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| Hobby Forum Index » Aquaria » Simple way to get benefits of peat without the mess |
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| Author |
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| jd |
 Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:53 pm |
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Guest
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Peat (a.k.a. peat moss) does all kinds of nice things to planted aquariums,
or any aquarium that wants soft, slightly acidic water. However, getting
peat into the tank without filling it with clouds of black particles, and a
fine layer of black debris is tough. Here's how I do it... (note: my tank is
a 125 gallon - adjust volumes to match your tank..)
first of all, the peat I use is plain old garden peat moss, available at
most garden, hardware or home-supply stores. Make sure its not treated or
fertilized.....
here's how to get it into the tank without all the mess....
Put a handful of dry peat into a jar (I use a 1 liter soda bottle that has
been cleaned out). A handful is about a cup.... try to make sure its mostly
the fine powder, and not the stringy bits... I use tap water (I have a
well), but you should use whatever water you normally put in your tank....
Shake the bottle up, making sure that everything is good and wet. Stick the
bottle (open for air circulation) on the kitchen counter, and every time you
go by, give it a good shake. Keep this up for a week (I do water changes
every week, so that's the interval I use). If a week is to much bother,
prepare it at least 48 hours ahead of time - the solution will go through a
bit of a pH variation for the first 12 hours or so, and you want it nice and
stable before you add it to your tank.
for 24 hours before adding the peat to your tank, *DON'T* shake, stir, or
otherwise agitate the bottle. Most of the particles will sink to the bottom,
leaving a lighter solution on top.
Line a large funnel with a paper towel or coffee filter (this will filter
out any remaining particles that would otherwise make your tank ugly...).
Slowly pour the solution into the funnel. It will take a while to go through
the filter, so I set the funnel in the top of a 2 liter soda bottle, and
just leave it to slowly drip through on its own. Keep adding the Peat
solution until all that's left in the bottle of the first bottle is mud...
Throw it away, dump it in your garden, whatever - you don't need it anymore.
Once the peat solution has dripped through the filter, you simply pour it
into the tank. It will create a cloud of tan/brown stuff that will take a
couple of hours to settle, but when it does, it will be invisible. If you
put in a lot, you may end up with slightly yellowish water. It will clear up
after a bit, or a good diatom filter will scrub it out.....
Basically what your doing is creating a tea made of all the soluble stuff in
the peat moss, and leaving behind all the solid bits. Because all you're
adding is water-soluble, it won't change the appearance of your water
(unless you add a whole lot of it...)
--enjoy
-JD |
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| Marksfish |
| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:34 am |
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