Using peat.........

[mandi]

I got incredibly spoiled while living in the NW and again in NC with the water ....... then we moved here to IN and I have found the water here is basically liquid rock!! DH's africans love it but I tend to keep fish that prefer softer more acidic water and I am about at my wits end. While they will live fairly happily in the water from our tap (treated of course) breeding has been a challenge. The addition of drift wood has helped a little but because our water is SO hard it hasn't done much. Everyone I talk to and everything I read touts the use of peat filtration to soften and acidify the water but I haven't really found anything on specific methods of using the peat. Has anyone done this and if so how did you do it? I have a spare filter that uses cartridges and I was thinking I could use an empty cartridge to hold the peat material and allow the water to filter over it that way.......would that work? I am very interested in finding a method to use because purchasing distilled water is getting a bit costly....and investing in a full-blown RO system is a bit much at this time.

 

[Guest]

If you have an extra filter that would be great. I'd start out slow at first.. I'd suggest taking a pair of pantyhose and cutting it around the foot. (so its more of a rounder shape) put some peat in there, and then put it in the filter cartridge (double protection so it won't get in your tank) keep checking the hardness of the tank, and if you don't see the levels going down that much, dig out the panty hose and add more peat. When the peat is in the panty house, just twist the top around a few times and then clamp it with a rubber band or something non toxic. Easy does it, you don't want to over do it and cause a distrubance in your tank.
HTH
-Stewie

 

[Toirtis]

Throw the peat into a mesh filter bag and pop it into your filter, but begin slowly, as you do not want your tank pH to suddenly drop several points.

 

[mandi]

Thank you -- that is pretty much what I had intended to do but I wanted a "second opinion" before I actually went and did it

 

[frog girl]

Does peat actually bind up dissolved solids (i.e. calcium carbonate)??
I thought it would decrease pH because of the tannic acid but didn't really impact hardness overall. I know some plants take up hardness slowly but . . .

Could someone please set me straight.

 

[shawmutt]

IME, the only way to soften water is to use distilled or ro water. I buy about 10 gallons of ro water every other week for my water change needs, and then use additives to condition the water for my fish. The problem with depending on things like peat, driftwood, or crushed coral is that though they do soften the water, it happens over time. You would have to have water prepared to avoid pH fluctuations from water changes or topping off.