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I just use some run-of-the-mill dechlor, which is, in fact, called "de-chlor". I don't particularly care about the stuff that much because most of my partials are done with DI/RO water.

Well I guess it really depends on you.
8.99 seems a little high for peat granules,
but perhaps they are more expensive in america?

Aside from the bw extract turning your water severely brown as I have heard it does, it has pretty much the same properties as peat filtered water - which doesnt turn your tank water deep brown.

I dont know how large your tank is, or what your water hardness is in gh, so I cant really tell you how long a box of peat will last.
I use 2 boxes of peat granules (2 lbs) in my filters and change it about 3-4 times a year. This for me is a cost of
$60.00CAD a year - but my GH is over 280 ppm!
This amount of peat lowers my ph from 7.6 to 6.6 and the gh from 280ppm to around 60 ppm.


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So_Very_Sneaky-
What about Kents Blackwater extract? 16 oz. treats up to 1000 gallons. I can get it for $6.99.
I could also get Fluvals peat granules at $8.99 for 500 grams. Which would last longer and have the most benefits?

I just checked the ph of my tap and it is 7.0. What a shocker. I think it might change throughout the year.
-thanks for the info

Wanna spend a fortune do you?

Personally, I wouldnt bother.
All black water extracts are is liquid
peat extract and tannins.
They will turn your tank water very brown,
much more so than the peat in a filter.
Plus a small bottle only treats 200g I think,
so you would be going through probably between 4-10
bottles a year depending on your tank size.
That would cost you about 5-15 times more than using
peat granules.


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What about those liquid blackwater juices. I think kent has one.

Clownloach - No, carbon will not remove the peat from the tank. It will remove some of the tannins but not all.
Those cartridges have so very miniscule amounts of carbon in them anyway, I wouldnt fret about it.
No Peat is not short lived and it is hardly expensive.
Your chemical buffers are much much more expensive.
I put 2 lbs of peat in my filters, and this keeps the water soft and acidic for the nature of around 3-4 months.
Its not expensive, I use granular peat which is more expensive than regular fibrous peat, but it is more concentrated and you need to use less.
It costs me about 10 dollars for peat granular every 4 months, so about 30 dollars a year.
Its much safer for your fish too.


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I have a ton of seachems Acid buffer(sodium bicarbonate i think) at home, could i use this with Prime? I would add it directly to the water before i put it into the tank. I guess i better check to see if that adds PO4 first. I like the peat idea but i have an Emperor 280 and the cartridges that it has are packed with activated carbon which would counter act with the peat. Am i right? If i go with the peat, should i take all of the carbon out? Isnt peat shortlived and expensive?

Last edited by clownloachfan at 14-Jan-2006 16:11

i agree - prime is excellent, i never have any water issues, been using it for years. and i second the 'peat and bogwood' plan for softening water. keep it real if you can, the less chemicals you're adding the better.

I Use Prime. I have tried others and prime is the best,
and the cheapest (in that 1 bottle does 1000g).
I wouldnt recommend anything else.
And yes, if you want to buffer and lower your ph,
I would use peat. Chemicals can cause severe problems in the long run.


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Hello all. What dechlorinator do the planted tank people use here. The reason i ask is that i have discovered that my dechlorinator adds phosphates to the water. I know this because i did a PO4 test on my tap water(0.1 ppm) and then a test on my tap water with the dechlorinator in it(above 10 ppm). I am having some black beard algae. The nitrates are fine at 10ppm. I would like to know of a dechlorinator that removes chlorines/chloramines, buffers the water to 7.0 and does not add PO4. Is there one? I am using Phosgaurd now which is bringing PO4 down to 5ppm over a weeks time.

Last edited by clownloachfan at 11-Jan-2006 14:57

You would be better off using driftwood in your tank and peat filtration to bring your pH down instead of relying on buffers and chemical additives.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

my tap water has a high ph

hi loachfan,

aquasafe does not buffer water. Is there any reason you want your water buffered to 7.0?

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Back in the saddle!

Does aquasafe bring the water to 7.0?

Prime has no effect on pH that I'm aware of. I use it in my planted tank. I also use Aquasafe by Tetra sometimes....no problems there.

Last edited by crazyred at 13-Jan-2006 14:53

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

I was not sure if i could state its name, well. I use seachems Neutral regulator(removes chlorine, chloramine, ammonia and buffers a high or low ph to 7.0). Prime is a Seachem product too, right? Does it bring your Ph to neutral?

clownloachfan,

I use Prime and this is the first time I hear about a dechlorinator that has sooo much phosphate in it (or any at all).

What do you use?

Are you sure it is the chlorinator that messes you up? Or is it that you have a product that buffers at the same time - with the help of P?

I bet you that the real question here is not with regards to dechlor but with buffers.

Ingo

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