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Can i use peat for gardens in a fish tank if i rinse it really well and put it in a filter bag can i get away with it. i have really hard water and alot of tanks so i want to try to soften that water with out going broke. anyone have any ideas?

thanks
Petstoregirl80

PetStore Girl,

You should post your water parameters insofar as pH, GH and KH. If we know what your parameters are, we can help you achieve your goal. However, we are going to ask why you want to treat your water.

In this case, you have stated that you have hard water and you weant to soften it by adding peat. Peat will give your water a light tint and it may temporarily acidify your water but it wil never "soften" your water.

Hard water is due to minerals that are dissolved in the water. General hardness (GH) measures all of the minerals while carbonate hardness (KH) measures only the carbonate and bicarbonate minerals. You can reduce your "hardness" by diluting your water with Reverse Osmosis (RO) water or De-ionized (DI) water as these filtered or manufactured products have virtually no minerals therefore no hardness.

The question is, What do you want to do? Do you want to reduce both the pH of the water and the hardness of the water? Are you doing this for a breeding tank or for a display tank? Are you attempting to keep wild South American cichlids that demand very soft, acidic water?

Sorry for the long post without specific help but we need more information to help.



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"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

the tipical ph is 7.8 -8.4 hardness in off the chart and akalinity is too. there is a lot of limestome around here and a lot of calcium in the water. you should see the hardwater stains on my shower! i want to soften the water because i kinda need to i don't think my fish are happy. normaly i wouldn't mess with the ph but its realy high the only fish i have that like the tap water are my chiclids.

If your fish don't seem to mind the hard water with high pH and you don't plan on doing anything special with them, the water should be fine as it is. You said that you don't think your fish appreciate the tap water, why is that? Do they seem to act out of character for their respective species?

Honestly, adding peat to water like yours won't help all too much. It's going to resist drops in pH and hardness, so really all that the peat will do is to add tannins. As Bob said above, the best way to soften and acidify your water would be to start making small water changes with RO water. This can even be filtered through peat beforehand if it helps to achieve some kind of aim, such as breeding.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Peat in an aquarium can be very beneficial when keeping sensitive ph fish like discus, or to better the ph for live plant aquariums. It is not advisable to use regular garden peat moss, most of which contains fertilizer that is time released. These are seen in the peat as little pellets that are usually white or tan in color. There are peat packets for sale at the lfs, that you can just slip into your tank filters...this would be the better choice if you ask me.

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The calming qualities of a good aquarium are irrefutable