Nitrite and black peat-granulate

[stigbn]

I have very hard water >20 Dh, and I was trying to soften it and lower pH by taking some tap-water and putting some black-peat granulate (from ZooBest) in. I put tre black-peat granulate in a hose and let it stay for a couple of days to see the effect, before I would add it to my tank. It had made the water brownish, which I expected, but when I tested it it had also a rather high nitrite-level (my tap water has always 0 nitrite - so it must have been stuff in the peat that creates the nitrite). My test-strips don't tell me precisely how high, but definitely not good for my fish. So is this normal , and will the nitrite quickly be converted to nitrate once I put it in the tank (which has 0 nitrite and has run for several months, so it has cycled)?
Also, it has only lowered the Dh to about 14 - so I guess I would have to get a RO-system instead.

Stig.

 

[nursie]

Not sure what kind of fish you are trying to reduce your hardness or if you are trying to breed them, so I'll give you a general answer. I also have very hard water and high ph, and have been asking similar questions. WHat I've learned is you can mess things up more by trying to reduce them than by leaving them alone. The fish for the most part will acclimate to what you have. I did find this article very informative even tho I've decided not to do it: http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/peat page.html

Do you have a specific type of fish you are trying to keep?