Garden Peat

[jwight]

I purchased some eheim peat today for $20. This is 1L to treat 100L of water for 4 weeks. That would be $50 for a month for my tank. I was wondering if anybody uses garden peat. If so what brand is appropriate to use and where can I get it? and cost?

[faewyn]

I have been speaking with a few people about which garden peat to use, and I have not had any absolute answers. A few days ago, I came across a Yates peat. Yates have 2 sorts from memory and one I was told had no additives or chemicals, however the warning on the packet said "May contain additives and chemicals blah blah" sooooo I left it.
I have purchased some Sera "Super peat" today, testing it out now..

[sunshinediscus]

Sunshine peat is a good brand, its imported from Canada. I buy mine through a wholesale nursery , its not normally sold in regular nursery's unless you ask for it specifically. No additives and does a brilliant job lowering the conductivity and ph. I pay about $35 for a 107 liter bale. 1 liter of this peat lowers the conductance from 270 to under 200ms in about 200 liters of tapwater.

Rod

[jwight]

Thats interesting. Who yellow does it turn the water? Who constant is the pH? How much does it lower the pH? Who long does it last? Do you use it with carbon? Thanks.

[flukes]

Thats like asking if the Mrs is going too be in good or bad mood today, you will never get true results. Reason being different tap water will act differently, all you can do is get the best peat possible and see the results for your self..

[sunshinediscus]

Who yellow does it turn the water? Yellow brown color, not too dark.

Who constant is the pH? Anything that lowers the hardness level and buffering capacity of the water will tend to be less able to hold a ph, regular water changes are nessasary to avoid this.

How much does it lower the pH? Supersaturated in r/o water the ph is around 4. In practical use the ph of my tap water will drop about 1 point.

Who long does it last? I believe the correct way to use peat is in the water treatment tank only. Peat is exhausted when the outflow water from the cannister that is packed with peat is no longer a lower conductivity value than the product water.

Do you use it with carbon? No, but if you use carbon after treatment with peat it will greatly clear the water color while still retaining the benifeits of the peat.

HTH

Rod[/b]

[kalebjarrod]

Just be careful with garden peat.

most good peat comes from ireland and some from new zealand, this stuff rocks in a propigation mix or a indoor mix for plants but is terrible for discus

most peats that "Hortys" would not touch, canadian peat american peat are really good for discus

Go figure

i have forgoten the exact reasons, but i did some reaseach into this as i have an unlimited supply of horticultural peat at my disposal and found i could not use it with great sucess.

personally i would try your cheap and nasty peat from bunnings etc, this will be mostly canadian

[DiscusMad]

Thats like asking if the Mrs is going too be in good or bad mood today, you will never get true results

lol i agreee on that one

[funkyfish]

i use peat i get it from home depot can get 2 cubic feet for 4 dollars and it comes from canada and it my ph goes from 8.1 to 7.2 and lowers the rest real nice and i use carbon for 24 hours to lightin the color

[mistakes r crucial]

After speaking with Rod some time ago I bought some Sunshine Peat which does a brilliant job but I also found that my particular batch gave me an ammonia reading of .25. Because of this I rang the company in Canada to find out whether this was natural or caused by additives. She assured me it was natural and her advice was to try and buy the Sunshine Peat in the black bags (professional product as opposed to retail) as it comes from a different bog and has no ammonia. However, she was not sure this product was exported to Australia and she's never got back to me to let me know so I have no idea if it is available.

She did give me the reason for the ammonia which was to do with the age of the bogs but I cant remember if the good stuff was older or younger. She also said that not all bags will contain ammonia, it totally depends on which batch and bog it is from. Bottom line is a bit of Prime will get rid of it anyway so not a hassle as long as you're not ageing 50,000ltrs of water.
MAC