softening water with peat

my tapwater is gh 8, kh 4, ph 7.8 after aerating. i want to try softening my water in a 35 gal tank. i have  BIG bale of peat and i want to know how much of an effect simply running a bag of peat in my tank will have. will the gh, kh and ph all go down, and be similar to cutting my water with r/o, or will it just turn the water brown with little effect on parms? my water is very resistant to ph changes.

i am down to bi-weekly water changes and i think i can run some in my change water (15 gal fishtank for a holding tank) and in the main tank to try and keep it stable.

any ideas on how successful this will be without running 1/2 1/2 r/o to tapwater?

rick  

[Bill_P.]

I hate peat i tried it once did real good on changing the water quality but made my tank look like it had pee in it.


Bill

[gary1218]

I actually liked my tanks when I used the peat and it made it a tea color.  In fact mine got so dark that if my red alenquers were at the back of the tank you had a hard time seeing their brown bodies  :D  One of the problem is that when somebody comes over to see your tanks you have to take an hour or so to explain to them that "NO" your tank isn't dirty it's the peat  >:(

In the long run though it's messy and time consuming and like most everybody else you'll probably give up on it after a while.

Besides your water parameters are OK for growing out discus just not breeding them.  When you get to breeding the discus the peat won't have enough of an effect on your water.  You'll need to get an RO Unit.

GARY

[bmrin1]

Rick,
Seems to me that it would work.  Lots of discus were bred before R/O units and the like with peat.  According to some other info I have recently read, peat will soften and reduce pH but we as discus keepers tend not to give it enough time to have its effects.  We change so much water so often that we can't wait the required time for the effects of the peat to be realized.
Brian

If you add a bag of peat to R/O water the conductivity goes up not down, which seems to me to say it puts into the water & doesn't remove. "Softening" water requires removal of minerals, which I don't think peat can do(?).
IMO the point of using peat is for its tannic & humic acids & trace minerals, which will slightly acidify & tint the water but more importantly have natural antibiotic, antisceptic & anti-fungal properties for the general health & well being of your fish. If your water tints very dark then use less peat.

:)
DW

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,  
  From my undersatnding Peat acts like an ion exchange resin. It basically  exchnges calcium ions in the  water  for Hydrogen? ionsIn any case the net result is the water loses its buffering capacity, and tanic  acid leaches in, causes an increase in acidity. The effect of peat on the water  should be a  general softening of  the water because of the removal of the  calcium (maybe mg also).
  Just my thoughts on it,
al

brew that is also my impression of how it works. but, the calcium is still in the tank, and i have seen graphs that seem to show that peat will only lower ph to about 5.4 or so, no matter how much you add. this tends to make me believe that it will tend to buffer your water to maintain stability at that ph, much the same way that crushed coral will buffer the water at about 8.4 or so. i can lower the ph of my water easily, but i have never been able to provide any stability. this is why i am trying peat. it seems to be the 'wonder product' if you don't mind the mess and the colour of the water. i feel that the fish will like it, if i didn't think so, i wouldn't do it. (fish come first right?)

rick

[brewmaster15]

Fish always come first!!!  by the way,  you may want to use the peat in a holding tank first,  then filter that water  with carbon  to remove the color. You could alos use carbon in the tank. Also  remember  peat is organic and when it rots it releases all it takes out, kind of fast too.

Bi-weekly additions of new water maybe too much for the peat  to effectively deal with, andyou may get some bounces in water conditions..

Just some additional thoughts..
-al

[Mike_T]

A couple more questions about peat, as I have little experience using it...

Peat would not be effective as an acidifier in a tank which receives frequent water changes, if it was added as filter media? Would it take alot? The reason I'm asking, is that I have a ten gal with rams in it that I would like to get a pair out of, and was considering using peat to lower the params, but I change their water 25% 3 times a week. I'm worried that with the 10 gal having such a small buffering capacity, the added fresh water will drastically change the peat-leached params. Ph is about 7.4 after aeration. Any thoughts?

Thanks!
-Mike T

[DarkDiscus]

Mike,

If you put peat in the filter for the 10 gallon AND make a small water-aging tank with a peat filter for prepping prior to water changes, I would think that would be very effective.

John

[Smokey]

Came across this post; Here is my expierence using peat for the last month !!!

I've been using peat to condition the water after it runs through my R/O UNIT.

Raw town water:
pH - 8.8
gh - >500 ppm
kh - > 400 ppm

R/O water flow output.: 720 lites / 158 Imperial gallons / 189 us gallons per 24 hours. This is the actual measured output of the R/O UNIT. (85 degrees F. @ 100psi),
pH - 7.8
gh - ~179 ppm
kh - 95 ppm

PEAT treated water: r/o water flows through a 20 liter sealed bucket:
pH - 5.5
gh - 77 ppm
kh - 10 ppm

ACCURATE/CONSISTANT TESTING.
(liquid test kits)

AIREATE - as the R/O/Peat water flows into 70 liter storage barrel;
reheat to 85"F, treat for ammonia:
pH - 6.5 - 7.0
gh - 80 ppm
kh - 45 ppm.
TIME - 2 HOURS - add water to discus tank.
Repeat process( holding barrel is only 70 liters) !
I produce 200 liters; this allows me to do a 50% w/c. daily.

By this time the peat is starting to become exhausted:
pH - 7.5
gh - 150 ppm
kh - 90 ppm.
DUMP PEAT !

Smokey
knee deep in peat moss