anoxic zones in 4in substrates. Whereas in the bcb we don't want water to flow through it. Instead we want positive ions to be attracted to the clay. An anoxic zone naturally occurs in the center of the bcb because oxygen is low. I personally think the bcb has to be a few inches thick to be effective. As the outer inch or so of the bcb will still be aerobic. As you move into the bcb oxygen becomes less because water is not flowing and the oxygen that does enter the bcb is depleted in the first aerobic inch by nitrifying bacteria. My experience with small bcb bags that are only an inch or two thick is they don't make much difference to nitrate levels. What you see with Dr Novak's bcb on his canister filter is it is quite large. He says that the smallest bcb he made was 4in thick.
Sir can u advise would bcb help in a cichlid tank where no plants can be kept. Is there a way to have self Ballance ecosystems. I am interested in cyclic ecosystem
Definitely BCB bags or baskets will help a sick little aquarium.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums sir want Tom make a 125 galleon tak for America ciclids is there some ratio for BCB?
As I understand we need to use baked clay pebbles or does it need to be clay pebbles and soil?
Also u mentioned sandwich later has to be laterite soil
My question is can it me iron oxide mixed in soil ?
I am in Thailand it's hard to source things due to language barriers
Will ORP meter only be a good indicator or water health or are others testing also necessary. How did you test the orp of your plantum in your vedio did you use same green one or you used specialised one
I have a brand of litter that is labeled as "fuller's earth". Do you know if it'll would be comparable to the baked clay? One google search stated that Fuller's earth is bentonite and another google search gave bentonite a cec rating of 75 meg/100g. But fuller's earth could also be magnesium aluminium phyllosilicate. Should I just stay away from Fuller's earth cat litter?
Is it clumping kitty litter? Because usually Fullers Earth is used for clumping kitty litter?.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums no, it's not clumping at all.
Thank you doc .i live in Italy and Is difficolt find not clumping litter what i can use instead? thanks
My wife at some Bari Italy what part of Italy are you from?
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums i live in a small city in middle of adriatico Sea called Ancona.
You have a very intresting Channel thanks
I’m stupid this is confusing Going in circles Do you cover the cat litter with anything Do you put the iron in the cat litter 🤷✌️🇨🇦
So can we use the safe t absorbent also for the substrate? Same as kitty litter?
yes ir is one in the same as Kitty Litter but just cost a little more.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thank you.
When I search Whiskers & Tails kitty litter in Japan I get Hello Kitty. How about baked Akadama clay?
I found this info. The CATION EXCHANGE CAPACITY scale ranges from a 1 (lowest level) to 100 (highest level) based on the type of soil and the “ph”. Sand has a CEC of 5 - 20; Clay has a CEC of 20 - 50; and organic soil has a CEC of 50 - 100. Depending on the particular lab reports, Akadama soil was identified as having a CEC of between 21 and 26.
The sand that I tested at the lab only had about a one CEC capacity and that's the sand you buy at any hardware store like play sand or pool sand.
In India, only catsun brand is available. Discription in quotes, "Catsan Hygiene Cat Litter has unique, fine pored mineral granules made from natural lime and quartz sand which quickly absorbs liquid. Each granule contains thousands of micro-pores which give Catsan its strong absorbency power, acting like a sponge. The granules are sprayed with a mineral salt solution for great odour control". Can it be used?
Lime is going to raise your pH to unacceptable levels.
Besides the substrate price it could be said that the higher the CEC the better, right?
You're right. Anytime you use sand, gravel, P gravel, volcanic gravel all of those have very low CEC capabilities. The higher that CEC, the more nutrients that will come into the substrate and become usable to bacteria and plants, the lower, the less of these nutrients that will become available.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums in this way, zeolite would be the queen
Why not just put a waterproof magnet under the substrate to attact more + from the water column into the - substrate.
Not quite the same thing but at least you're thinking out of the box.
Waters better to start zeolite or kitty litter thanks 🙏 ✌️🇨🇦
Just test.
whats confusing is when you have videos from respected individuals saying cat litter works, as is, equally or better than other substrates at a fraction of the cost, but then videos from other respected individuals saying using cat litter without charging it first with fertilizer is dangerous because it will turn your water to RO water and harm your fish: ua-cam.com/video/041U19pa0Gw/v-deo.html
You mean like that 4 1/2 inches of kitty litter that's in the Betta tank? The fish are looking great, and the plants are growing even better with no algae problems like I had when I use sand. The sand was a nightmare of problems. That's the whole problem with the Internet. I'm finding that some people get miss information just so you can listen to their information. All I'm giving you is what is known in agriculture and sewage treatment facilities. This is what's being taught in our universities and colleges this is NOT something that I just made-up myself.
Bentley is an IT person. He is not an ichthyologist, He is not a limnologist or an aquatic microbiologist. Listening to him is like asking a plumber on how to do electricity.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums maybe you could do one of those short videos the kids are into today about charging high cec substrates and why it's not necessary?
Do you cap the cat litter with sand 🤷
Hi Dr Novak - new to this hobby from the UK. After creating a plenum with kitty litter what if we cap it off with play sand mixed with horticultural grit and other small gravel like 1-2mm - will that not create drainage pathways then become a usable substrate as ions can get through to the kitty litter?
I use Caribsea African Cichlid Mix and it does well for me.
I know you're not one to give links but yeah, can't find this non clumping, non sented, baked clay cat litter. Could you give a link or at least a brand name we could search for??
I show a picture of the bag in my video and it's made in USA so it shouldn't be that hard to track down who is the manufacturer is.
A google search for "baked clay litter" will give you plenty of results, but I haven't been able to find the specific "Whiskers & Tails" product he displays at 27:11.
If you have any local dollar stores, check there. Also check some local grocery stores. Whiskers and Tails non clumping kitty litter.