# Zeolite Sand?



## hoppycalif

Has anyone tried Zeolite sand as a substrate? It is cheap, clean, has a very high CEC, 1.5 meq/g, about 100 times the CEC of Fluorite and Soilmaster. I got very curious about it when I found it was sold as an improved swimming pool filter sand, so I bought a bag at my local Leslie Pool Supply.








It only costs about $25 per 25 pounds, about a cubic foot, with sales tax. A sample of what's in the bag is:









It is advertised to have particles between about .5 to 2 mm, and that looks about like what it is. The color is a slight, subtle green. But, when wet:









it is just a medium grey color.

I'm very intrigued by this. It looks like if it were mixed with something like river bank silt, for the bottom layer only, it would be an extremely rich substrate. And, it should completely eliminate any worries about ammonia generated from the substrate or things in or on the substrate.

So, has anyone tried it?


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## Left C

I think that you should give it a go with delta/river/creek silt in something like a 40g breeder.

I went hiking down a local creek Monday looking for aquatic plants. We are having drought conditions and I thought that it would be a good time to do this. I gathered some type of native plant that looks like olive colored version of HM that was growing horizontally, but it was growing emersed right at the water's edge. I dug up some and I'm going to try it. Normally this part of the creek is under water. What surprised me the most was that the creek silt that it was growing in had a very clean smell with no decay odor. If I try something like your delta soil/SMS project, I believe that I found a good fertile place to gather soil. There were also many other interesting plants there too.


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## Raul-7

Great find. I've always been a big fan of zeolite since it has a very high CEC. It would act as a great substrate additive for the very reasons you mentioned. However, using zeolite in aquariums is nothing new. I remember Aqua Medic used to market Terralit as a substrate additive and it was nothing more than zeolite loaded with nutrients.


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## johnvanrees

Ok... I am posting this as a " I should have...".... I bought a bunch of zeolite potting medium for 
my pond plants.... and when I set up my new tank just a couple of months ago needed additional
planting medium and had a full bag of the pond plant medium on hand... but then I was thinking that
the zeolite may pull too many good things out... or transmute them anyway... I guess that
is what I get for thinking on my own rather than asking you xperts for advice.  

John


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## hoppycalif

I'm not convinced that zeolite as a substrate, without some source of nutrients mixed in with it, is a good idea. If you rely on water column dosing, the zeolite could deplete potassium and iron from the water column. But, with a source of nutrients in the substrate, you will be doing root feeding along with water column dosing. Don't forget that I haven't tried this yet, so this is speculation. Raul, I knew this wasn't a brand new idea, but it is a different way to get a really cheap substrate with some very good properties. Who knows what unforeseen problems might be found if we actually use it as a substrate. That's why I wondered if anyone had tried it.


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## johnvanrees

Hoppy....

here is what the manufacturer says about the stuff I have in my pond...

Pond Care's Aquatic Planting Media is an aquatic plant soil comprised of a unique blend of natural minerals, including zeolite, which provides a clean, easy to use planting media. Aquatic Planting Media securely holds the plants in the pot so plants can form a strong root system. With the addition of zeolite, Aquatic Planting Media has the added benefit of high nutrient holding capacity. Zeolite is a naturally occurring mineral having a honeycomb-like layered crystal structure. The zeolite acts as a reservoir for nutrients which are slowly released as needed by the plant. Aquatic Planting Media will also remove nutrients from the pond water, concentrating them in the root zone for uptake by the plants. Will not change pH or color of pond water.

Give it a try..let's find out!

In gratitude,

John


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## hoppycalif

I do plan to try the zeolite sand. I think I will go dig some American River bank silt and mix that about 50-50 with the bottom third or half of the substrate, then top it with just the zeolite. One reason I want to go to all of this trouble - tearing down my existing setup, selling the fish to the LFS, getting rid of the plants, and starting over - is that I want to try starting a tank as Tom Barr has suggested. Start it as an emersed planting. Unless I change my mind, I will install the substrate, add water only up to near the top of the substrate, and plant HC and possibly one or two other species. Then wait while those grow emersed, to where I have an HC carpet. Only then will I add the rest of the water and begin the process of stocking it with fish.

This should be a very enjoyable process, but it will make it hard to evaluate what role the substrate contributes to any success I experience. At best it will demonstrate that zeolite sand works.


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## joetee

hoppycalif said:


> I do plan to try the zeolite sand. I think I will go dig some American River bank silt and mix that about 50-50 with the bottom third or half of the substrate, then top it with just the zeolite. One reason I want to go to all of this trouble - tearing down my existing setup, selling the fish to the LFS, getting rid of the plants, and starting over - is that I want to try starting a tank as Tom Barr has suggested. Start it as an emersed planting. Unless I change my mind, I will install the substrate, add water only up to near the top of the substrate, and plant HC and possibly one or two other species. Then wait while those grow emersed, to where I have an HC carpet. Only then will I add the rest of the water and begin the process of stocking it with fish.
> 
> This should be a very enjoyable process, but it will make it hard to evaluate what role the substrate contributes to any success I experience. At best it will demonstrate that zeolite sand works.


Any word on the zeolite sand? Have you used it yet?
Thanks
Joe


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## Quetzalcoatl

I might be wrong but I remember Zeolite being used as a filter media just like activated carbon. If my memory serves rights, Zeolite can attach ammonia and also does ion exchange. But after using it for a while, Zeolite becomes saturated with ammonia and ions, eventually releasing everything back in to water. If this is true, then it won't be a very good substrate.


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## nicholasmarshall

johnvanrees said:


> Ok... I am posting this as a " I should have...".... I bought a bunch of zeolite potting medium for
> my pond plants.... and when I set up my new tank just a couple of months ago needed additional
> planting medium and had a full bag of the pond plant medium on hand... but then I was thinking that
> the zeolite may pull too many good things out... or transmute them anyway... I guess that
> is what I get for thinking on my own rather than asking you xperts for advice.
> 
> John


*Zeolites* are minerals that are formed in volcanic eruptions. As volcanic ash is spewed into the atmosphere and lava pours into the sea, the combination of lava, ash, and salt cause a chemical reaction which form zeolites.

Thanks..


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## Diana K

The idea of 'gets full' and 'dumps ammonia back into the water' is not entirely correct. 

Materials with high cationic exchange capacity will hold onto charged ions with varying amounts of strength. When something comes along that is attracted to the material, it gets caught. 
If something else comes along that is more strongly attracted then the first thing may be bumped and the new item is caught. 

In normal use there are not such high levels of any one material in the aquarium, and a substrate with high CEC will attract and hold a lot of different things (including fertilizer). Then action by the plants will remove some of these things and more things will get attached to the substrate. This sort of action happens only with very fine materials, such as clay. Clay that has been bonded into a material such as Soil Master Select, or mineralized top soil still has its high CEC. 

When there is an ammonia emergency and zeolite is added to the filter then there is such a high level of ammonia that the zeolite does pick up a lot of ammonia, and only a small amount of other things. 
To make it give up the ammonia some forms of zeolite can be rejuvenated by soaking in strong salt water. Ammonia is removed, and the zeolite may be reused in the tank. Not all the 'other stuff' is removed, though, and gradually the zeolite in the filter, being rejuvenated and reused gets pretty full of the 'other stuff'. These other things are more strongly attracted to the zeolite, or else the ammonia would displace them, and the zeolite would still work to remove the ammonia. 

If the zeolite in the filter has been removing a lot of ammonia, but then something is added to the tank (perhaps salt) that is more attracted to the zeolite, then ammonia would get released into the tank. 
_________________________________________________

In a stable tank, without ammonia problems, zeolite might make a very good additive to the substrate.


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## nicholasmarshall

Raul-7 said:


> Great find. I've always been a big fan of zeolite since it has a very high CEC. It would act as a great substrate additive for the very reasons you mentioned. However, using zeolite in aquariums is nothing new. I remember Aqua Medic used to market Terralit as a substrate additive and it was nothing more than zeolite loaded with nutrients.


I am also a big fan of *Zeolite* and i like so much. 

Thanks,,


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