Re: [Killietalk] Easy method to screen peat, and boil it.

["Brian Watters" <bwatters at shaw_ca>]

I used to go to a lot of trouble to boil peat moss but I stopped doing that
years ago. Now, I simply place a large quantity of peat moss in a bucket,
add water and stir it up a bit to wet the peat, let it soak for a few days,
rinse it thoroughly in a coarse mesh net with warm to hot water (mainly to
remove some of the very fine particles), and then I use it. Spawning results
are as good as they were when I was spending hours boiling peat and stinking
up the house.
___________________________
Brian Watters
6141 Parkwood Drive
Nanaimo, BC, V9T 6A2
Canada
Ph: (250) 760-0564
E-mail: bwatters at shaw_ca

> -----Original Message-----
> From: killietalk-bounces at aka_org [mailto:killietalk-bounces at aka_org]On
> Behalf Of Pablo Robles
> Sent: November 30, 2008 8:05 PM
> To: James (Jim) Darlack; killifish discussion list
> Subject: Re: [Killietalk] Easy method to screen peat, and boil it.
>
>
> Buen Dia Jim:
>
> its good to hear from you, its been a while.
>
> Here's what I do...
>
>     Large pirex container, fill it half way with peat.
>     Add water until you get about an inch of water under the peat.
>     Use paper towels to cover the peat.
>     Microwave it for 4 minutes in high power
>     Peat will absorb water
>     add water until you get about an inch of water over the peat.
>     Microwave for four more minutes.
>
> You will see the whole peat wet and compacted but not that much water
> above the level. It should be saturated in water completely by now. Add
> a little bit of more tap water to confirm that all of it is sinking.
> Wait a few minutes for it to cool a little and then use an aquarium net
> to get some peat from the container and immediately put it under running
> tap water to cool it and remove the extra fine particles. I do this on
> my laundry's sink, just to keep my wife happy :-). After that it is
> ready for your fish peat container.
>
> hasta pronto,
>
> Pablo
>
> James (Jim) Darlack wrote:
> > I have read several recommendations about boiling peat on a
> stove and cooling it in order to get the peat to sink in water.
> Recently, I tried two other methods of boiling peat:
> >
> > Microwaved it in a covered plastic container.
> > Crock pot.
> >
> > Both methods resulted in the peat successfully sinking in
> water. The crock pot was easiest since it cooked all night
> unattended, whereas I repeated the process of cooking the peat in
> the microwave for about 10 minutes, stirring it, and microwaving
> it for another 10 minutes. I also stirred the crock pot peat.
> However, it was far easier letting it cook unattended all night
> in the crock pot.
> >
> > Several years back, I tried cooking it on a stove, and it ended
> up burning on the bottom of the pot.  The wife was not very happy
> about burned pot.  :(
> >
> > Also, to separate the soft peat from the chunks of hard peat, I
> used a plastic screen like material purchased from a craft store.
>  It was originally used for a backing for making tapestries.  I
> used a quart
> > plastic container, that originally was purchased with food in it, to
> > scoop up peat from the bag, and drag it over a plastic screen,
> pressing the container down so that the peat was forced thru the
> screen .  The square holes in the screen was approx 1/8".
> Dragging it back and forth across the screen pulverized small
> soft pieces of peat, and left the larger hard
> > pieces on top of the screen.  After boiling, all of the peat
> was very soft, and all sank to the bottom of the pot when
> cooled..... accept for a few small slivers.
> >
> > Peat that was boiled and was not sifted had chunks that were very hard
> > and refused to sink, even after boiling.  This was annoying
> when the peat was introduced into the killi tanks, and required
> netting it, spooking the fish, and was messy. The screen also tolerated
> > about a cubic foot of peat sifting, with no tearing or signs of
> damage.  Next time, I will make a 1x3" frame to support the
> screen, using screws inorder to change or tighten the screen if
> it sags.  The screen worked best when there was a bit of a
> deperssion in the screen, ie, the screen was hand held, and not rigid.
> >
> > After sifting approx a cubic foot of peat, approx 1 cup of hard
> pieces was discarded.
> >
> > Life is easier with a plastic screen and a crock pot.  Now if I
> can only get some of my SAA's to hatch...
> >
> > Enuff techno-babble.
> >
> > Please support Killi Additcts Anonymous, there is hope.  ;~}
> >
> > Jim
> > Sterling, VA.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
>
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