Re: peat and soft water

[Randy or Deb Carey <carey@spacestar.net>]

Frauley/Elson wrote:

> Hi all,
> I've been following the various threads about peat, and tried an
> experiment as a result. I took two 27 gallon tanks I wasn't using
> anymore, and put about 15cm of peat moss in each. I then filled them
> with Montreal tapwater (pH 7.4, 140 ppm, buffered to the point that even
> in careful experiments with absurd amounts of acid, it always bounces
> back to pH7.4).
> The result? In 24 hours, I had a pH of 5.8 and a measurement of 10 ppm.
> I know from keeping delicate killies that the garden centre peat I'm
> using is clean of insectides, fertilizers, etc.
> It seems too easy. Any comments?
> -Gary

My aquarist friend who explained to me what's going on conducted his test with
similar results:

start:      pH at 7.2, dH and kH at 11
24 hrs:   pH at 6.0, dH and kH at  3
36 hrs:   pH at 5.8, dH and kH at  2
from there, dH and kH held steady while pH dropped gradually to 5.7 after a week.

The simple explanation is that the active ingredient in peat, digallic acid,
gives up two hydrogen (making water acidic) in exchange for a calcium (removing
hardness).

My friend set up a garbage can to hold and filter water through peat.  The
recycling of water was accomplished through a power head.  As you can see, with a
bail of peat (relatively cheap), he could produce twenty-some gallons of soft,
acidic water each day.

I still prefer the simpler r/o unit for producing water for my daily changes, but
I'm thinking of doing some peat filtration as a suppliment in my spawning tanks.
I'm hoping the addition of organic material will help stimulate spawns.

- --Randy