# Fuller's Earth, Cat Liter, Oil Dri etc.



## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

The term bentonite is defined as any natural material composed
dominantly of the clay minerals of the smectite group and whose
properties are controlled by these clay minerals. Fuller's earth refers
to naturally occurring material that has a high absorptive capacity.
Both bentonite and fuller's earth have a wide variety of physical
properties that make them suitable for many commercial uses and
applications. The sodium or Wyoming bentonite is a high swelling
variety used in drilling muds, bonding foundry sand, and pelletizing
taconite iron ores. The calcium or southern bentonite is a low or
nonswelling variety used for bonding foundry sand where a highstrength
green bond is required. Large amounts of fuller's earth are
utilized to make granules that are used as an absorbent for oils, grease,
chemicals, as an animal litter, and as a soil conditioner.
Almost all of the commercial deposits of bentonite and fuller's earth
are in geologic formations that are either Cretaceous or Tertiary in age.
Bentonite occurs in Tertiary rocks in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the
Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain, and in the Mississippi embayment. The
best grade swelling bentonite occurs in the Mowry Shale of Cretaceous
age in Wyoming and Montana. The most abundant nonswelling bentonite
is found in Tertiary formations of the Jackson and Claiborne Groups
in Texas. An important geologic unit for fuller's earth deposits is the
Tertiary Hawthorn Formation of Georgia and Florida.
In 1988, almost 75 percent of the bentonite production in the United
States came from Wyoming. Alabama and Mississippi together produced
about 14 percent; California produced about 4 percent, and
Arizona, Texas, and Utah each produced about 1 percent. States
producing less than 1 percent of the U.S. bentonite were Colorado,
Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Tennessee. In 1988,
almost 50 percent of the fuller's earth produced in the United States
came from Georgia and Florida. Other States producing fuller's earth
were Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas, and Virginia.
{snip}
Absorbent. Absorbent granules, 10-20 mesh in size,
are made from bentonite and fuller's earth. The granules
are made by calcining the bentonite or fuller's earth at
400-1,000 °C to increase absorbent capacity and by
crushing and screening the calcined product to recover
the desired particle size granules. Approximately 85
percent of the fuller's earth production in the United
States is used as an absorbent, of which about two-thirds
is used as pet waste absorbent and about one-third is
used as oil and grease absorbent, (Ampian, 1988). Both
attapulgite and calcium-bentonite are used. Some
calcium-bentonite is produced as a desiccant and included
in the fuller's earth production statistics.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1522/report.pdf


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Why Using Cat Litter as a Drying Agent is a Bad Idea

We've heard many stories over the years about people using cat litter on a wet field when they run out of calcined clay products like Turface Quick Dry or Diamond Pro Drying Agent. Just because it looks like calcined clay and absorbs water, doesn't mean that cat litter is a calcined clay.

Cat litter is produced from montmorillonite clay just like the calcined clays made for sports field applications. The difference is in the heating of the clay. Cat litter is only fired to around 500ºF, hot enough to make the clay extremely absorbent, but not hot enough to stabilize the particles of clay. As soon as this material gets wet, its physical characteristics change and the particles melt into a slimy clay mess. It is made this way to make it easier to clean a cat litter box. The wetted areas "melt" and form a lump, after drying, that is easier to find and remove from the litter box.

Calcining clay can only be done at much higher temperatures. Processing montmorillonite clay to around 1400ºF produces clay particles that are still extremely absorbent but the physical characteristics of the particles do not change when they become wet. The stable calcined clay particles remain solid after wetting and can handle the wet/dry cycle without breaking down. On your ballfield, you don't want that wet, slimy, and slippery clay on the surface; you want nice granulated topdressing that maintains its physical hardness after wetting.

Use a quality sports field calcined clay and be sure you have enough to get through even an unusually wet season.
http://beaconathletics.com/why-using-cat-litter-as-a-drying-agent-is-a-bad-idea/


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

This article argues that the CEC capacity declines with higher temperatures. Suggesting that the the oil absorbant products are better for this purpose than the higher fired turface type products.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Q...epage&q=Calcined montmorillonite clay&f=false


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi BruceF,

Thank you for the interesting read, I used to use Turface for my tanks now I use Safe-T-Sorb #7941 - both are calcined clay products. I use kitty litter for my emersed set-ups as a thin surface layer to minimize algae and fungus growth.

Although it may be true that the calcined clay products have less CEC than cat litter fired at lower temperatures (I had not read that before) the calcined clay products still have substantially higher CEC ratings that almost any other suitable substrate material.

Sorry for the small text size









The information in the table came from a seven page (pgs 17-23) article published in Planted Aquaria magazine put out by the Aquatic Gardener's Association / AGA in the summer of 2000. Information regarding the testing procedure can be found in the article; a download .pdf copy of the issue of PAM can be found here.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Hi Roy, 

I know you also like to 'charge" these substrates before you use them.I wonder if you would remind me how you do that? 

One interesting thing I read was about the different ph values of some of these materials. 

Thanks!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

BruceF said:


> Hi Roy,
> 
> I know you also like to 'charge" these substrates before you use them.I wonder if you would remind me how you do that?
> 
> ...


Hi Bruce,

I only 'pre-loaded / charged' my substrate once, last spring when I did my 75 gallon. I only 'charged' the substrate with Equilibrium (CaSO4 + MgSO4) because I have very, very soft tap water with minimal Ca and Mg. I did not 'charge' with Macros because I like to control the amount of NO3 in my tanks with my dosing. Here is a pic of that 75 gallon as of this weekend; it seems the plants are doing well with the Safe-T-Sorb #7941.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Great post, Bruce! In my experience, these products seem to rank in order of increasing hardness and durablility:

1. Cat litter
2. Safe-T-Sorb
3. Turface

This is directly related to how long the material will remain gravel-like with discreet large particles. Or to put it another way, how quickly it turns into mud. Please add your observations.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Michael,

I can only speak to Safe-T-Sorb #7941 and Turface Pro League Grey as aquarium substrates. I have used Turface in two of my tanks since 12/2009 and there has been no degradation of the particles. I set up my first tank with Safe-T-Sorb #7941 in 02/2013 (over two years now) and there is no degradation of the particles in that tank either.

As I said I use Special Kitty (the cheapest Walmart stuff) as a thin topping for my emersed plant bank. I just went out and grabbed a particle at random from a pot that was set up 11/13. The material still has it's particle shape, and is a little softer than a dry particle direct from the bag, but it has not turned to "mud". I probably wouldn't use Special Kitty as a substrate in a tank unless I planned on replacing it annually.


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