Wouldn't Peat be Ideal for non-co2 tanks?

[snowballs99]

So I've read a lot about Sudiptas tanks.
Seems the keys are just

1) Substrate Dosing
2) Co2 from substrate activity
3) Low ph (5.5-6) range.

Wouldn't peat be a perfect substrate underlayer this way?

1) Buffers to 4.5-5.5 (You still need RODI or HCL to remove KH first tho)
2) Extremely cheap
3) very high CEC
4) Mostly carbon and very nutrient poor (You can control what nutrients to put in).
5) Can just be placed into your filter in a small mesh bag for "PH Adjusting"
6) Gravel Vacuuming easily removes old peat due to its low weight.
7) New Peat can just be inserted into the substrate by freezing it into ice cubes.

I think I'm going to set up a 15 gallon low-tech with this and eco complete + HCL tap water to see how plants respond.

 

[Art]

Peat was a very common ingredient in substrates back in the day. I used it many times in cloning ADA’s Power Sand that uses peat as a main ingredient.

So, I think it can certainly be part of a non-CO2 supplemented tank.

Please start a journal so we can follow along with your experiment.

PS, love the ice cube idea.

 

[Koan]

Gravel Vacuuming easily removes old peat due to its low weight.

I did peat under BDBS one time, did not find this to be the case. Consider being conservative with quantity until you see how your ammonia stabilizes!

So much easier to put more in than take it out

 

[Pneumonicsonic]

Could you also do the fine mesh bag technique like people do for top soil or other aqua soil?

I did peat under BDBS one time, did not find this to be the case. Consider being conservative with quantity until you see how your ammonia stabilizes!

So much easier to put more in than take it out

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

You can do that or even put in a canister filter if you run one and just swap them out periodically, easy peasy.

 

[snowballs99]

I did peat under BDBS one time, did not find this to be the case. Consider being conservative with quantity until you see how your ammonia stabilizes!

So much easier to put more in than take it out

I've been trying this for a bit. I usually use aquasoil/eco complete on top so it's very easy to remove for me.
In terms of ammonia, Im pretty sure sphagnum peat produces very little if at all. (and I'm inserting enough to put a 0.5 inch layer on a 10 gallon tank).
Fish and shrimp react harsher to a water change/excel dosing than me using peat.