Re: pH

[Tim Ellis <timellis@flash.net>]

Hi Kathy,

Iguess the real question I have is what kind of filter should I use in a 20 gallon breeder to take advantage of peat usage. I currently am trying a small wisper air driven in the tank pump in a ten gallon. Not sure how to use peat with that setup.

Tim


Kathryn Olson wrote:

> Tim,
>
> We're lucky up here in Seattle and our water is pretty soft.  When we lived on one side of town pH came out at 7.  With peat it hit the low 6's but we wanted 5's for fish we were spawning.  Erik experimented with some chemical ways of altering....hope he pipes up with the name of the compound.  The key thing here was to age the water.  We would add a small amount of this stuff drop the pH into the 2's (stomach acid) and as it sat/aged it would gradually climb into the 5's.  Don't want to do that to your fish....kill them and your plants.  We would them add the aged water to the tank.  Afriend uses waters of the world...and keeps adding it until his plants melt.
>
> Now we live where the water is even softer, with no additives our bog wood drops the pH into the 4-5's.  Have to harden the water and raise the pH for some of our fish.
>
> Kathy
>
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