# peat moss



## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

recently i decided to add fluval peat moss granuals to my eheim to lower the ph. its now been a few days or so and the water is ofcoarse stained by the peat and is a greeny brownish color? i know this is normal but i now have decided i dont really like it so i was wondering if there is anyway to clear the water without nutrilizing the effects of the peat moss therefore leading to my ph going back up/ not lowering.


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## Scholz (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm pretty sure if you used carbon to filter out the tannis you'd also filter some of the hydrogren ions that are altering the ph out as well.... 

Why not throw some carbon in there and test it...

Let us know if it works or not....

EDIT * After doing some quick research it seems like carbon filtration might work for you....

Put the peat moss in your filter until the desired ph is reached.... then pull it out and put your crabon filter in....

It'll clear up the tannis but leave the ph...


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## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

thanks so much ill definatly try this out!


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## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

i am really having trouble lowering the pH the peat has been in there for a while now and its still at about 7.6? i rember reading about the Gh but i cant remeber if its easier to change ph with softer or harder water or ???


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## MananaP (Apr 22, 2010)

Just use active soil like ADA if you want your PH to be between 6.2-6.8 mark and in my opinion this would be better in the long run.


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## cpool (Apr 30, 2010)

dwarf_puffer said:


> i am really having trouble lowering the pH the peat has been in there for a while now and its still at about 7.6? i rember reading about the Gh but i cant remeber if its easier to change ph with softer or harder water or ???


It is easier to change PH with soft water. Do you use Crushed coral or something like that?


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## TKD (Apr 22, 2010)

Use more wood.


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## Scholz (Apr 21, 2010)

what is your substrate.... It's probably out buffering the peat....


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## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

when i bought the tank the subtrate as a mix of large to med size pebbles i got rid of the small pebbles and kept the rest. there was a bit of a mix of sand in there and now im guessing its crushed coral....  this wouldnt be a huge deal to re do it all i guess except its a 6 foot heavily planted tank  any other ideas? i do already have lots of drift wood. 


edit:

now after looking it is smaller and whitish so im guessing crushed coral. there isnt tooo much maybe a 1 to 3 ratio to the rest of the subtrate ?


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## gimlid (Apr 23, 2010)

dwarf_puffer said:


> so im guessing crushed coral. there isnt tooo much maybe a 1 to 3 ratio to the rest of the subtrate ?


I think that is alot of coral. I had about 2 cups mixed in with about 4 gallons of natural gravel substrate and I could not get my ph below 7.4

I just removed all my substrate and started over with none rather than try and remove the coral. My ph has been going down since then with the use of alot of Manzanita wood and Indian Almond Leaf.

I'll be adding new substrate now that I have this under control.

Purigen might get your water clear while leaving the desired ph.


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## pistolpete (May 2, 2010)

Why do you necessarily want to lower your PH. All your fish are used to it and presumably doing fine. 7.6 is acceptable for most species, even ones that have slightly acidic water in their natural habitat. A stable PH is much more important than achieving a certain reading. 

Yes, 1 in 3 parts crushed coral is a lot. a six foot tank should have about 3 to 4 pounds of coral mixed in with roughly 80 pounds of gravel to buffer lower mainland water.


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## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

perhaps it isnt as much as i thought. i checked the ph today and its down to 7.2ish so thats a good start? any1 know of a good way to try and remove the sand without completely taring apart my tank?


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

the only way i can think of it is slowly removing section by section and replacing the sand that way. You wont get it all, but you'll get a lot out


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## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

how would i actually seperate the sand though?


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

could use some sort of marker, stones or something to show where you've done so far


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## luckyfind (Apr 21, 2010)

With a little patience you can syphon out the sand with a small diameter hose. I did a 6 ft tank this way a little at a time and it does not cloud up the tank.
As others have mentioned a stable ph is the only way to go.


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## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

what do you mean by a small diameter hose?


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## pistolpete (May 2, 2010)

like the one on your gravel cleaner, just unhook the tube part and if you hold it at the correct distance it will suck up the sand but not the gravel. the frustrating bit is that gravel bits will want to jam things up.


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## andresont (Apr 24, 2010)

dwarf_puffer said:


> recently i decided to add fluval peat moss granuals to my eheim to lower the ph. its now been a few days or so and the water is ofcoarse stained by the peat and is a greeny brownish color? i know this is normal but i now have decided i dont really like it so i was wondering if there is anyway to clear the water without nutrilizing the effects of the peat moss therefore leading to my ph going back up/ not lowering.


Activated carbon and water changes ( to a lesser degree) will clear that up for you..
You can lower you PH safely with Co2, or Seachem buffers.
Seachem is imo better then kent.


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