Using Peat to soften water

[African_Fever]

Just wondering if anyone uses peat to soften their water for some of the more delicate ray species. There seems to be a lot of thought out there as far as flowers/tigers requiring softer water (at least during their acclimation from the wild), so I'm wondering what the most cost-effective solution to accomplish this would be.

I tested my water this morning and the GH here is 160 mg/l - thinking that it's a bit higher than ideal for flowers, and that if I could drop it down even a little bit it would at the very least make their life easier (my motoro's are rock solid on it and have never had any issues). I know that RO is essentially a 'quick fix' solution, but I don't currently have access to an RO unit that can do much more than 20 gallons a day (besides simply buying 5g jugs used for drinking water).

Does anyone know how quickly the peat would actually soften the water? I'd worry about water changes and the hardness temporarily 'spiking' with the fresh water being added, and if that would affect the rays at all.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Miles]

I talked with HarleyK a bit about this.. you might want to ask him again or search in the plant section. It was a thead on how exactly chemicals/medias can remove hardness. It effects a different type of hardness, but doesn't remove alot of negative minerals from what I understand.. Either way I don't think it's a very stable technique and disallows for the much needed frequent water changes. If anything, pre-treating a drip system flow with peat and/or a softening agent would be the most practical IMO..

The best way to soften the water is with a RO/DI unit, and re-buffer it with appropriate well-rounded nutrient based chems such as Seachem's R/O right and/or mixing it with a designated amount of cleaner, harder water..

I've heard highquality resin based chemical medias such as Chemi-Pure, Purigen, Matrix Carbon, and PolyFilters will help remove alot of the bad mineral content from super hard water.

 

[tank125]

R/O is your best bet. You can buy a new membrane for your 20GPD unit, and get 60-100 gpd out of it. The rest of the unit is the same. You can also install a water-softner on your house supply. They will use softening salts such as sodium phosphate.

I do not know what the equivalent to mg/l is, but with the flowers that I have, during acclimation and the subsequent 3-4 weeks I keep them in 40ppm. After that they are gradually, via waterchanges, increased to 200ppm. I only use the r/o for the first few weeks and then it is straight city water. At home my water is 50 ppm and my motoros and flowers are fine in that as well b/c of CC in system hardness is level at 200ppm despite the heavy water changes with 50ppm water.



The only way I could see using peat is if it is in a storage vat for water change use. I do not how fast it will soften though. You may also be able to make a filter to force water through the peat to soften product water, but it will likely take a signifcant amount of peat, be messy, and time consuming to keep clean etc. Also you would have to flush before use because of the left over water in peat would be nasty.

 

[Nic]

ive always gone for the what ever comes out of my tap... when i have had flowers they would be fine after a few days... my tiger was great and eating the same day it went into my tank... i wouldnt mess with the water chemistry if the rays are fine.. smaller water changes multiple times a week will bring them up to your new water...