Soils and layers
Activated charcoal
Small black porous chips that keep water sweet. A filter layer.
What the simulation uses
- Holds water
- 30 % by volume
- Water it keeps after draining; the rest runs down to the drainage.
- Pore space
- 77.5 % by volume
- Room for air and water between grains; low means roots suffocate when wet.
- Weight
- 450 g/L
- How heavy a litre is.
- pH
- 7 to 10 pH
- How acid it keeps the soil.
- Mould risk
- none
- How much fresh food it gives white mould; high-risk soils fuzz over in the first weeks.
- Nutrients
- none
- Plant food it brings.
- Presses down to
- 97 % of its loose depth
- How far pressing can pack it, keeping its weight.
Description
Each tiny chip is riddled with pores that trap dissolved waste and smells. It works for months, then quietly fills up and stops filtering. Use a thin layer or mix it through the soil.
Also called activated carbon.
Estimated, where sources were thin: porosity, water holding and pH not on cited pages; adsorption capacity in a terrarium unquantified.