filtering OUT peat moss

[CHINABOY1021]

once the water turns brown. will carbon filtering remove the color completely or 80% or 50% or none.

anyone got previous experience? thanks

[valerie]

are you using peat to lower your ph? if so you will need lots of carbon to remove all that color. I tried filtering with peat and tried carbon to remove the color and i didn't notice it making the water lighter, and i used quite a bit.

If you don't like the color try using another way of lowering ph like using RO water.

[OrionGirl]

The color change is actually one of the perks of peat filtration. I really like that tea stain. However, carbon will remove most of the color, but it will take a while, and the carbon will wear out quickly, so must be replaced weekly at least.

[Rometiklan]

I use peat granules in my Fluval 404, and like OrionGirl, I also happen to love the tea colouration peat adds to the water. I have an 80 gallon Amazon biotope, and the tannins in the water of that region are reproduced beautifully with the peat.

Carbon will remove some of the colouration until it is exhausted, but if you combine carbon with regular water changes, you will find the colouration will eventually fade. If you increase the percentage of water during your changes (for example, from 20% to 30%), that will help remove the colour even faster.

[OrionGirl]

;) Before someone else jumps to my defense, it's actually ORiongirl...But I don't mind being stinky. :D

[Rometiklan]

hehe Sorry about that OrionGirl..I corrected my mistake before I actually saw your post.

As for being stinky, carbon also removes odours. hehehe

[CHINABOY1021]

oh i suppose i wont be using peat then.

what exactly is RO water?

how else can i lower my ph and hardness.

thanks

[pinballqueen]

R.O. stands for Reverse Osmosis, and you get it either by purchasing the water (where, I dunno..) or by purchasing a unit to do so. They aren't just outrageously expensive, but they ain't cheap either. What it does is basically remove everything from the water, and I mean everything. Then you have to add back what the fish need. The best method of using it is to mix your standard tap water with enough r.o. water to make the measures what you need.

Incidentally, what are the parameters of the water you're trying to fix? My suggestion has always been to keep fish that suit your water conditions, rather than trying to bend the nature of your water to suit the fish you want. Very hard, alkaline water would lend itself very well to a cichlid tank or saltwater...

If you are trying to keep soft, acid water fish like some tetra species, the peat may be your best bet as far as replicating natural conditions goes. The brown color actually looks really nice in the water, but it is kind of "love it or hate it". If the downside in your mind of having tea-colored water outweighs the benefits of a natural solution to your water woes, then there you go....

[CHINABOY1021]

i probably wouldnt mind the tea color, but i've never seen it and plus clear aquariums brightly lit looks good to me and i got no problem with it.

anyone got pictures of peated tanks? is it like tea? or brown. or yellow. or what. thanks

[Rometiklan]

CHINABOY1021,
It depends on how much peat you are using. If you use a lot of peat, it can turn your aquarium darker than if you use a little. I used a lot of peat in my 25 galon tall for a breeding pair of Angels and the water was brown like strong tea, but my Angels were the most colourful I have ever seen them, even when they were not in a breeding cycle.

For my Amazon biotope, I put just enough in a nylon bag in my Fluval 404 to turn an 80 gallon tank a nice golden colour like weak to medium-strength Chinese tea. This is the colour most aquarists would probably like to maintain their tanks at.

A tank with peated water still looks very bright and clear, for your information. Sometimes you don't even realize how dark the water is until you do a water change and see the water in a white bucket.

Rather than turning your entire main tank brown, my advice is to set-up a small tank, like a 10 or 20 gallon tank with peat water to see how you like it, if at all possible. If you find out that you don't like it, it will save you the hassle of trying to remove the discolouration from a large tank.

[CHINABOY1021]

yup, im going to try that. but if i dont like it, i would have to waste the peat and the time setting up a 10 gal. but i guess i got no choice. thanks a lot.

peat + co2. will that possibility bring my ph to under 6? my goal is 6.5 and the co2 is diy 2 x 2 litre bottles on a 35g so it could be hard to control the injection amount.

thanks