Freshwater Fish Tank Design

Kitty Litter in a Freshwater Fish Tank opposed to gravel or sand?

I was watching a DIY video on bettacare101.com, and the person decided to use kitty litter mixed with a little fake rock in the tank s/he was designing to make it low cost (first mentioned 49sec into video and then again in 3:57 in and there is a close up of it all at 4:19). I have never heard of this before: could someone please enlighten me? It seems like it would get all gross (soaked up with water) and you would need to change it regularly.

Thank you Take care.

The reason why kitty litter is sometimes (but rarely) used as an aquarium substrate is because some brands of kitty litter are actually a form of laterite. Laterite is beneficial for growing aquarium plants because it has good iron content.

However, kitty litter is often not a good choice because:
1. Not all brands of kitty litter use laterite
2. The iron content is very low compared to commercial laterite made for aquariums
3. It can contain unwanted additives like perfumes and clumping agents
4. It can “melt”

55 Gallon freshwater fish tank

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