using nylon stockings to add peat to a tank without mess?

[jd]

I've got a question...
Some folks I know have recomended that I put peat into an old nylon stocking
and drop it in my tank (or canister filter). This has been suggested as an
easy way to treat the water with peat without fillingt the tank with the
fine peat powder...

Has anyone tried anything like this? I don't want a ton of the fine dust
floating around in the tank, but I want to have peat in the tank..... I've
been pre-treating my water when I do water changes, and its a drag....

another suggestion was to charge a diatom filter with screened peat instead
of diatom powder, and just run it.......

thanks...
--JD

[NetMax]

On Apr 9, 6:33 pm, "jd" > wrote:
> I've got a question...
> Some folks I know have recomended that I put peat into an old nylon stocking
> and drop it in my tank (or canister filter). This has been suggested as an
> easy way to treat the water with peat without fillingt the tank with the
> fine peat powder...
>
> Has anyone tried anything like this? I don't want a ton of the fine dust
> floating around in the tank, but I want to have peat in the tank..... I've
> been pre-treating my water when I do water changes, and its a drag....
>
> another suggestion was to charge a diatom filter with screened peat instead
> of diatom powder, and just run it.......
>
> thanks...
> --JD

Until the small openings of the nylon stocking get clogged, this will
work, as would any other filter media bag. Peat comes in different
forms and concentrations. My preference has been to use peat pellets,
I think they were marketed as an accessory for Fluval filters, but
they would work in any filter compartment able to take a loose filter
bag. The pellets are quite concentrated (faster acting and they take
less room in the filter) and they also won't clog the bag, but it's
probably the most expensive way to go about it if you are doing this
on an ongoing basis, so ymmv.

The better question (imo) is why do you want or think you need to be
using peat? I'm usually found in http://groups.google.com/group/The-Freshwater-Aquarium
if I don't get back here in time to see you reply (and with your cross-
posting, I don't even know where 'here' is).

cheers
NetMax

[Jaden]

> Until the small openings of the nylon stocking get clogged, this will
> work, as would any other filter media bag. Peat comes in different
> forms and concentrations. My preference has been to use peat pellets,
> I think they were marketed as an accessory for Fluval filters, but
> they would work in any filter compartment able to take a loose filter
> bag. The pellets are quite concentrated (faster acting and they take
> less room in the filter) and they also won't clog the bag, but it's
> probably the most expensive way to go about it if you are doing this
> on an ongoing basis, so ymmv.
>
> The better question (imo) is why do you want or think you need to be
> using peat? I'm usually found in http://groups.google.com/group/The-Freshwater-Aquarium
> if I don't get back here in time to see you reply (and with your cross-
> posting, I don't even know where 'here' is).
>
> cheers
> NetMax
>
>

I use the stocking method to soften the water before it does into the
tank. I fill a bucket with very hot water, let it stand for 24 hours to
get rid of the Chlorine, add treatment for some of the other Chlorine
derivatives, and put in a stocking filled with broken up peat briquette.
Leave for another 24 hours, and viola, softened water. By doing it this
way, I don't clog up my filters as much.....

Rob.

[Marksfish]

I used to use a similar version, but on a larger scale for my discus
aquarium. I took some pictures and put them on my website here:
http://www.marksfish.me.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63. It
is a few years old now, but I still get the odd email saying how well it
works for others, may be worth a look? Of course, it can also be scaled up/
down for whatever size tank you have.

Regards

Mark

[jd]

I'm doing something like this now, but want to avoid the whole "big bucket
of water" thing, and be able to go from the tap right tothe tank (my water
is OK, just needs a bit of softening). the idea was to use the stocking in
the tank itself insteadof in a pre-treating bucket..
-JD

"Marksfish" > wrote in message
...
>I used to use a similar version, but on a larger scale for my discus
>aquarium. I took some pictures and put them on my website here:
>http://www.marksfish.me.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63. It
>is a few years old now, but I still get the odd email saying how well it
>works for others, may be worth a look? Of course, it can also be scaled up/
>down for whatever size tank you have.
>
> Regards
>
> Mark
>

[jd]

Cool... ow much peat escapes from the stocking to the bucket? I was hoping
to be able to put the peat right into the tank (in the stocking) and avoid
the pre-treatment thing....

--JD

"Jaden" > wrote in message
...
>
>> Until the small openings of the nylon stocking get clogged, this will
>> work, as would any other filter media bag. Peat comes in different
>> forms and concentrations. My preference has been to use peat pellets,
>> I think they were marketed as an accessory for Fluval filters, but
>> they would work in any filter compartment able to take a loose filter
>> bag. The pellets are quite concentrated (faster acting and they take
>> less room in the filter) and they also won't clog the bag, but it's
>> probably the most expensive way to go about it if you are doing this
>> on an ongoing basis, so ymmv.
>>
>> The better question (imo) is why do you want or think you need to be
>> using peat? I'm usually found in
>> http://groups.google.com/group/The-Freshwater-Aquarium
>> if I don't get back here in time to see you reply (and with your cross-
>> posting, I don't even know where 'here' is).
>>
>> cheers
>> NetMax
>>
>>
>
> I use the stocking method to soften the water before it does into the
> tank. I fill a bucket with very hot water, let it stand for 24 hours to
> get rid of the Chlorine, add treatment for some of the other Chlorine
> derivatives, and put in a stocking filled with broken up peat briquette.
> Leave for another 24 hours, and viola, softened water. By doing it this
> way, I don't clog up my filters as much.....
>
> Rob.

[Marksfish]

> I'm doing something like this now, but want to avoid the whole "big bucket
> of water" thing, and be able to go from the tap right tothe tank (my water
> is OK, just needs a bit of softening). the idea was to use the stocking in
> the tank itself insteadof in a pre-treating bucket..
> -JD
>
>
Although the stocking works, you have to remember that the peat will compact
with a lot fewer pathways for the water to run through unless you can give
it a squeeze every now and again to break it up. If you do that though, the
chances are that you will have sediment enter the tank. Another thing with
continually running the water through the peat is that your pH will
continually be dropping and you won't have a great amount of control,
possibly leading to a pH crash. This doesn't generally happen with the more
expensive aquarium peat you can buy, but garden peat can have a ph as low as
5!

Another potential possibility could be to fluidise it as you would a
phosphate remover? Don't know what it would be like and you would have the
same lack of control over the pH, but you wouldn't get the "tracking"
through the peat as you would with the stocking.

Last thought. How about something like a nitragon which fits to the tap, but
instead of a nitrate removing resin you had peat? I'm sure something
reasonably easy could be built along those sort of lines.

Mark

[~Windsong~[_2_]]

yea yea yea, so what........do you want to grow plants in peat moss or
add peat to a fish tank, its irrevalent at most, personally I would
use roundup and kill the freaking weeds and plants and go bare
bottom........ya know show the tanks bare bottom like Derek shows his
ass all the time in the moderated group of the pond clowns.....

On 9 Apr 2007 16:22:20 -0700, "NetMax" >
wrote:

<<>>On Apr 9, 6:33 pm, "jd" > wrote:
<<>>> I've got a question...
<<>>> Some folks I know have recomended that I put peat into an old nylon stocking
<<>>> and drop it in my tank (or canister filter). This has been suggested as an
<<>>> easy way to treat the water with peat without fillingt the tank with the
<<>>> fine peat powder...
<<>>>
<<>>> Has anyone tried anything like this? I don't want a ton of the fine dust
<<>>> floating around in the tank, but I want to have peat in the tank..... I've
<<>>> been pre-treating my water when I do water changes, and its a drag....
<<>>>
<<>>> another suggestion was to charge a diatom filter with screened peat instead
<<>>> of diatom powder, and just run it.......
<<>>>
<<>>> thanks...
<<>>> --JD
<<>>
<<>>Until the small openings of the nylon stocking get clogged, this will
<<>>work, as would any other filter media bag. Peat comes in different
<<>>forms and concentrations. My preference has been to use peat pellets,
<<>>I think they were marketed as an accessory for Fluval filters, but
<<>>they would work in any filter compartment able to take a loose filter
<<>>bag. The pellets are quite concentrated (faster acting and they take
<<>>less room in the filter) and they also won't clog the bag, but it's
<<>>probably the most expensive way to go about it if you are doing this
<<>>on an ongoing basis, so ymmv.
<<>>
<<>>The better question (imo) is why do you want or think you need to be
<<>>using peat? I'm usually found in http://groups.google.com/group/The-Freshwater-Aquarium
<<>>if I don't get back here in time to see you reply (and with your cross-
<<>>posting, I don't even know where 'here' is).
<<>>
<<>>cheers
<<>>NetMax
<<>>



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

[NetMax]

On Apr 10, 9:47 am, "Marksfish" > wrote:
> > I'm doing something like this now, but want to avoid the whole "big bucket
> > of water" thing, and be able to go from the tap right tothe tank (my water
> > is OK, just needs a bit of softening). the idea was to use the stocking in
> > the tank itself insteadof in a pre-treating bucket..
> > -JD
>
> Although the stocking works, you have to remember that the peat will compact
> with a lot fewer pathways for the water to run through unless you can give
> it a squeeze every now and again to break it up. If you do that though, the
> chances are that you will have sediment enter the tank. Another thing with
> continually running the water through the peat is that your pH will
> continually be dropping and you won't have a great amount of control,
> possibly leading to a pH crash. This doesn't generally happen with the more
> expensive aquarium peat you can buy, but garden peat can have a ph as low as
> 5!
>
> Another potential possibility could be to fluidise it as you would a
> phosphate remover? Don't know what it would be like and you would have the
> same lack of control over the pH, but you wouldn't get the "tracking"
> through the peat as you would with the stocking.
>
> Last thought. How about something like a nitragon which fits to the tap, but
> instead of a nitrate removing resin you had peat? I'm sure something
> reasonably easy could be built along those sort of lines.
>
> Mark

Mark, I'm glad you replied because I was thinking of that article you
wrote, and you saved me the trouble of finding the link. I'd still
question what is trying to be achieved, and what are the current water
parameters. Depending on the kH, the right peat solution varies from
a little in the filter, to pre-treatment in storage tanks, to not
using peat at all.

NetMax

[jd]

Cool. I'm not planning to have a huge flow over/through it - more looking to
just drop it in a corner of hte tank behind some plants and let it do its
thing.

The tank already has a bunch of peat in it, so I'm not too worried about a
bag of it changing the chem - mostly just trying to make sure the "old" peat
(under the gravel with UGF) doesn't get completely depleted and the
chamistry get wonky....

For what its worth, the peat did a great job dealing with hard, high Ph
water... The fish are happy enough to be breeding pretty constantly, and th
plants won't stop growing (with a plain old hardware store grow light in the
standard cheapo hood as the only light source)........ Its a 125, so its got
a lot of inertia anyway....



thansk again - mostly I was just trying to figure out if anyone had tried
the nylon thing, and if it kept the peat mostly contained (I hate that black
layer on top of everything, and it *can't be too good for the gills....)

thanks again
-_JD


"Marksfish" > wrote in message
...
>> I'm doing something like this now, but want to avoid the whole "big
>> bucket of water" thing, and be able to go from the tap right tothe tank
>> (my water is OK, just needs a bit of softening). the idea was to use the
>> stocking in the tank itself insteadof in a pre-treating bucket..
>> -JD
>>
>>
> Although the stocking works, you have to remember that the peat will
> compact with a lot fewer pathways for the water to run through unless you
> can give it a squeeze every now and again to break it up. If you do that
> though, the chances are that you will have sediment enter the tank.
> Another thing with continually running the water through the peat is that
> your pH will continually be dropping and you won't have a great amount of
> control, possibly leading to a pH crash. This doesn't generally happen
> with the more expensive aquarium peat you can buy, but garden peat can
> have a ph as low as 5!
>
> Another potential possibility could be to fluidise it as you would a
> phosphate remover? Don't know what it would be like and you would have the
> same lack of control over the pH, but you wouldn't get the "tracking"
> through the peat as you would with the stocking.
>
> Last thought. How about something like a nitragon which fits to the tap,
> but instead of a nitrate removing resin you had peat? I'm sure something
> reasonably easy could be built along those sort of lines.
>
> Mark
>

[jd]

the goal is to be able to maintain a peat-enhanced environment without
having to dink around with pre-treating 60 gallons of water every week......
Tossing a contained batch of peat into the tank is the easiest way to do it,
but the containment (while allowing for some circulation or at least seapage
through the peat to occur) has been problematic. Just polling to see if
anyone has had any luck with this method....


For what its worth, I've been using plain old garden variety peat moss for
my pre-treating for about 25 years, and never had any problems (I do make
sure to buy pure peat - no fertilizers or pesticides etc). Tons cheaper than
the "special" aquarium stuff..... I do sift it through a screen to get rid
of the larger stringy bits 9they get tossed into the garden), so pretty mch
what goes into the fish water is the powedery stuff.....

thanks again
--JD


"NetMax" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> On Apr 10, 9:47 am, "Marksfish" > wrote:
>> > I'm doing something like this now, but want to avoid the whole "big
>> > bucket
>> > of water" thing, and be able to go from the tap right tothe tank (my
>> > water
>> > is OK, just needs a bit of softening). the idea was to use the stocking
>> > in
>> > the tank itself insteadof in a pre-treating bucket..
>> > -JD
>>
>> Although the stocking works, you have to remember that the peat will
>> compact
>> with a lot fewer pathways for the water to run through unless you can
>> give
>> it a squeeze every now and again to break it up. If you do that though,
>> the
>> chances are that you will have sediment enter the tank. Another thing
>> with
>> continually running the water through the peat is that your pH will
>> continually be dropping and you won't have a great amount of control,
>> possibly leading to a pH crash. This doesn't generally happen with the
>> more
>> expensive aquarium peat you can buy, but garden peat can have a ph as low
>> as
>> 5!
>>
>> Another potential possibility could be to fluidise it as you would a
>> phosphate remover? Don't know what it would be like and you would have
>> the
>> same lack of control over the pH, but you wouldn't get the "tracking"
>> through the peat as you would with the stocking.
>>
>> Last thought. How about something like a nitragon which fits to the tap,
>> but
>> instead of a nitrate removing resin you had peat? I'm sure something
>> reasonably easy could be built along those sort of lines.
>>
>> Mark
>
> Mark, I'm glad you replied because I was thinking of that article you
> wrote, and you saved me the trouble of finding the link. I'd still
> question what is trying to be achieved, and what are the current water
> parameters. Depending on the kH, the right peat solution varies from
> a little in the filter, to pre-treatment in storage tanks, to not
> using peat at all.
>
> NetMax
>

[Marksfish]

> Mark, I'm glad you replied because I was thinking of that article you
> wrote, and you saved me the trouble of finding the link.
>

To be honest, I think you would have struggled with the amount of server
changes and revamps the site has been through over the last 12 months :0)

Mark

[swarvegorilla]

"NetMax" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> On Apr 10, 9:47 am, "Marksfish" > wrote:
>> > I'm doing something like this now, but want to avoid the whole "big
>> > bucket
>> > of water" thing, and be able to go from the tap right tothe tank (my
>> > water
>> > is OK, just needs a bit of softening). the idea was to use the stocking
>> > in
>> > the tank itself insteadof in a pre-treating bucket..
>> > -JD
>>
>> Although the stocking works, you have to remember that the peat will
>> compact
>> with a lot fewer pathways for the water to run through unless you can
>> give
>> it a squeeze every now and again to break it up. If you do that though,
>> the
>> chances are that you will have sediment enter the tank. Another thing
>> with
>> continually running the water through the peat is that your pH will
>> continually be dropping and you won't have a great amount of control,
>> possibly leading to a pH crash. This doesn't generally happen with the
>> more
>> expensive aquarium peat you can buy, but garden peat can have a ph as low
>> as
>> 5!
>>
>> Another potential possibility could be to fluidise it as you would a
>> phosphate remover? Don't know what it would be like and you would have
>> the
>> same lack of control over the pH, but you wouldn't get the "tracking"
>> through the peat as you would with the stocking.
>>
>> Last thought. How about something like a nitragon which fits to the tap,
>> but
>> instead of a nitrate removing resin you had peat? I'm sure something
>> reasonably easy could be built along those sort of lines.
>>
>> Mark
>
> Mark, I'm glad you replied because I was thinking of that article you
> wrote, and you saved me the trouble of finding the link. I'd still
> question what is trying to be achieved, and what are the current water
> parameters. Depending on the kH, the right peat solution varies from
> a little in the filter, to pre-treatment in storage tanks, to not
> using peat at all.
>
> NetMax
>

I use a bit inside air powered old school 'platform' filters.... but thats
for killi's
otherwise I have a garbage bin full of driftwood I am TRYING to get to sink.
I try change water on this bin once a week to keep the tannin leaching
going.
the tea colour stained water from driftwood gets tipped in with things like
tetra and stuff, it's not as soft as ya can get with peat but enuf to make a
difference.

[Marksfish]

> otherwise I have a garbage bin full of driftwood I am TRYING to get to
> sink.
> I try change water on this bin once a week to keep the tannin leaching
> going.
>

Not wanting to teach you to suck eggs, but have you tried attaching the
driftwood to an inert piece of rock and sinking it? I have found in the past
it helps the wood to become saturated much quicker than just allowing it to
float.

Regards

Mark

[swarvegorilla]

"Marksfish" > wrote in message
om...
>> otherwise I have a garbage bin full of driftwood I am TRYING to get to
>> sink.
>> I try change water on this bin once a week to keep the tannin leaching
>> going.
>>
>
> Not wanting to teach you to suck eggs, but have you tried attaching the
> driftwood to an inert piece of rock and sinking it? I have found in the
> past it helps the wood to become saturated much quicker than just allowing
> it to float.
>
> Regards
>
> Mark
>

Yea it's stacked up pretty good and all under the water once I put on the
lid and a big brick ontop of that......
these things take time....
As a point of note tho.... find an old mullberry tree, the wood is very
gnarled and cool
takes a bit to get it too sink but it beats hybiscus hands down.
I mean everyone loves mangrove but yea mullberry ain't bad at all.
If I really need it too sink quickly
I chuck a cutoff 44 gallon metal drum on the BBQ and boil it up for a while
in salty water
chuck it into cold water
and it usually sinks then
:)Or as ya say attach something heavy!
the old ziptie a rock to the dam thing trick
W00000t