Use of Peat

T

thadius65

AC Members
Jul 30, 2006
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I have a 125 gallon freshwater with mostly Amazon type fish. My PH has been between 7.0 and 7.2. I picked up some peat today to provide some color to water as well as soften and get me closer to 6.8ph.

I have both a 304 and 404 fluval canister. I only put the peat in the 404 third (next to last) media area in two filter bags. About the same amount in each as a Fluval bag would have pre-filled.

So I did this around 2:00PM. Just took PH and it is already down to 6.8PH. That is a bit fast is it not? I am wondering if I should take one of the two pouches I created out of the filter.

Anyone have any experience with these peat granuals?

Thanks,
Ted
 
I've used peat before breeding german blue rams and it will only lower your ph so much then it will lose its effectiveness but will still soften the water and tint it but I would say that as long as it dosent drop below 6.0 it will be fine if your really worried just do a small ater change..
 
actually I would do a small water change to help with the stress of the ph change
 
I acutally just did a 30% prior to adding to the canister...... Thoughts?
 
Better check your kh here. If it is very very low, your tank's pH could drop so fast it will harm your fish. In very hard water situations, peat is of limited effectiveness. If your water is fairly soft already, peat will help make it softer still.
You will need to change your peat once per month btw. If they are fluval granules, they are stronger than regular peat and yes, your drop in pH is to be expected. Just be really careful now, your pH shouldn't drop more then .2 per day. You might have to add a bit of baking soda to stabilize your pH. Too much baking soda will bring pH back up, so don't add much to start - if you choose to go this route. And, every time you do a water change, you'll have to add in more baking soda, etc.

The other alternative is to add some crushed coral to your to your filter box, that will slowly bring kh up a bit.

You see why sometimes messing with pH isn't worth it? I'd add enough hardness/kh to the water to keep it stable. Then run the peat for color and tannins. If you want soft water fishes, the easiest way to get it is by adding RO water to your tap. Fish care more about the total dissolved solids in their water, than the pH.

Cathy
 
Thanks for the input. It has already dropped .3 to .4, so not much I can do now. It has been stable since last reading 3 hours ago. I will keep monitoring.

Thanks,

Ted
 
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