Peat Moss isnt working

[micheleva]

Hello all,
Newby here. I have a 55 I set up around Thanksgiving. Our well water PH is over 8. I have tried the PH down (which works but I want to avoid) I have a good size piece of driftwood in there, and I tried the peat moss. Even with the water slightly brown its still reading very high. Id like to atleast get it down to 7.5 and keep it there. Any suggestions? I read somewhere citric acid, and someone mentioned orange juice.

The fish are all doing great btw, no signs of illness.. but the water has had specks in it since I used a powder ph stabilizer.

I dont want to spend alot more money on a RO setup, and Im not even familiar with how they work.

 

[TCTFish]

I'm surprised the peat moss isn't working. It should. How did you use it? How much and for how long? I don't think the system would enjoy orange juice...lol. Tasty for us...nice smell too, but could really fowl the tank. What type of filter do you have? What decorations are in the tank?

 

[micheleva]

I put 4 nylon stockings inside each other and then filled it with peat moss. Then I ran it under hot water and squished the color out of it probably a couple hundred times. Its still coming out very brown but I gave up. I let it soak for a few hours.. should I try it for a few days and see what happens?

For decorations, other than the driftwood and a rock on either side to hold it in place I have 2 big plastic plants. I have the Regent filter that came with the kit, and a Penguin bio wheel 350. I do water changes every weekend, about 30%.

We just got a hot tub a few weeks ago and my husband has been fighting with the ph in that too. He's been thru gallons of ph down from the spa store

 

[TCTFish]

You may need to keep the peat moss in there always depending on the system, though your water changes are way too large for anything to adjust where you want them to be. The peat moss needs a chance to work and that takes time. Renewing that much water per week is just not allowing the moss to break up minerals and metals that make water hard.

Put the peat moss back in where water can go through it easily. Test the pH daily. Once the pH is where you want it to be take the moss out. Continue to monitor pH daily. If it starts to rise without the moss and without a water change then something in the tank is making it go up again. What type of rock do you have? Is it lava rock, lace rock, tufo rock...etc.

Being the well water you have is high in minerals, you may want to treat the water for a day before adding it to the tank. What are the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate reading at the moment?

 

[RoK]

Yeah, if you're going to do it every week do about 10% of the water or about 20% every other week. The driftwood and peat take awhile to lower the pH, it's not instant. Check in a week to see if it's lowered the pH any.