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Peat and electricity

>>    A few days ago there were topics on boiling of peat.  Could a
>> person just save the peat from a particular species e.g. C. whitei,
>> and reuse it again on the same species - C. whitei without any
>> treatment to it.  Would peat eventually become too acidic if reuse
>> too often without treatment to it?
>>    Can anyone venture a guess,
>>    Bro. Paul


My question to the science people out there is...
Peat that has been sitting in the bottom of a tank, over a period of time
tends to accumulate waste material, fish waste food waste etc...I am certain
that anearobic bacteria must thrive on this waste, and produce harmful
by-products such as methane? Or other types of gaseous toxins????
 I can smell it in old used peat

 I have re-used peat myself and stored it in containers of water to keep it
water logged, but when I scoop a net full of peat out, it does not smell
"sweet" like freshly boiled peat. It still contains the humic acids and
tannins needed to encourage gonadal development in my fishes including
stimulating hard to breed wild Apistrogramma. I would let the peat "air out"
for a time to let saturated gasses escape before dunking the peat back into
the tank.

I believe there is a number of reason to boil peat shmagnum...not "green"
peat.
This is for new and used peat.
1.) rapid water logging
2.) kill any terrestrial life, snails, hydra, worms etc...
3.) release more tannins locked up, much like steeping tea.
4.) kill any remaining un hatched eggs from previous fish.
5.) release stored gasses as mentioned above.


 I buy large bails of peat so re-using peat until it has exhausted the
tannins is not a worry, just grab a fresh handful and boil it. On a camp
stove outside!!! which leads me to question 2

Would there be a benefit from boiling peat in a copper pot rather than a
stainless steel pot? I know egg whites and other food items react to copper
pots better than stainless steel. If boiling in copper pots would there be a
ionic reaction to the acids in the peat, creating a + charged peat?
(Beneficial?)

This hinges on the debate of the use of copper, however the would not be
copper present in the peat, just a cationic charge...


Ponder

\John

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