Thinking about using peat in my filter

[FoundMoney]

As I've researched the fish I have or would like to keep, I've come to find that my preferred fish, and South American fish in general, prefer softer, more acidic water. Now from what I understand using peat moss can slightly lower pH and slightly acidify water.

I know that the higher the pH the less effect the peat will have on acidity and the effects on hardness are also subtle. However, the water from my tap is generally around 6.8. For some reason (of course I would like to find out the reason) in between water changes the pH seems to creep up to around 7.2 - 7.4. Certainly, more regular water changes would help alleviate this problem but I'm already changing water at least once per week or more, with 15 to 20% being changed each time.

My current fish are 8 Von Rio tetras, 3 otos, 1 bn and 1 female cockatoo. Proposed fish (not going to add them all - just different considerations) are another pair of cockatoos, a pair of rams, a school of dwarf corydoras. From what I've read all of these fish can benefit from peat. I recently bought a pair of cockatoos and unfortunately the male died. Now the fish were only at the lfs for a few days before I bought them and they seemed fairly young as well, so there is no telling why the male died, but perhaps softer, more acidic water would have helped a bit.

I've also read that adding peat directly to the filter may not be effective or difficult to control. However, I have read methods for using peat to treat water before adding it to the tank and although it seems simple enough, it also seems time consuming. I have a family, a full time job and I'm a graduate school student. My wife already comments on how much time I spend on the fish tank, so adding peat to the filter would be the easiest method for me.

I've looked into some products and here's what I was thinking:

1. Test kit - I do not have a test kit to measure water hardness. I was thinking I need something like this

http/www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idProduct=HG17830

2. I need some kind of peat material. Although peat moss is readily available at garden stores or the Home Depot, I'd feel better paying the extra money to get "aquarium" grade stuff, which is ready made to put in a tank. It's not like it's all that expensive either. This was what I was thinking of getting

http/www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idProduct=HG11465

3. Finally, I need something to hold it to put it in my filter. I was thinking I could use this

http/www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idProduct=EA1113

I have an AquaClear 70 and I have two sponges in it plus the bio-max. I was thinking I would remove one of the sponges and put a bag with peat in, in its place.

What does everyone think?

 

[bugsy66]

Do yourself a huge favor. Leave all chemicals and peat out of your tank. I use to add this when I was breeding my angels and lost 95% of them fooling around with the ph. When I stopped doing this I had baby angels coming out of everywhere.

Your ph of 6.8 is low to begin with. You said it creeps up to 7.2-7.4 that is nothing to worry about. Your fish no matter if they are South American fish or not will adapt to this ph.

If your fish were captured from the wild (not likely) then you would have something to worry about.

My discus tank is at 8.0 ph, I have hard alkaline water here and my discus is growing and doing just awesome. Like I said I use to breed in this ph range and had to problems at all the fish will adapt.

My motto is "leave all the chemicals at the store". The only chemical I ever have on hand is my Aquarisol for ich. Do yourself a huge favor and just leave what you have be. You will be glad you did......

bugsy....

 

[CFC]

The reason that your pH creeps up is because the dissolved co2 in the high pressure water main acidifys the water but once you aerate the water in the tank the co2 is forced out of the water so the pH can go back to its usuall level.

If used properly peat cannot harm your water or fish as it cannot lower your pH to less than 6, chemicals that break down buffers however should be avoided.
Read this artical on using peat to understand better how it works http/hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/peat%20page.html .

The use of peat and a blackwater extract tonic can work wonders for South American and other softwater set ups.

Your ph of 6.8 is low to begin with. You said it creeps up to 7.2-7.4 that is nothing to worry about. Your fish no matter if they are South American fish or not will adapt to this ph

Not all fish adapt well to a higher pH and in the case of Appistogramma and Microgeophagus species soft acidic water is needed for successful breeding

If your fish were captured from the wild (not likely) then you would have something to worry about.

A huge number of species are captured from the wild as it is cheaper than comercially breeding them. Almost all fancy plecs (L numbers), uncommon species of Corydoras and most tetras are wild caught.

 

[F 1]

I used to use peat pellets in one of my tanks. I cut off the toe section of a pair of my wife's pantyhose, filled it with peat pellets, tied it off and added it as media to my filter.

F1

 

[FoundMoney]

The reason that your pH creeps up is because the dissolved co2 in the high pressure water main acidifys the water but once you aerate the water in the tank the co2 is forced out of the water so the pH can go back to its usuall level.

If used properly peat cannot harm your water or fish as it cannot lower your pH to less than 6, chemicals that break down buffers however should be avoided.
Read this artical on using peat to understand better how it works http/hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/peat%20page.html .

The use of peat and a blackwater extract tonic can work wonders for South American and other softwater set ups.

Your ph of 6.8 is low to begin with. You said it creeps up to 7.2-7.4 that is nothing to worry about. Your fish no matter if they are South American fish or not will adapt to this ph

Not all fish adapt well to a higher pH and in the case of Appistogramma and Microgeophagus species soft acidic water is needed for successful breeding

If your fish were captured from the wild (not likely) then you would have something to worry about.

A huge number of species are captured from the wild as it is cheaper than comercially breeding them. Almost all fancy plecs (L numbers), uncommon species of Corydoras and most tetras are wild caught.

Thanks for your replies. First, the less I have to do with the tank the better. I am not averse to putting time into the hobby, in fact I enjoy the time I spend working on my tank, it's just that my time is limited. However, I never considered adding peat moss to be so much of a chemical process as a natural one. But then again, I'm not an organic chemist. I would never mess with "chemicals" per se in the fish tank and prefer to let nature take its course, so to speak.

I have read the article (and others) in the link and was one of the reasons I am considering using peat. However, that article does not recommend using peat in the filter, which is what I am proposing. That was one reason why I started this thread in the first place: to see if anyone is using peat or has experience with it, as a filter medium. Perhaps, I should just post that as a simple question in another thread.

I did a little test to see how the water pressure affects the pH. As you said CFC, the water under pressure has high amounts of CO2. Water taken directly out of the tap and measured within a few seconds will measure almost 6.0 using my test kit. That same water after an hour in the test tube measures 6.6 to 6.8. Furthermore, I have plants in my tank so any C02 that is present I assume is being taken out by the plants further raising the pH.

One of the reasons I chose the cockatoo cichlid was its relative insensitivy to higher pH balances. However, it is possible that my water was just too hard for the fish. Since it appeared to be an orange flash variety I doubt it was a wild fish.

Final question, if I don't do something to lower the pH will I still be able to keep cockatoos? I probably won't try any other apistos that are more sensitive to higher alkalinity. I am not interested in breeding fish, as I don't have any other tanks and do not intend to get any in the near term. However, it would be nice to witness the interaction between male and female fish.

 

[FoundMoney]

I used to use peat pellets in one of my tanks. I cut off the toe section of a pair of my wife's pantyhose, filled it with peat pellets, tied it off and added it as media to my filter.

F1

That is exactly what I'm proposing. Why did you decide to do it in the first place? Did it have the desired effect? Why did you stop doing it?

 

[F 1]

I did it in the first place because I have well water with a pH near 8. I wanted to lower it. It didn't really lower it very much because I believe the water is quite hard but it did give the water a lovely golden color.

I stopped for a copule of reasons:

1. A lot of the advice about pH says consistant pH is better that trying to fool with it.

2. During a water change, when the 5 gallon bucket is full of water I take the filter media out and rinse it. I forgot to put the peat bag back in and dumped the bag with the old water in the toilet. Since there was never a real concrete benefit I stopped using it.

F1

 

[Teelie]

With a pH above 7.5 or so, peat is absolutely useless at lowering the pH level anyways. I think it will lower it more with a pH of 6.8 though I doubt it would lower that below 6.

 

[FoundMoney]

I forgot to put the peat bag back in and dumped the bag with the old water in the toilet.

Did you need to call a plumber?