Question for peat moss users

I have been doing some experimenting with peat moss and I have a question about the color. The peat moss I have is Canadian sphagnum peat moss. I knew it would change the color of the water, but I've heard people talk about it releasing tannins creating a yellow color. That is however not what happens with my water...it just turns brown, which doesn't seem to have anything to do with tannins. I would imagine any dirt would create the same color. I have been placing the moss in pantyhose and letting it soak in a bucket of water with an airstone.

So what are your experiences with the color your peat moss creates? Please state the type of peat moss your using and the method you use to add it to the water.

Thanks!

Hmmm....I just tried filtering a little bit of my brown water through a coffee filter. This resulted in a much nicer pale yellow. Sadly that would take forever to do with larger amounts of water though. What else could I use to filter the peat water?

 

What if you pre-rinse the moss? Running water through it could get the majority of loose particles out.

Or, you could jury-rig a coffee filter or two into your aquarium filter. However, because coffee filters don't allow as quick of a flow, it might not work too well (I haven't tried it, so I'm not sure. Just throwing it out there as an idea).
An extra layer of fine filter floss in the filter might do the trick, as would carbon (though the carbon has issues of its own.)

 

When using peat, I rinse and soak it before placing it into my filter to remove the smaller dust particles that could cloud the water. If enough peat is used, it can cause a yellowish brown tint to the tank water. Any time I use a lot of peat my tank starts to look like I poured tea into it.....kind of like using a new piece of driftwood without first soaking the tannins out.

 

Thanks for the ideas sirdarksol, but I don't want to use the peat directly in the tank. I want to get it to the parameters I want it at outside of the tank in a bucket. I need something like a coffee filter bag, lol.

 

That's actually a very good idea. It's how I usually suggest people do it. My suggestions can still work. You can still rinse it out ahead of time, and you could get a cheap internal filter, put it in the bucket, and run it with nothing but fine filter floss.

 

I do rinse it, but the filter for the bucket is a good idea! Thanks!

 

No problem. Good luck and let us know how it works out.