What is peat?

It is a completely natural product, it modifies the chemistry of your water and in particular the Ph.

Peat is a light, fibrous and completely natural material. We will use it to lower our PH and also give a little brown color to our water. Peat will therefore be used mainly for acidophilic fish, ie fish that prefer a pH below 7 to around 5 or 6. It is also widely used to trigger reproduction. Many fish indeed need slightly more acidic water than usual to trigger spawning.

Most of the northern hemisphere peatlands have formed since the last glaciation which occurred approximately 10-12 thousand years ago in the southern hemisphere. Bogs may be even older. A bog begins to form when groundwater or rainwater collects on dense, poorly drained soil. A virgin peat bog made up of more than 95% water. Peat begins to develop with the partial rotting of the surface.

Water and lack of oxygen slow down the action of microbes, causing rotting, which contributes to the development of peat. Sphagnum is one of the most common peat-producing plants. Others, relatively important, are sedges, grasses, woody plants, shrubs, many other mosses, common reeds, etc. The top layer of a bog supports living plants. Below is dead or decomposing matter.

The metamorphosis is progressive and especially in the case of mosses, it is difficult to define the limit between the dead mass and the living part. A bog can form in three different ways. First, vegetation invades the land immediately after the ice or water recedes. The phenomenon continues to occur today on the east coast of Canada, Sweden and Finland and in the White Sea region, northwest Russia. Second, bog plants invade the surrounding forest or mineral soil and can then slowly choke out trees and other plants.

Third, a bog can arise from the overflow of an aquatic mass. A lake or a pond can thus be filled by the bottom or by the surface, or even by both.

Peatlands can also be classified according to the aquifer source. Bogs, whose moisture is a large part of their nutrition, come from rainwater, are dominated by mosses, and frequently reach several meters in thickness on the surface of the surrounding soil.

Mineralotrophic bogs located in depressions and dominated by sedges, reeds or trees get their moisture and nutrition from deep or shallow groundwater, such as rain. Nature also combines these two structural types a primitive peat bog is a natural resource in continuous growth.

How do we use peat for ponds?

Peat is a filtration mass that can be used for ponds. It has the power to alter the chemistry of water. Its use in our internal or external filter is completely optional and completely depends on your needs and especially those of your fish. Peat is one of the so-called chemical filter media. Not that these are chemicals, quite the contrary.

The brown coloring of the water by peat is unavoidable. If you have this coloration, it is quite simply that the peat contains a lot of tannin and it is this tannin that will lower the Ph. But even if for many of us, slightly yellow water is not very pleasant in nature, the water is never crystal clear, or almost. Especially in the Amazon basins, where the water is very often yellowish, loaded with tannin. And if you want to create an Amazonian biotope, for example with black water, peat is almost indispensable.

Above all It is important to emphasize that the balance of your pelvis is sensitive!

Too much acidity can harm your fish and plants. AquaActiv AquaHumin is 100% natural, acts on the acidity level and fights against the proliferation of algae. The peat is placed near the pump or even at the foot of the waterfall. After use, the peat can be used to fertilize your garden.

Peat is not a permanent filtration mass. It wears out and it will have to be changed regularly.