Re: peat moss

[IDMiamiBob@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/27/1999 8:53:18 AM Mountain Daylight Time, 
William_Vannerson@ama-assn.org writes:

> FWIW, One of my Killie club friends, Brad Higgins, uses a thick layer of 
> sphagnum moss as a substrate for his 'natural' setups.  Sphagnum moss is 
the 
> dried live plants as apposed to the decaying mulm that is peat.  It can be 
> found at Franks nursery and other similar stores as it is used for potting 
> orchids and such.

Is this the sphagnum while it is still kind of greenish-yellow, or is it dead 
to the point of turning brown?  Can your friend tell us anything about 
whether sphagnum will affect pH the way peat does?  I know that live sphagnum 
tends to acidify the soil as part of its natural survival technique.  How 
often does he change the moss?
>  
>  He uses a 10 gallon tank with a thick layer 4-5 inches of sphagnum.  You 
> need to let it sit a few days.  You will see a white haze develop, this is 
a 
> bacterial bloom.  Once this disappears, it is safe to add the fish.  He 
also 
> adds a good layer of Nijas or similar plant in a layer across the top.

This sounds like a neat idea.  Adapting it to Apistos means working in some 
way to create cave structures above the moss.  Perhaps this is where a good 
selection of aged driftwood might be useful.

Bob Dixon
Cichlid Trader List Administrator
http://cichlidtrader.listbot.com


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