Cat Information

Is it bad to use cat litter in a aquarium?

i saw a video of some one using cat litter in their tank as gravel. i just bought a large aquarium and i was wondering that instead of buying gravel for so much money, y cant i buy a bucket of cat litter. but i don't want my fish to die. so will it be ok for fish if i use cat litter as gravel.

Public Comments

1. Do not use cat litter in your tank! Most cat litter contains perfumes. Fish do not like these in their water. A lot of cat litter has clay in it. This can damage your filter and make your water murky. Not to mention "odor absorbers" will drastically raise your pH. Who knows what other miscellaneous chemicals are in there! Please for the health of your fish do not use cat litter!
2. don't think I would be using catlitter in an aquarium!! .........unless of course you only have catfish in your aquarium!! Seriously, this is not a good alternative.
3. that is dumb, no offence. i know you saw it so they are dumb, not you. the littler would suck in the water, and release chemicals that would probably kill the fish. for the sake of the fish, buy gravel. and when it gets dirty, buy fresh stuff. (a friend threw out all the dirty gravel, it cost her a fortune.)
4. shit! IT WILL KILL THEM? WHO TOLD U TO DO IT?
5. If you are looking for a reasonable alternative to aquarium gravel, try using chicken grit or traction gravel, its usually not treated with any major chemicals, and all you would need to do is rinse it off extremely well as it is obscenely dusty. It is very cheap, $7 for 50lbs from the feed mill here. It also looks very good under water (what I have is red granite, or it appears to be) As for removing all the gravel when it gets dirty, that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard in my years of fish keeping, but oddly enough that's not the first time I have heard it. You can do something called cleaning it, by using a gravel cleaner. One of the biggest problems, other than being really expensive, is the time it takes for the bacteria that lives in the gravel to repopulate. Do NOT take the gravel out unless it is being transferred to another tank. Cat Litter will do a number of things to your water and tank namely: Increase the Hardness of the water Increase the Ph of the water foul the water and leave a nasty film that is very difficult to remove, if at all It has the potential of releasing harmful Chemicals and other bad things for the tank and its inhabitants It just plain old looks bad If you are planning on putting live plants in it will kill them very quickly. If you have any further question in regards to fish and their habitat please join this forum(http://www.winnipegfishforum.info/index.php) and ask it there, it is the Winnipeg Fish Forum and we have members from all over the place, plus access to some of the foremost people in the hobby.
6. No possible way! Don't try this or your fish will die!
7. sure you can use cat litter in your tank if you want a bunch of dead fish. Cat litter contains numerous chemicals that will kill your fish. perfumes and all kinds of other things. About the video you saw did you see the tank after the cat litter was introduced
8. Please don't use Cat litter, Because all that chemicals. It is like put ur fishes into a Soaps Water, (Well!! i hope you know what is this means!!) I can Understand u got a big fish tank and the biggerst size i had was 250 gals...cast like $20 per a 25lbs bag of gravels..i know it can get Very costy...and i argees with Dadragonmann and wash tham VERY WELL...it is a sweet moneys saving! Don't use Cat Litter!!!!!
9. NO WAY!!!!! I understand you want to save money, but cat litter is used for absorbing-um-liquid stuff, and will fog up your tank because of the chalk and dusty content in it. Also, cat litter has many many many harmful ingrediants that can kill fish very easily. If you want to save money, please go to a river or something, get some small rocks, boil them for about five minutes, and put them in the tank.