Effects of Peat

[black hills tj]

Hey Everyone,

I'm looking to soften/lower the PH of one or more of my tanks. My question is how much will the addition of Peat in a media bag affect my water parameters? Is there an estimated amount that it will soften the water or lower the tanks PH?

I picked up some media bags and peat today, so if noone has an answer. I will rigorously test and post my results.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[JohnPaul]

My question is how much will the addition of Peat in a media bag affect my water parameters? Is there an estimated amount that it will soften the water or lower the tanks PH?

The answer to that question would probably depend upon several things, including:

• size of the tank
• the amount of peat in the bag
• the volume of water flow through the bag
• (perhaps) the frequency with which the peat in the bag is changed
• the pH and hardness (both GH and KH) of the water you are trying to adjust

I've never played around with peat, so the closest thing I can share from my own experience is going the other direction--raising the pH by using a bag of crushed coral in my filter. One standard-sized HoB (AquaClear) of crushed coral in my 10 gal tank ended up raising the pH around 0.4 units when all was said and done.

I would suspect that, in a tank of any significant size, a relatively small amount of peat could only be expected to lower pH by a few tenths. If you are trying to accomplish something more drastic, you are probably going to need to start using RO/DI water, or a mix of RO & tap water, as the water for your tank. If your tap water is particularly high in pH and high in KH, then using a substantial % of RO water is probably the only realistic way to get any sort of significant movement downwards in the pH.

 

[jsoong]

I don't think you will find any guide as to how much to use. For one, it depends on how hard your water is to start & where you want to end up.

The sites I trust always say experiment with the amount and start small (at least when doing it in the tank). With crazy hard water, you might need a huge amount. For really hard water, The Skeptical Aquarist suggests using a gal of peat in a 5 gal bucket & running the water for a week to soften. That is the closest to a recommended amount you'll get.

 

[black hills tj]

I have found suggestions of 1 quart of peat per 25 gallons of water, and these are estimated to last 2-3 months.

 

[bs6749]

I've actually heard that peat is pretty much used up after 5 days and after that it won't lower the pH any. I wouldn't expect anything drastic from it. Maybe in a 29 gallon tank it could take the pH from say 7.2 to 7.0 but that's all speculation on my part. If you really want to soften your water there are chemicals out there that can neutralize the calcium and magnesium or you could simply do a mix with purified water which is much better and easier in my opinion. You could calculate what values to expect with adding purified water as well unlike the guess work you would be doing when adding peat. Sure, it's not going to hurt any to add peat but I think there are much better alternatives. Why are you trying to get the pH and hardness down anyway?

 

[verucaproduce]

I have used peat in my 29 gallon, and didn't notice that much of a benefit (maybe 8.0 to 7.8 ). The problem that I see is when it comes when doing water changes, you are altering the pH all over again.

I actually liked the color that it put in the water, but I gave up on it after a while as I didn't enjoy the pH swings.

 

[black hills tj]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to experiment with peat on two of my tanks, and I plan on using Kent's Blackwater Extract for my 10g and 20g long breeding tanks(GBR's, possibly kribs, BN plecos). The Kent's Extract will help me keep things a bit more stable.