peat briquettes

by **ricko10** on 30 Apr 2010 20:22

i have been experimenting with different peat based items to lower my ph and i have found that the best thing so far are peat briquettes by bord na mona. has anyone else tried using these? They are deffinately a cheaper alternative and im on day 10 with using it and i have found no adverse affects with fish or other water parameters. ph has gone from 7.2 to 5.6. I just soaked a few blocks in a bucket of tank water for 48hrs and placed in my external, as they absorb the water they grew about 5 times in size.

by **Acara** on 30 Apr 2010 21:08

I could well be wrong,but I thought they had some sort of chemical in them to help them burn?

by **ricko10** on 30 Apr 2010 21:16

i researched them before using them and i could find nothing that said they had any chemicals in them. From what i found was that they were 100% peat that had been vacuum dried for more efficient burning and shredded before being compacted into the blocks. if anyone knows different please let me know, but at the moment its working wonders, with the fish colouring up better than i have seen before and are even more eager to breed, but i will keep my eye on them.

by **apistodiscus** on 30 Apr 2010 21:29

very high in sulphur

by **ricko10** on 30 Apr 2010 21:33

This is what is written on the website.

Peat Briquettes are made from natural Irish Peat. They are easy to light and give off a unique, cheerful flame.

Peat Briquettes are a natural product with no additives or binders of any type. They do not create black soot and on average emit only one third of the smoke of a coal fire. They are very low in sulphur emissions too, which means that they contribute to reducing acid rain and so are kinder to the environment all round.

by **Acara** on 30 Apr 2010 21:39

Just keep monitoring it I would suggest.

by **joemc** on 30 Apr 2010 22:28

i asked someone that worked for bord na mona about these before and was told that there is absolutely nothing added to the peat, he added that if miserable bord na mona added anything , you could be sure they would be advertising it and charging more!

by **ricko10** on 30 Apr 2010 22:34

joemc wrote:i asked someone that worked for bord na mona about these before and was told that there is absolutely nothing added to the peat, he added that if miserable bord na mona added anything , you could be sure they would be advertising it and charging more!

I think they have added viagra to it

by **Acara** on 30 Apr 2010 22:38

Joes now down the shed munching brickettes....

by **joemc** on 30 Apr 2010 22:57

either that or trying to make a splint with them and a bit of gaffer tape

by **bandraoi dúchasach** on 30 Apr 2010 23:07

ahhhh harsh.. visual image there iam not gona forget!!!!

by **Peter O'B** on 01 May 2010 08:54

Sound like a cool little experiment. I love SA tanks with the tanins in the water.

Holger, what effect could sulphur potentially have on fish health?

by **joemc** on 01 May 2010 09:28

i would say at a guess that holger might be mixing the briquettes up with those peat fire logs, you know the ones where you light the corner of the waw paper wrapper and they light for hoours?
did'nt know you were an ac/dc fan peter

by **Peter O'B** on 01 May 2010 09:36

Joe, AC/DC is my complete life obsession, besides fishkeeping. Building up a fine collection of bootlegs at the moment, some really high quality old recordings on the net these days. Love filesharing.

Briquettes sounds like the way to go. Any danger of it damaging the impeller, maybe keeping them in a bag like charcoal is the way to go?

by **ricko10** on 01 May 2010 09:49

i put mine in the missus tights. no problems so far and a lovely tannin colour to the water. Woke up to ram eggs this morning to go with the cory and angel fish, and is it possible for the neons to be breeding. alot of action going on with them.
Also havent i readsomewhere that you can get sulphur filter media?