Re: water conditions for A, panduro & D. filamentosus

["Rybi Ogon" <rybi_ogon@hotmail.com>]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could offer any suggestion or comments on 
water conditions for my A. panduro and D. filamentosus.

My tap water is fairly soft; it used to test around 20ppm/1.1DH, but 
recently tests around 50ppm/2.8DH.  My local water utility(MWRA), has 
been adding some buffer to the water to "make it less corrosive."  The 
pH is in the high 6 range, mostly 6.8.  

So I'm wondering if I should be doing something to my water, such as 
filtering with peat.  I picked up a package of peat at a gardening store 
called "Country Cottage Sphagnum Peat Moss" which it claims is "A 
premium grade sphagnum peat moss imported from Canada."  Has anyone been 
using this or similar for their tanks? 

What I was thinking of doing was getting a 30-50 gallon container and 
filling it with water and peat with a pump for circulation.  Let it soak 
for a week, then use it to refill after my water changes.  How much peat 
would do the trick for this size container?  Would I be better off just 
getting a RO filter?

I've got them (3 Apistos and 5 Dicrossus all between 1 & 1.5 inches, & 3 
neons), in a 30 gallon tank now (the common 36" kind), they're all 
sub-adult size right now, at least I think they are having never kept 
them before.

Thanks for any comments,

Peter Davis
rybi_ogon@hotmail.com or ptdavis@shore.net


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