Re: aside to Coby

[Martha Clark <amazonqueen@comcast.net>]

Coby,
 I am NOT (I wonder if I could type that word even bigger?) a chemist...
there are people on this list far better educated about how water and
everything therein "work." Having said that, I don't think peat buffers
in any way useful to an aquarist (ducking and running...?).
 Your post this afternoon said that the pH was 6.3; that of this evening
said it was slowly rising, you had added pH Down, and it is now 5.5.
Thing one: if you have peat in water with almost no hardness, you either
have some really weird peat or you have something in the tank adding
alkalinity to the water (gravel, rock, shell... SOMETHING)... you need
to identify and remove whatever that is. Thing two: the extreme pH
shifts which your water is undergoing is WAY too stressful and unhealthy
for fishes (and plants); it is far better to use a storage container for
your water and do all adjustment of water values in there, changing
water from a stabilized tank with water of the same chemistry.
  Curious about your having started with 30 fish and having 8 now...?

Martha


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