On a related note, quite a few bonsai tree owners (including myself) have their trees planted in specific brands of cat litter. It needs to be ones which are 100% moler clay. It's holds on to a lot of moisture whilst still providing good draining so that the roots don't become waterlogged. Unfortunately, the brand of choice in the UK has recently been discontinued.I gave up on the aquarium community when they had their two-year-long affair with kitty-litter planted tanks
Right? Trick is, you just need to soak it long enough. "Long enough" appears to be "more years than you are willing to deal with." The next move after "cat litter substrate" was "garden soil substrate" whereby people who will happily dip their plants in a 10% bleach solution for precisely 30 seconds were literally digging in fields and dumping it in with their cichlids.