nylon sack of fluval stratum??

[renschmdt]

I see lots of people put nylon sacks of peat soil in their aquariums to lower pH. I have almost an entire bag of fluval stratum that i'm not using and was wondering if i could put some into nylon sacks to help w/ the aquascaping/ water conditions. would it do anything? adverse affects? my plants are primarily water column feeders so i'm not worrying about the substrate nutrient quality.

 

[Autumnsky]

I don't think it would do anything bad. I used bags of substrate or ceramic rings in the aquarium to have additional BB build up and be ready to use them in a new tank set up or QT any time they were needed.

Are you content with the pH you have in the tank presently? It is likely to have some effect and lower pH depending on how much you use and the volume of water.

 

[Autumnsky]

Might lower pH some depending upon how much you use and the amount of water.

You can use a bag of it after getting it seeded and growing BB for a QT tank and for setting up a new tank if you buy new aqua critters.

 

[renschmdt]

thanks! and no, im not entirely happy with my pH. The tapwater where i'm from is really hard and alkaline, i don't remember the hardness off hand, but the pH in my tank is around 8.2. I didn't check the tapwater directly but i'm assuming that it's the same, considering that I didn't add anything that would raise the pH. I want it to be more around 7.5 or so.

i have about a third of a cup of fluval stratum in both my 10 gallon and my 5 gallon, maybe a little less in my 5. I might remove some, if not all, of the fluval stratum in my 5 g today.

I also picked up the Seachem Acid Buffer which was recommended by someone at my LFS, but I also heard that chemical buffers are risky so i'm a little stressed to use it.

 

[Autumnsky]

Yes it can become a topsy turvy balancing act.

Many people find they get a more stable tank with RO or RODI and use a remineralizer so the amount of can be the same each time.

Hard water is good for many fish and snails. But not ideal for lots of other things

You could also try checking into just using SOME RO water to cut the hardness, etc down to a better level. Say half or 1/3 RO and half or 1/3 tap.

You can buy a unit for RO. Around 50-100 gallons per day are about $50-75 I think online. You usually have to hook them up to the faucet and watch your time for how long it will be to fill. I set a timer when I need to make mine. Also just buy it for .50 per gallon at the lfs and transport in the 5G jugs.

Of course there are really nice expensive ones available too.

You waste half (or more) of the water you process and can catch it to water the plants. I haven't really got that into making my own as it takes a decent amount of monitoring and it is pretty convenient to buy the $11-15 jug free 1st fill up and visit the lfs once every couple weeks because my need for the water is lower as I have smaller tanks, and nano FW and SW tanks primarily.