FishProfiles.com Message Forums

i recently put some peat granules in my canister filter and it turned my water a dark brown. so i did a water change and it turned dark brown again. so my question is: if i leave it in, will it eventually stop turning the water brown, or am i supposed to take it out?

What does that mean, Bob? "Till the cows come home." Where have the cows been?

The water is supposed to turn brown when you put in peat. Yes eventually the brown will go away with water changes and carbon, but that tells you that you need to replace the peat.

agent_orange

Sorry but that is what happens when peat is added to a filter or a tank not only does the water go brown it changes the water conditions for several species of fish.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

**the only way to stop your water turning brown completely is to remove the peat**

but back up a moment here....

what are you using the peat for in the first place?
lower pH? softened water?
what fish do you keep?
why have you decided to alter your water chemistry?

you can make the water a *little* bit less brown by adding activated carbon to the filter but that may also negate some of the water-chemistry-altering effects.... eventually the peat granules will stop turning your water brown but at that point it is no longer conditioning your water and needs to be replaced.

Although peat is a natural product, it does contain chemicals and it can be dangerous to haphazardly dump peat granules into your filter. You can have wild pH swings, can turn your water black, shock your fish, etc. etc. I do NOT recommend altering your water chemistry until you have quite a bit of education and experience under your belt. It isn't an exact science and requires a lot of experimentation, often in a separate tank without fish.

Anyway, the best advice I can give is to do your research from now on BEFORE you add anything to your tank. Peat filtration will turn your water brown, that is a well known fact that you should have been aware of before you put it in there IMO.

[hr width='40%'] [link=you're keeping in step, and in line, got your chin held high and you feel just fine, cause you do, what you're told, but inside your heart it is black and it's hollow and it's cold]http://www.kraftfoods.com/koolaid/ka_main.html" style="COLOR: #fee100[/link] [/font][/font]