Clarity + Peat?

[Spiritofthesoul]

Anybody tried this deadly combo before?

I added peat to my tank for the nice brown tone of the water as well as to lower the pH of my tapwater. Then I noticed some little particles that the mechanical sponge of my filter fail to catch.

So I added Seachem Clarity. The next thing I know, My tank water was completely black. I meant literally, I took a look from the top view and saw nothing at all. Shine a light from the top, none of it even reach the bottom (my tank is 2' tall).

It got so bad that I had to do a 70% water change just to improve the clarity by what? 50%

Have any of you had this problem before? Or I just got a bad lot of Clarity?

 

[calioutlaw1a]

Clarity usually turns the water cloudy white, but I suppose it's not entirely surprising that your water turned black with the peat in there. You should ask SeaChem about that, they should get back to you very quickly.

If you are going to use clarity, you need to use extremely fine filter pads/filter floss to remove the debris that causes the clouding. Mechanical filtration is the only way these particulates will be removed. After about a day you can then do water changes to remove anything your filter pads won't catch.

 

[RabidSheHamster]

I hope there weren't fish in it : o

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

there were 3 bichirs in the tank.

But they didn't show any signs of problem

 

[shellies215]

Clarity binds particulate matter together to form bigger particles that are easier for your mech. filter to trap. sometimes it looks worse before it gets better

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Clarity binds particulate matter together to form bigger particles that are easier for your mech. filter to trap. sometimes it looks worse before it gets better

I know how Clarity works... And I won't bother posting this if it was just regular cloudyness. And no, it didn't get better. I dosed half the recommanded dosage and my tank water turned black. I waited 2 days and still nothing happens. Only when i did a 70% wc did things started to get better.

And I tested clarity on a tank without peat before, and seen the cloudyness. It subsided within an hour.