Forgot to mention. Safe-T-Sorb, is $7.42 for a 40 lb bag at Tractor Supply. Yes, you are right about substrate sellers not wanting you to know about these natural substrates.

OOOOOOOHHHHH glad you finally let us know about the brand of Kitty litter.

I appreciate all your tips

Dr. Novak, Enjoyed your Betta Plenum video. I noted your comment on using and cleaning the cat litter. Cleaning smaller portions at a time is easier. Personally I like using Safe -T- Sorb, it has the same natural look as the baked kitty litter, actually I think it looks better with the natural brown colors it has. As far as cleaning it, I have found I can easily clean a pound or more at a time with a large kitchen strainer and the garden hose with a sprayer, for those that want to do bigger aquariums. I combine it with flourite red for a nice looking substrate. Your idea of liquid iron would probably be cheaper than the flourite. Either is great. I am a firm plenum believer.

Thank you for sharing. I’ve been trying to redo one of my tanks and set a couple for the kiddos but didn’t want to spend all the money in “premium” substrate because this would be their first go tanks. Absolutely going with this method. Thanks again.

Looks good. Thanks for sharing this. I do not have any kitty litter in my area that will not turn to mush so I bought and used, Safe T Sorb® Clay Granular Absorbent from Tractor Supply.

I couldn't find that kitty litter in my country unfortunately, that'd be such a game changer, but anyways I had to go with Seachem Flourite clays and they aren't precisely cheap.

YAY I was going to suggest that. I am converting all my small containters with 'plenums' but I don't use and uplift tube at all I just layer it and use weed fabric to keep the fine particles from clogging it up so fast. I have a bunch of 'bio balls' that I place on the bottom and then an embroidery screen cut to shape on top and then the fabric then the litter, soil and cap with sand.

Thank you for another great informative video!

As always, great stuff. Just set up my new 75 yesterday using kitty litter, iron, litter, and a top cap of gravel just because I like the look a little better. Already clear as a bell although I know it will take some time to get the plants growing well. Thanks

by the way. thanks a lot for your educating videos . if it too much for some small minded people . i can only say continue what you are doing . they are some very appreciating people around the world . my self education is microbiology and metabolism . so i can really appreciate the details you are offering to a large audience . from south of france . avignon

this is perfect timing. Im thinking of revamping my 10g and this looks perfect... i have a huge bag of kitty litter i can use now... (Unscented of course)

Wow interesting channel. Can you cap the kitty litter with sand? I like the way black sand looks. Thanks.

I like the kitty litter idea. Can I use on top of dirted soil for my plants?

OH the screen info over the hole GOOD to know I thought about doing that too, glad I didn't

hi dr novak i run co2 247 in my tank 2 bubbles a second keeps my ph at 6.8 its around 15ppm co2 plants looking better with the new asta light im adding fluval gro all in one ferts but iv ordered a bottle of seachem iron an iron and phosphate test kit shouid i buy pottasium aswell i do 50percent water change each week just wanna have heathly plants its tricky

I’m glad you didn’t use the sand again. The kitty litter looks better. The set up of the jar would be easy and simple for anyone to do and be cost effective for any budget. Being in Florida for the winter and bringing the jar inside, will you use a small heater. Just curious because it’s bettas. Hope you made it thru the hurricane without much damage.

Dr. Novak, Recently watched one of your older videos and remember you had placed something like Eheim Substrat (Gravel?) underneath the plenum. Might have been the antique 20g or newer 10g tank build videos. Based upon material size, would the product fit beneath this round Lee UGF without pushing it up slightly off the glass bottom? Was kind of hoping the sand would have worked out during this series. The grain size seemed like a good fit for plant roots not having to work as hard to establish. A bit too fussy to clean as you described, yet I thought it did make for a nice cap. BTW, your audio is spot on with this new microphone. While a great improvement, I never thought your audio was bad in previous videos. Better than most non-pro YT channels, yet some viewers get hung up on room acoustics and presenters having to turn their heads and audio dropping low. If I wanted to listen to automatons, there's a park in Florida for that sort of thing. Didn't matter to me since I'm here for the theory, science and experimentation. Thanks for what you're doing for the hobby and sharing.

Hi doc no one hate you dr Love from katachi pakistan

Hi! What is Plenums? This article is so intersting, & I want to give it a go..

#SafeTSorbGang

I hope you are ok , IAN not damage your home.

Thanks for sharing. Its an excellent idea. I always wondered about using the clay itself as substrate but wasn't sure how it would work. So for now I've just been using it for the bcb bags in the canister and as the only biological media in my small DIY overhead sump filter made using a planter box & planted with pothos. I will however, definitely give it a try when I am setting up the plenum for my next tank. 👍👍👍

Thank you Dr. Do you believe capping this with Sand (just for the looks!) might improve or make it worse? I imagine it would make the water move even slower, but you are the expert :D

I'm moving into a smaller home and wanted to do a 18" tall×8.5" wide flower pot indoor I guess nano pond lol with plants and of course lighting would something like this be ok?????

Dr. Novak where did you purchase the Whiskers and Tails kitty litter. South Florida is a real headache to find baked clay kitty litter. I have opted to use zeolite, but would prefer to stick to the baked clay, non clumping, unscented, kitty litter. Thanks for all of your great information and advice.

I might have used the wrong kitty litter? The one I got at walmart on the red bag became mush when I tried to clean it. Should I replace it?

i have a hard time warming up to using cat litter as a gravel replacement. i have said before, i used it as an additive to cactus potting soil, however it softens after a year or 2 and will clump in a ball if you squeeze in your hand. that's not what you want in cactus soil, it needs to stay loose, so i quit using it. i now use ''Turface'' in my soil mix. i want to try turface in an aquarium as a gravel replacement, which you mentioned it makes the water hard, (i believe)? perhaps doing routine water changes would take care of that. anyway, the cat litter is important to the bcb bags and baskets, and i would use those, just not as gravel replacement, unless i can find a hard baked clay that will not deteriorate the way i have seen cat litter does. is there any other substance(they sell fluorite just about everywhere these days), even chicken grit, sold in feed stores, or crushed bluestone(granite) i collect roadside for my cacti that will attract the ions out of the water when used with a plenum as gravel? also i thought about just siphoning out all the cat litter every 2 years or so and replacing it with new, hmmm?

I have a ten gallon setup with a layer of kitty litter topped off with Eco-complete over the plenum. Plants are growing great with no algae to speak of. Less than two months since i've set it up and i had to trim the growth a few times.

I need to add plant fertilizer for my plants even using a Plenum because I have no fish in some of my planted tanks and my well water is low in Calcium and other minerals.

Tanks for sharing. Have used a baked Kitty Litter here in Norway that have worked very well. I have seen one negative effect though. The Kitty Litter reduse the GH/KH to zero. I suppose all types of Kitty Litter have the same effect on the GH/KH. Any suggestions to easy counteract this effect of the Kitty Litter?? Crushed coral maybe?

How do you know if Baked kitty litter? I bought the special kitty natural clay, unscented, non-clumping, like you suggested on another video, but that one fell apart in a cup of water

got a new asta 120 it is 60 watts 6000lumens with the round lens looks great on my 25 gallonplants doing alot better its the new model with the 3 blue leds but amazon really needs to sort there site it says 80 watts 4325 lumens and 65k not 60wats 6000lumens 72k big diffrence lol i dont think ill need a second one on a 32inch tank but im gonna get one more run both at 75persent make lights last longer

Crap… I already put the mushy kitty litter from Walmart in my aquarium. Its been running for a while now. Do I have to take it all out and start all over?

A very interesting and informative video thank you. I noticed when you panned to the left , a beautiful tank full of greenery , please may we see this sometime ? 😁🍀🌱🌴🌿☘🌾

Hi, can we use pure iron oxide powder instead of laterite rocks?

First

Where in the world do you buy that litter? I have NEVER seen it and do not know where to get it and can't find it on line. Thanks

Is flourite the same thing as laterite?

If the clay cat litter isn't baked will it still be okay, but not ideal

I want your book but didnt know where i bay in pakistan?

my asta 120 blew up fan musta have failed

I got a bubble every 3 seconds coming out of my plenum in a 75 gallon aquarium should I turn mine up more or would that be fine

WAS QUITE DIFFICULT TO GeT THE RIGHT KITTY LITTER here in france. so many varieties and so little choice , most of them do not list the content of their products. and other are bentonite with clumping or green clay which is rich in carbonate. i had to pay a lot more to get the right one which contains sepiocat clay non scented from spain . who would think that it is becoming more expensive than jbl flora aquabasic plus . but not knowing their contents pisses me off too . as most of them are frugal with their products and contents

My plenum 40 breeder has plenum covered with walmart special kitty litter then iron soil and .2mm sand. Are you now saying we should not set up with the walmart special kitty litter? You are kind of all over the place with what to use. I guess laterite is not necessary now. Hmm? That plenum is way way too fast.