has anyone used peat to make soft water?

[Hans]

i know taht barbs and most every fish besides cichlids and live bearers and rainbow fish like soft water, however around here our water is hard, do you think it would make my barbs happier to soften the water? does peat work? anything else? mardel stuff?

[dethjam316]

peat works, but it has a limited effect, and that effect dimishes with time.

[Hans]

so whats the best way?

[Aquarius0015]

Using a Brita/Pur water filter would probably soften water. I mean, its job is to remove minerals from tap water, right?

But that would only work on a small scale.

[Glenstorm]

What's the difference between a Brita filter and activated carbon? I thought brita was just an activated carbon filter for your drinking water. . .

[Aquarius0015]

Well, for one thing, with a Brita, the water absolutely must pass through the filter media b/c it is so dense, whereas in an aquarium, it might take a long time for all of the water to come in contact with the carbon.

Also, my Brita has little white granules in addition to little black ones.

I'm pretty sure my Brita removes chlorine... For a complete list, I would check out the Brita website.