# Oil-Dri



## jocky

Since it is a high fire material and it absorbs nutrients from the water column, would it render the nutrients useless? or will it allow the plants to access them via the roots?

Any thoughts?


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## jocky

No thoughts?


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## ree123

I want to know also.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi jocky,

I'll take a shot at it. I use Turface Pro League Grey and Soilmaster Select Charcoal, both of which are Heat Treated Montmorillonite Clay Mineral products and you are correct that initially they absorb nutrients from the water column.

I find that the pH, KH, and GH drop substantially from tap water levels when water is added to an aquarium with new Turface or SMS. Since I live in an area with naturally "soft" water to avoid nutrient deficiencies I have to replace those minerals in the water column.

I used to use MgSO4 (Epsom salt) and CaCl (calcium chloride) to return the minerals to the water column. Now I use Seachem Equilibrium. It contains more of the minerals that the plants require and their website product page has a Dose Calculator that allows me to accurately increase my dGH from <0.5 to 4.0.

My pH still remains low (about 6.2) because I use pressurized CO2 and I don't want to add a lot of NaHCO3 (Baking Soda) to raise the pH because it will raise the dKH as well and I am trying to grow some of the more difficult plants that require a low KH.

I dose my ferts using the EI method and I believe that after the first week the substrate has absorbed as much N,K, and P that it can and the rest remains in the water column and available for plant absorption. The nutrients that the substrate has absorbed are more readily available to the roots with Heat Treated Montmorillonite Clay Mineral products due to the high cation exchange capacity (CEC) of these materials.

Up until 6 months ago I used natural gravel exclusively as my substrate. I have since changed over three tanks to the Heat Treated Montmorillonite Clay Mineral products because of the substantially better root (and plant) growth compared with gravel.

A couple of comments, it is "dusty" when new but I found it is much better not to wash it prior to putting it into use. Add the dry new substrate to the tank, do a rough grade contour, and then add the water pouring onto a plate to minimize disturbing the substate. The water will be "murky" for about a day or less (with a 160 GPH filter my 30 gallon cleared in about 8 hours). Also these products are lighter than gravels and my corys are capable of disturbing the substrate more often than they were with gravel. Hope this helps!


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## jocky

Thank you for the response. Do you have any other gravel over it? Have you had any experience with it breaking down?


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi jocky,

No I don't "cap" them, I use the clay products by themselves. I like the two that I mentioned because they have a grain size and color that I find looks good in my tanks.

From what I understand with these products the degree of "heat treatment" varies with different products. Products with less time/intensity heat treatment are more susceptible to "breaking down" into mud-like consistency. The two that I mention have been by my fellow members of GSAS for years have have held up well.

Here is a picture of my small 10 gallon with Turface Pro League Grey.









And here is what it looks like in my 45 gallon with Soilmaster Select Charcoal:


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## Diana K

These products have a high cationic exchange capacity. They will initially remove ferts from the water column, then hold them available for the plants' roots. 

Difficult to cap these; the gravel sinks through them.


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## jocky

So in general it works well? Except for the fact that it may turn to mud...

In a heavily planted tank, would the roots be able to hold enough of the gravel together that this shouldn't be a problem?


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi jocky,

Sorry, not sure I understand your question about "able to hold enough of the gravel together that this shouldn't be a problem?"


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## jocky

Well I mean that in the case that the oil-dri substrate does breaksdown, would the roots of a heavily planted tank able to keep the substrate from floating all over?


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi jocky,

Most of the time if a clay soil does "break down" you get cloudy water. As I said, for the types I use there has been little to no "break down" after several years.


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## jocky

Ok. Thanks for the responses.

I bought some oil-dri the other day and don't see any indication of SMS on the label. Wold that mean that my bag is more likely to breakdown?


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## griffin7882

what's sms?


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## jocky

soil master select.


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## Nymsley

I'm not sure I understand you correctly. Oil-Dri and Soilmaster Select are products from two different companies. They don't need to mention other products on their packaging.


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## jocky

Now that's probably where I went wrong. I was reading some old threads and a few mentioned that they are the same company.


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## Nymsley

Sorry about that. I checked and saw that Pro's Choice (SMS) is owned by Oil-Dri. (Wow, Oil-Dri makes a lot of clay based products under different names including cat litter.) I'm not sure which Oil-Dri product you have. According to the MSDS (pdf) for their granular absorbent which is used for multiple products, it could be made from three different materials: silica hydrated, Fuller's earth, or bentonite. I haven't seen anything about them degrading over time.

(I'm reading into this too much.)


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## Cliff Mayes

Most heavy, bulky things have a tendency to be produced close to where they are bought due to distribution costs, bricks, roofing and Cat litter among others.

It is normal for a lot of companies to repackage product under contract or just too simply differentiate the different markets for stuff. Many companies will produce the same product for different markets and will change suppliers at the merest provocation.

One of the problems (for Aquarium hobbyists) is that we, as a hobby, are very small and using any not intended for the use product means that the product may, and probably will, change over time without due warning. Be prepared.


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## F1_Cobra

I've been using a mixture of Oil-dry and regular aquarium gravel in my 30 gal tank for over 3 yrs now and its worked fine for me. The Oil-dry came from the automotive section of Walmart, and is made by the Oil-Dri company, and it looks identical to the Soilmaster select charcoal in that second picture...but its only like $3 for a large bag. 

So far mine hasn't turned to mud or given me any trouble other then its lightweight and I have trouble getting it to hold down plants once I plant them....often times they'll come loose and i'll have to replant them a couple of times to get them to stay down. Otherwise it works fine for me.


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## jocky

Good to know, cause it's too late, I already setup the tank. LOL Will report what happens next.


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## mgamer20o0

if it did break down its will still stay at the bottom of the tank link sand until you start moving things around or have bottom feeders. i havent had my sms break down yet and its been 3-4 years.


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## Bunnie1978

I have Oil-Dri in my tanks (the one you get at Wal-Mart in a white bag for about $4/25lbs) I have been using it for maybe 3 months, and I have found that it does break down over time. The initial PH drop that Seattle Aquarist reports with Turface and SMS is the same, as is the cloudiness. However, I have found that if you disturb the gravel as little as possible, you can have a good substrate for a while. The other thing though, is that it is a high silicate content substrate, so watch out for diatom algae. I have had higher than normal algae issues in the 4 tanks I have this substrate in, in spite of being heavily planted, with high light, CO2 and regular dosing. I would recommend Turface over Oil-Dri any day of the week.


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