# Sphagnum Peat Moss Compost?



## Wallis97 (20 Apr 2014)

I was reading through one of the journals, and someone said that sphagnum moss lowered hardness. As I have really hard water:
398.5 mg/l (or parts per million):Calcium Carbonate
159.4 mg/l (or parts per million):Calcium
A substrate that lowers it would be excellent! Is it true that it lowers hardness? If so, I have some compost in the greenhouse that I was thinking of using as part of a substrate that is mostly composed of sphagnum moss (a high percentage, anyway). Would this be okay for use in my aquarium? I'll try to find out what exact type of compost it is and post on here asap. Thanks!


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## Wallis97 (20 Apr 2014)

So, it's Levington M2 Pot and bedding compost.
From the bag:
Major constituent: Sphagnum moss peat
Added nutrients;(mg/l) N 192, P 98, K 319
pH: 5.3-6.0


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## harryH (20 Apr 2014)

Peat moss is usually only used as a light dusting under substrate and too much can cause problems.

I would do some research on here before you go ahead.

Harry.


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## Tim Harrison (20 Apr 2014)

IME moss peat is unlikely to make too much of a dent in very hard water because of its very high buffering capacity, especially if its capped under sand and isolated from the water column. However, it certainly wouldn't hurt to use a moss peat based compost in your case. I've always lived in very hard water areas and my substrates have nearly always contained a very high percentage of moss peat. I've also used moss peat on its own with great success. Just don't use JI No.3 it'll increase your hardness even more if it's at all possible.

You could try filtering through peat, that might help a little. There is more on this in the tutorial linked below.


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## BigTom (20 Apr 2014)

I don't have any info on what they add to that particular compost but the vast majority of commercial mixes seem to contain lime or ground limestone, so do a test to determine the effect it has on your water stats before using.


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## harryH (20 Apr 2014)

Troi said:


> However, it certainly wouldn't hurt to use a moss peat based compost in your case. I've always lived in very hard water areas and my substrates have nearly always contained a very high percentage of moss peat



I just used a sprinkle of peat moss under my substrate for the beneficial bacteria it gives. If you read up some of the posts on here (there was one particular one from Clive which I can't find)  they state that as peat moss is carbon , plant matter, use it sparingly as it will eventually break down as plant matter does and cause ammonia. That's why I'd be wary of using too much.

Harry.


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## Tim Harrison (20 Apr 2014)

Hi Harry that's why I use it. As it breaks down it releases CO2. It will of course release ammonia too during the process of mineralisation but that's handy for cycling a filter It's explained in greater detail in the tutorial linked below.under the heading 'Soil/sediment metamorphosis'.


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## dw1305 (20 Apr 2014)

Hi all, 





> Added nutrients;(mg/l) N 192, P 98, K 319


 That is a lot of nutrients. 





> A substrate that lowers it would be excellent! Is it true that it lowers hardness?


It does, but only when it is 100% sphagnum peat from an ombrotrophic (rain-fed) mire. The reason for this is that is that in sphagnum moss (and sphagnum peat) the cation exchange sites are filled with a H+ ion, which will be exchanged for other cations with a higher valency like Ca++ etc. dependent upon the concentration of cations in the water and their position on the lyotropic series. Like "Troi" says you need a lot of peat to soften hard water, and it only really works with softer water (like rain water). 





> as it will eventually break down as plant matter does and cause ammonia


 This isn't really true for sphagnum peat, the peat can only accumulate because there isn't enough nitrogen (or oxygen) for decomposition of the carbon to occur.  

If you drain the peat and add fertiliser it will oxidise away fairly rapidly. <http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designations/nnr/1006079.aspx>.

cheers Darrel


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## harryH (20 Apr 2014)

Interesting link Darrel.


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## Tim Harrison (20 Apr 2014)

Haha...absolutely right...I knew there was more to it...sometimes I think I've forgotten more than I once understood...


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## Wallis97 (21 Apr 2014)

OK, so I have set up an experiment with compost in a water-filled bucket, and we'll see how it goes...


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## dw1305 (21 Apr 2014)

Hi all,


> Interesting link Darrel


 I think the thing that most of us forget is that we live in a very degraded landscape, what the Indonesian's are doing to their peat bogs is almost exactly what we did to ours 200 years ago, and still continue to do to the tiny (less than 1%) fragment that still exists.

If you visit the Holme Fen post <http://www.emgs.org.uk/files/local_geology/15(1)_holme_post.pdf> even though you know the top of it is where the land surface should be, it is quite difficult to visualize.

It is the same on the Somerset Levels, the land surface is now many feet below sea level due to land drainage, ploughing, and peat cutting, and all the water that arrived there in the winter had to be pumped off, and even in the summer huge pumps have to run every low tide on the Seven Estuary  to stop the land flooding.

Despite all of this a local farmer has been on "Points West" pointing at his ruined "winter wheat" field and saying that it has been ruined because the Environment Agency has protected it, and "_what are they going to do about it_?" and the interviewer just commiserates with  him, rather than asking him why is he growing winter wheat on land that is totally unsuited to growing it? <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26767758>, how much subsidy does he get to farm that field? <http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/farming/funding/es/els/> and how much levy are local people paying to the Internal drainage board to keep the field drained <http://www.somersetdrainageboards.gov.uk/finance-rates/finance/>.  

I'm not anti-farming (in fact quite the opposite, I come from a farming back-ground), but the economics of farming marginal land on former peat bogs which are below sea level doesn't make any sense what so ever. If any-one wants to know more I'd recommend Graham Harvey's (former Agricultural Story Editor for "The Archers") books:  <http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Countryside-Graham-Harvey-ebook/dp/B005M2A4XE/ref=la_B001KDBRPI_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398099511&sr=1-4>.

cheers Darrel


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## Tim Harrison (21 Apr 2014)

A similar scenario results from allowing housing development on marginal land associated with floodplains...but not only are the consequences measured in terms of heavily subsidised underwritten insurance and "clean up costs" they are also measured in human misery and suffering.Sorry off topic...but it's difficult not to mention peat bogs and environmental impact in the same post...http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/deep-study-on-peat.29995/#post-315254


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