GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Tank setup problem

09-04-2006, 12:59 PM posted to rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants

On 8 Apr 2006 23:37:37 -0700, wrote:

Would love some help.... Am in the midst of setting up a 10 Gallon tank
which is going to be planted/low-maintenance acquarium. Plan for
substrate was as follows 1in kitty litter (walmart special kitty)
terraced up to 1.5 inches towards the rear of the tank. Litter would
have a little bit of Jobe's for fertilizer. Then a uniform 2 in layer
play sand on top of that.

After reading up a lot i decided not to rinse the litter first and put
it straight in. Levelled it at approximately 1in. Scattered small
pieces of Jobe's spikes very deep - i.e. at the bottom of the
substrate. Propbably was about 1.5 spikes total cut into small bits.
Then I gradually added water..... Plan was to let it absorb the water
and settle a bit.... then later I would add a little more towards the
rear of the tank to "terrace".... so that there would never be less
than 1 in litter. After that was planning to add the sand layer after
this bottom one was stable and had dried a bit (e.g. tomorrow
sometime).

WELL added the water and Suprise - the litter more than doubled in
capacity..... it's now about 2.5in and I was planning to have 3-3.5in
total substrate after the sand layer. The water is pretty much absorbed
except for a few pools on the surface. Is the kitty litter layer going
to recede or did i just make an awful mistake and need to remove at
least half of it before it dries? Should I really have only places
0.3/0.5in dry litter to start?

I really thought that I had researched this to exhaustion before
starting, but apparently not enough.

Opinions welcome and needed!

Thanks!
I've used an inch of kitty litter under gravel several times and it
didn't expand like you describe. Are you certain that your kitty
litter is 100% clay with nothing, no super absorbers etc added? (and a
few swirls through the rinse bucket saves a lot of time and filter
media when filling the tank.)

Your covering the entire tank bottom with play sand is another issue -
if you've read my recent posts, you'll know that I have used small
areas of sand substrate, but never a whole tank. All sorts of
questions come to mind about cleaning, anaerobic pockets, etc. Tell me
more.

-- Mister Gardener