Ruutah
Aquarium Advice Activist
So I was concerned with the High PH of my tap water, 8.4 or so using the API master kit. So I decided to try some peat in my filter and see how it goes.
I decided to try this experiment with my cory tank, which now has a quartet of otocinclus with them, as it is our most established tank, and I couldn't say no to my wife when we finally found them locally. It's a 5 gallon acrylic tank, with a tetra 2-10i filter in one corner, and a dual sponge filter in the other corner. I picked up a box of Fluval Peat pellets, dumped the carbon out of the filter, and added 4 tablespoons of peat pellets. it's been 48 hours now, and looking in the tank defiantly reminds me of snorkeling/diving in or too close to the Suwannee river (SUPER tannic water). Didn't check the PH the first 24 hours, as I didn't think it was doing a whole lot, due to no real color change in the water. This morning I decided to go ahead and test the PH.
Previous tests before the peat were in the range of 8.4PH, so I was a bit shocked when 48 hours later I got a reading of 7.6PH. Is this too fast of a shift for the fish? Should I pull the cartridge with the peat in it, and drop a cartridge with carbon back in? (I know that will help clear the water, but will that slow the shift down?) How about my cycle? will a big swing like that hurt it?
I decided to try this experiment with my cory tank, which now has a quartet of otocinclus with them, as it is our most established tank, and I couldn't say no to my wife when we finally found them locally. It's a 5 gallon acrylic tank, with a tetra 2-10i filter in one corner, and a dual sponge filter in the other corner. I picked up a box of Fluval Peat pellets, dumped the carbon out of the filter, and added 4 tablespoons of peat pellets. it's been 48 hours now, and looking in the tank defiantly reminds me of snorkeling/diving in or too close to the Suwannee river (SUPER tannic water). Didn't check the PH the first 24 hours, as I didn't think it was doing a whole lot, due to no real color change in the water. This morning I decided to go ahead and test the PH.
Previous tests before the peat were in the range of 8.4PH, so I was a bit shocked when 48 hours later I got a reading of 7.6PH. Is this too fast of a shift for the fish? Should I pull the cartridge with the peat in it, and drop a cartridge with carbon back in? (I know that will help clear the water, but will that slow the shift down?) How about my cycle? will a big swing like that hurt it?