peat and activated charcoal

[cootwarm]

I read a message on one of these forums a while back and can't find it again. It was about using activated charcoal to remove the stain from peat water without effecting the beneficial elements of the peat.

Does anyone know this to be true or is it a myth?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[grumpy55]

Activated CARBON can remove almost anything organic.

If the benefits you are counting on are organic substances leached from the peat moss, too bad.

There could be some organics remaining, because carbon is not perfect,
but, it's pretty good.

The water softening effect will remain, and aome of the pH drop will remain (carbon tends to raise the pH a little)

 

[grumpy55]

Activated CARBON can remove almost anything organic.

If the benefits you are counting on are organic substances leached from the peat moss, too bad.

There could be some organics remaining, because carbon is not perfect,
but, it's pretty good.

The water softening effect will remain, and some of the pH drop will remain (carbon tends to raise the pH a little)

 

[cootwarm]

It is peats effect on hardness and pH that I'm looking to retain. How much of an effect does activated charcoal have on the pH?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[grumpy55]

It depends on the quality of the carbon.
Best bet would be to run a test on measured amounts.

 

[Moi_Eater]

Good idea grumpy55! I will try to run a test on the effects of carbon on my peat-treated water as soon as I finish my peat experiments.(Peat treatment observations post)

 

[Moi_Eater]

Results of carbo on peat water

I filtered a 3 gallon bucket of peat-treated water (pH 6.5, TDS 35ppm) with a Dynaflo 2 filter containing only an Aquaclear 300 filter media bag full of activated carbon. After a couple hours the water looked the same color, but the TDS increased to 69ppm and the pH had leaped to over 9!

Has anyone else had similar or different results? Thanks.

 

[cootwarm]

Hi Sam,

Interesting experiment. Sounds like the water chemistry got all messed up and it didn't even do a thing to clear the stain! Are you continuing the experiment? I'm curious as to what you may find after 24 hours.

But wow! A pH jump from 6.5 to 9 sounds a bit uncomfortable to our acid loving apistos.

Thanks for the updates on your experiments. You've answered a few questions I've had about peat treating water. Perhaps one of our resident 'chemists' can explain how this happened?

Michael

 

[mak]

Perhaps one of our resident 'chemists' can explain how this happened?

Hmmm... my refs say that activated charcoal is made from destructive distillation (heating in the absence of oxygen) of plant matter.

If you "burned" it all the way, you would end up with a very alkaline material, ash.

I'll guess that some/all of the soluble minerals (sodium and calcium in particular) stay in the plant material through the heating process and then leach out when you put it in water. Hence, increase in TDS and alkalinity. Since you've got pretty soft water to start, it doesn't take much to increase the pH. If you filtered my tap water ("liquid rock") through your charcoal, you wouldn't notice any change.

It's a great experiment you did. I'd have guessed that the charcoal would have made the water more acid...

mike

 

[Moi_Eater]

Are you continuing the experiment? I'm curious as to what you may find after 24 hours.

I double-checked what I wrote down for the first test (after couple hours of filtration) and the pH was at 9.7! The pH dropped to 8.9 and the TDS increased to 86ppm after more than 24 hours of carbon filtration.

It looked as if it has cleared up the water a little, but it is hardly noticeable.