Don't laugh, but I'm done adding peat inside my filter bags

[Creamhorses]

OK...so I'm sure someone has tried thid before, but it seemed to be a good idea @ the time........@ least I wasn't going to harm my eco-system.
I had been doing by-weekly water changes of 7-10 gallons in my 90gal. After a few of these, I did a test and found my general hardness to be 15.

It was ~ 10gh when I set up the tank in FEb. But I also added a measured amount of salt to soften the water. Have not added any since.

Sooooooooooo...I thouht I'd try to soften the water by adding peat moss inside my filter material, which I thought would not leach the peat through. WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! Anywho, my water is tinted with the peat.....I don't mind that, accept that my limited lighting seems to be diminished even more by the cloudy water. My plants aren't getting enough light. Ok...........so my new filter bags came in the mail today, and I tossed out the four bags that were filled with peat. I suspect it will be a while before the water clears....I have the under gravel filter running a tad to help draw the 'fines' out of the water.

Does anyone have an idea on how I can use peat in the tank/filter area without having the water darken from the fines? Is there a cloth or synthetic fiber small enough to work?

TIA
Dave

[dskidmore]

The darkening is tannins, the same stuff you'd get from driftwood. Tannins will disolve in the water, not amount of fine filtering will prevent that. You could try just using less peat?

[toddnbecka]

Personally, I'm too cheap/lazy to buy/install a r/o system, but that's the best way to get a steady supply of soft water for a larger tank. Distilled is too expensive to buy every week, and trying to adjust and then stabilize water chemistry is a real headache. (Been there, tried that, moved on.) I have hard, alkaline water, so I keep African cichlids and rainbows.

[dskidmore]

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

Distilled is too expensive to buy every week

That depends on the size of the tank. I did some calculations once, that showed that if your tank is less than 40 gallons, it may be cheaper to buy water from a water machine than to buy your own RO unit. Locally, I can buy RO water from the dispenser at Wal-Mart for 33 cents a gallon. I've heard tell in other regions that it's 25 cents at the local grocery store.