Can you guys give me some ways of making water softer, that dont involve me pouring chemicals into the water? I am looking into getting apistogrammas and want to give them the water they need.
I live in Serbia / Europe, and my water is quite hard. I always mix 2/3 of distiled water and 1/3 tap to get GH 6.
That's an ok way for smaller systems, but for big aquariums I suggest reverse osmosis units.
If you try the rainwater, you might want to check the pH. In college, we did an experiment in Hydrology of rainewater and amounts from different places. I got some rainwater from beside railway tracks in the woods that had a pH of 6.0.
I dont have the funds at presant to buy an RO unit, though as my collection expands I will get one.
The suggestions are all really useful! a few questions
with the driftwood, how significantly would a piece lower the ph?
the peat, how would this be used? a bag in the filter? also how much would I need to put in and what type and where could I get it? and again what kind of change could I expect if I used this?
I remeber reading somewhere that having a heavily planet aquarium can result in a lowered PH can anyone give me any info on that?