# Questions about el natural substrate.



## Sarpijk (2 Mar 2016)

Hi! I got my hands on a second hand 30ltr Aquael nano cube. I am about to setup my first real el natural scape. For substrate I am thinking of using peat and some pieces of clay. I have seen sphagnum moss peat mentioned. I have access to plain sphagnum moss. Could I use it instead?


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## dw1305 (2 Mar 2016)

Hi all,





Sarpijk said:


> I have access to plain sphagnum moss. Could I use it instead?


You can, but there are certain provisos. 

Both sphagnum moss and sphagnum peat are a bit different to a normal soil as they don't contain many nutrients and are 100% organic, and will oxidise away to almost nothing. I would add some sand to retain substrate volume.

Sphagnum peat has a high CEC and all the exchange sites are initially filled with H+ ions (from the rain-water in the bog where it grew). This means that it will exchange H+ ions for other cations, dependent upon their availability and how strongly bound they are. Multivalent cations are most strongly bound ions, so it will exchange Ca++ and Mg++ ions for H+ ions, which will soften the water and reduce pH.

It also has a very high carbon to nitrogen ratio (it is lack of nitrogen and oxygen that allows the carbon (peat) to accumulate), which means that it will tend to deplete NO3- ions from the substrate as it starts to oxidise to CO2. 

Some soft water Killifish, Anabantoid and Cichlid keepers use it sphagnum moss as a substrate. Have a look at <"Some pics from a basement...">

cheers Darrel


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## Sarpijk (2 Mar 2016)

Thanks Darrel. I forgot to mention that I will cap the substrate with black sand. So from what I gather I shouldn't bother with sphagnum moss and I should just do away with plain peat and clay.


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