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Re: Re: "H" and the Peat solution




| Neil wrote:
|
| As far as I know, peat is not known to release chemicals which inhibit
| algae... so it is different than decaying straw. Peat can lower pH which
| can change the the conditions favoring certain microscopic flora and will
| encourage many vascular plants to grow which in turn can make life
| difficult for algae. Peat can also stain the water, at least temporarily.
|
and Wayne wrote:

| I read an article on this which appeared to be quite professionally
written
| and of course I can't seem to find it right now. I believe their thinking
| was that the action of sunlight alters humic acids released to form
| compounds that inhibit the growth of algae. So, I don't see why barley
straw
| is not the same as peat in this regard except that the lighting in an
| aquarium is not usually as strong as sunlight.

I reply:

I decided to look up the original article that explains how the barley straw
works and according to the article Wayne is correct. Decaying barley straw
releases humic acids which then react with sunlight to release hydrogen
peroxide which inhibits the new growth of algae. Here's a link to the
article which describes it much better than I can.

http://www.exit109.com/~gosta/pondstrw.sht

Hope this helps.

Brenda
Watergardening in the Desert!