How do you add peat moss to your tank?

[Nicki Gaga]

I've got a 24 gallon tank and I would like to lower my pH from 8.6 to 6.8 so I bought some Irish peat moss since I live in the UK. I put some in a large mesh bag without rinsing or cleaning it and squeezed it in the tank water before putting it on the top of my Juwel compact filter until it was full. This is what the water looks like now. It's light yellow and REALLY cloudy but I'm not sure it's supposed to look like this although I'm also aiming to get a blackwater tank for my tetras to breed.

So was I doing the right method of adding peat moss? If not, how was I meant to put it? And how much was I supposed to put? I tried putting more but it didn't fit in the filter so I left it with a small portion.

 

[Nicki Gaga]

I added around 200g of Irish peat moss. Is this enough or should I add more or less to get my desired pH. I've also got bogwood in the tank but it didn't release any tannins ever since I bought it 2 years ago and I put a CO2 diffuser in the tank for the plants but I don't think it would affect the pH much.

 

[Caliban07]

Use 50% reverse osmosis water with 50% of your source water. See what the ph is. Then gradually start adding it to the tank if you want to lower the ph by 63 times.

It looks as though your kh is absorbing acids before they can alter the ph.


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[Nicki Gaga]

I can't really find RO water anywhere where I live (southeast UK) and I can't use my parents' money to buy a filter system costing £200. However, I've got a Brita filter at home. If I use water filtered through that, will it have the same effects as RO water so I could mix it with normal tap water when doing water changes?

 

[PNWaquarist]

Buy some bottled water at the store and check the pH. If it's low enough, you might be able to use that instead of RO water. Brita filters won't do anything.

Adding carbon dioxide to the tank will lower the pH, but the pH will change again when the injections stop. I don't recommend using them with fish, especially sensitive ones like Neon Tetras.

 

[Nicki Gaga]

But is my tank supposed to look like this after adding peat moss? How do I get rid of the cloudiness?