# which Cat Litter as Substrate?



## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

I'd like to try pure clay cat litter as a substrate,
but some brands have potential toxic additives,
while others may be powdery and cloud my water.

can anyone recommend a commonly available
product name and maker or store chain that
has the most granularly intact clay litter?

doing a search I found a year old thread stating;
_"Special Kitty" litter is sold at Wal-Mart, and is strictly bentonite clay._
but can anyone else give me specific ideas what to buy?

I don't want to mix substrates with sand etc.,
I want to use 100% a Laterite'like substrate.


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

Tried the cheap stuff from Wal*Mart in a test container. It turned to mush overnight. I used the remainder as an Oil Soaker on the Driveway. It worked for that.


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Try searching for Oil-Dri. It is sold in the automotive section. It is made of clay and for the last 2 months or so its been doing great in my 20


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

MN; I'd love to hear more about your experience.
once submerged how long was your water cloudy?
what clay is this? are there any other ingrediants?
can you post a current photo of your 20gal tank?



which bag did you buy? white or brown?


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## gotcheaprice (Sep 4, 2007)

I think I have the bag on the left. I had to wash it like crazy, but I'm sure I was just grinding the smaller particles into dust. 
http://www.fastenal.com/web/msds/getmsds.ex?sku=635000-131463
Theres the msds(still haven't looked over it), but it's supposed to be the same as SMS(oil dri is the parent company). I'm gonna use this for my 55 gal and I'm gonna make sure I get paint strainer to clean it. $3 a bag of 25 lb at my wal mart.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

paint strainers...


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Ive had great success in it so far....I used a old screen from a window do rinse all the debri and dust off of the oil-dri before usage. It was my understanding that Oil-dri makes sms, and are ''nearly'' identical. I know there has been much debate over this. I rinsed the oil-dri quite thouroghly(sp?), so once it was added into the aquarium, with the usage of a hang on back power filter, with just filter floss, the water was crystal clear within hours. The water does get a liltle cloudy when I moved the substrate arround but again clears shortly. Once I get a chance I will get some pics up, but it might take me a few days


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Sorry.....I bought the white bag, it was $9 at my local Ace Hardware. Also, today I will be picking up a few bags of sms for my 46g that I am redoing. Im actually pretty interested in comparing both products side by side. I will keep you all posted on what I find


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

I really appreciate everyone who chimed into this thread.
your posts have led me to the conclusion that SMS is not
that much different from Cat Litter, but with the benefit
of being a non clouding well proven substrate alternative.

I'll be using an SMS sample in my plant propagation trials,
so it's good to know I don't have to bother with cat litter.

would it be fair to say that the main difference between
Laterite and SMS would be Laterite's nutrients? basically
their weight, particle size, and density seem quite similar.


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

spypet.
Yes I beleive your right about the diference's
but, sms is a absorbent type material, which means that you could technically soak it in a fertilizer/H2o mixture to "Pre-Load" the sms with nutrients. But again, thats just me thinking out loud


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

why not use Soil master select, if your looking for a clay substrate. It is very porous and is labeled "infield conditioner" becuase its a fired clay that is made to absorb materials very quickly so baseball players to play in puddles. So it has the same absorption rate as oil dry but I find plants grow better in it Because it is made from a richer soil based clay, and is WAY easier to clean. I have tried both substrates and have had better success with Soilmaster. Then again thats just IMO/IME


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

spypet said:


> I really appreciate everyone who chimed into this thread.
> your posts have led me to the conclusion that SMS is not
> that much different from Cat Litter, but with the benefit
> of being a non clouding well proven substrate alternative.
> ...


laterite and SMS are very similar. just diff color and particle size. oil dri is large particles like thos found in kitty litter. And looks nothing like SMS. thos it may be similar aside from the color. tho my oil dri smelt funny so I am reluctant to use it for my fish tanks. its also a much lighter grey so should not be mixed with dark substrates.

Jhonny cat is made by Oil Dri.


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## gotcheaprice (Sep 4, 2007)

http://www.rexgrigg.com/substrate.htm
Rex suggested rinsing it that way, never tried it myself, but hope it'll save me time. 
And I wish I could get SMS, since I want a dark substrate. My flourite has orange yellowish rocks in it(or is that my laterite? )
And yeah, mine smelt funny too, thought there was oil in it already, but my shrimp seem to be doing fine so far.

I went out to my local hardware store and found a paint strainer and it was basically a mesh bag that will fit snuggly over a 5 gallon bucket. 2 bags for $4. I'm sure theres others, but thats the only one that the store(which is somewhat small) had. I think I'm gonna try rinse 3 bags of oil dri this weekend.


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