Difference between peat moss and sphagnum peat

yhbae

yhbae

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Aug 5, 2003
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I went to the gardening store to see what they have. I found what they call "peat moss" which seems to be awfully soily - surely people don't add this to water as it will turn water real muddy, fast!

Right next to it, I found a small neatly packaged item called "sphagnum peat" (or was it sphagnum moss?). It looks like what peat moss was supposed to be according to my own imagination - very clean, very light in color, consisting of long strings. It says it's good as a decoration on the pots as a top layer.

Can I use this instead? Once the platy delivers the next batch in the 10g, I'm going to try to get harlequin rasboras to spawn, so I'll have to turn the water acidic...

Appreciate any feedback!
 
I suspect what you saw is what is sometimes labeled as "long-grain sphagnum" or more correctly just "sphagnum moss" This is the dried moss which is the top, live, layer of a peat bog. It will take much more of this to acidify the water than a comparable volume of "sphagnum peat", which is ground up remains of the lower layers of the bog. Sphagnum peat is dark brown, infinitely dusty, and a super CEC agent which can soak up more minerals than the dried moss itself can - but that is in part a density function. If you use the dried moss it is neater (but still has fines in it) and may require more, and is much more expensive per pound. You can still get the effect. Your choice.
 
Thanks for the clarification...

It definitely wasn't dry, but it was clean and light so I guess this isn't the best choice if I want the most effective means of reducing pH...

I'll go back to the store and look for other kinds...
 
Yeah, make sure you are getting what is labeled as Spaghnum peat moss. It should be a fairly light-weight, dark, dusty concoction that looks and feels like some dried and chopped up but still stringy wood and leaves. It is basically partly decomposed leaves, small branches and such from the lower layers of what lies on the ground in humid forests and such. It will turn the water a little cloudy, but clears up pretty fast and you might also get some yellow tint. Then you knows it's the good stuff!

You might try a gardening or nursey supply store as they typically have better grades of the peat, but I have also used the stuff you can buy at Walmart with success... just have to use a little more. If you want the potent stuff, fish stores and such sell peat nuggets or fibers that seem to be much more concentrated and take less to make an effect.

Good luck,
Bill C.
 
I have used the standard garden center "canadian spagnum peat" (I have SUCH an issue paying $10 for a handful of peat at the petstore, when this stuff is $10 for a whellbarrow full). I pile a bunch of it into a filter bag (or nylon sock) and rinse it slightly to get rid of the very most fine particles before dunking it in my curing-water-tub or my filter. If you use poly floss in the filter after the peat, you should greatly reduce any clouding potential.. though your poly might plug up more quickly.

I have very hard water (pH ~8.5), and this seems to help bring it down for my West African river tank.

Keegan
 
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