# Dirt & Kitty Litter?



## Remdant (May 30, 2014)

I am about to set up a 5 gallon for an inch-long leopard ctenopoma that is being beaten to death in my soroity. I've read mixed things about using MGOPM and cheap dollar-store kitty litter. What are the benifits to adding kitty litter to the dirt? I will be doing a gravel cap. Thank you!


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## chunkychun (Apr 6, 2012)

kitty litter has high CEC(cation exchange) and can suck up nutrients from water and can then be used by your plants. Make sure you get one with no fragrances or anything. I personally didn't like MGOPM b/c of the bubbling. I used worm casting with kitty litter and capped with sand/flourite and have liked it. 

also kitty litter is light can can come up to surface but i've been happy with it. some suggest turface but i've not used it before...

do you live in a stilt house ? 

good luck!


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## Tihsho (Oct 10, 2007)

Leopard Ctenopoma get fairly big for a 5 gallon, which you probably know. Be careful not to get in the mindset that it will be there for a while.


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## Remdant (May 30, 2014)

I don't live in a stilt house, we're raised with dirt. Most houses around here are on at least 25ft stilts, though. The joys of living next to the water. 

I know he'll get too big for the 5, I may actuallu be breaking down my sorority, leaving him in the 10 with the otos, shrimp and nerite then purchasing another 10 gallon so I can have my hand at going salty. 

How long do dirt tanks take to cycle? I'm considering thowing everyone in a 5 gallon bucket and dirting my 10.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

If you are already going to use MGOCPM (or any other dirt for that matter...), there isn't any real need to add kitty litter. The organics and clays in the MGOCPM will provide plenty of CEC.

I've set up two tanks with MGOCPM, and both went fairly well, I didn't notice any serious issue with bubbling after the first week or so (I think most of that was trapped air from the setup)


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## adive (Oct 30, 2013)

Remdant said:


> How long do dirt tanks take to cycle? I'm considering thowing everyone in a 5 gallon bucket and dirting my 10.


In my 15g dirted tank, I added some media from an established tank and in the first week had 4 small minnows in there. There were plants too of course. The minnows are still in there after almost 2 months now.

To be safe, up the fauna count gradually.


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## Fletch (Mar 18, 2004)

*Why add kitty litter?*

Kitty litter is just clay, is very absorbent and has high Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) which means that if there are excess nutrients and trace minerals in the tank, the clay can absorb them out of the water, and then only release them when a root comes into contact with a clay particle, or the concentration in the water gets low. Theoretically kitty litter should stabilize the concentration of nutrients in the tank, absorb some of the nasty chemicals like ammonia, nitrates, and anaerobic gases produced in the soil. It also can prevent compacting of highly organic soil. It is probably not an absolute necessity, but I always add it to dirted tanks. My first 2g bowls had 10% kitty litter in the MGOPS. I am going to use more in my newer bowls and tanks because I like how it keeps the soil from compacting. I have seen photos of tanks with straight kitty litter as substrate, and they seem to be doing very well. I wonder if anyone has found the "perfect" concentration of kitty litter to add to soil in tanks.


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