making water acid - UK

["John McCrone" <j.mccrone@btinternet.com>]

> This is 31% hydrochloric. Mix one quart of muriatic acid to 3 QUARTS of
water.

What do UK apisto keepers use to make their water acid - apart from peat?

I've tried asking for muriatic acid in places like Boots and just got blank
looks. Is it called something else in the UK or where is it generally
available?

I've tried peat - both garden centre and v. expensive Fluval aquarium peat.
Neither did much to pH considering the fuss involved. I now use Hagen pH
Down - which claims to be sulphuric acid. This works but is also costly
given £5 bottle lasts just a couple of months. If I build the house
extension that will let me install a long dreamt about eight foot tank, then
adjusting the water will get very expensive! BTW, I use RO water cut to
about 1 degree GH and KH yet still it takes hefty squirts of pH Down just to
shoot for a pH of 6.

While I'm talking to UK posters, any tips about good fish shops in Southern
England? For apisto's the best range I've come across are at Ivy Mill
Aquatics in Godstone. But I was there at the weekend and was rather
disappointed - about six species and most looking somewhat frazzled. Are
there any "don't miss" apisto suppliers within reach of the M25?

------------------------------------------------------------
from John McCrone - Science Writer
    mail to: j.mccrone@btinternet.com
    web site: http://www.btinternet.com/~neuronaut/



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