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I would like to use peat in my 10 gallon aquarium to reduce the pH and hardness of the water. My water is very hard where I live, and that makes my pH too high for my serpae tetras. I alread mix purified water with tap. Could someone give me advice on how to use peat? Are there any risks? How much should I use? Thanks.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

You put the peat granules in one of those little drawstring filter media bags (after rinsing the peat off) and just put it inside the filter. It's very easy to use.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Thanks

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Peat isn't very effective for lowering very hard water and high ph unless you've got a heck of alot of carbon to use up. My tapwater is ph 8.2 and 18dkh. I packed 2 penguin 330 filters with concentrated peat granules and all I got was black water and the ph dropped maybe .4. I also had 4 cartridges of carbon and eventually removed one media basket of peat and replaced it with carbon with no effect. Purigen is much more effective at removing the coloring but even then if you have really hard water peat doesn't achieve much. It's far more effective and stable to dilute the water using ro or distilled and then if you want to further lower the ph use peat. Which is how I keep my ram tank around 6.0. I start with 3/4 ro water and 1/4 tapwater then add a bag of peat pellets.

That sounds good. I think I am going to increase the fraction of purified water I use in water changes. I'll experiment with that and then get some peat if I need it.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."