Peat

[country_boy454]

Ok, so I have been doing way too much research on apistos lately. I have come to the conclusion that it is time to lower my PH in the 55g tank. I want to start breeding my apistos and they do best in a low PH. My PH is 7.0-7.4 from tap. I am going to use peat in my filter to help lower the PH. I know a stable PH is better for the fish but If I can lower the PH to make it more like their natural environment than I am going to do that.

How much should I use? What kind do I use(as they have lots. Most are labbled gardening)?

I have an Emperor Bio-wheel with two empty plastic containers that I can add my own filter media to so I thought I would add the peat to this.

[smaug]

there is a good product sold for this purpose,its called keta peat nuggets.it goes in a media bag in your filter.
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209134/product.web

[country_boy454]

Wow, sweet! Thanks for the link. My mind was going crazy looking at all the different peats!

[smaug]

your welcome,unfortunatly that store is out of stock but Im sure you can find it somewhere.Good luck.

[Lady Hobbs]

I was about to say the same thing. I used the Fluval peat and it's dirty, nasty and doesn't do anything. The pellets should work good for you.

[Incredulous_Ed]

Order those peat nuggets online if you can, they are lke 15 bucks in stores.

IME, peat wont lower your pH that much, unless you use ALOT of it. Best to get an RO filter.

[KingFisher]

I have been using Shultz's peat moss that you get in the garden section. I tested it and it contains no fertilizers or anything else except peat moss. The only thing is that you need a mesh bag to put it in because it is very crumbly. One of those thistle seed bird feeding bags works great, but I'm sure the foot section from a pair of pantyhose would work as well. A friend of mine has even used a regular sock and said it worked fine. I like the stained look it gives to the water, and it does lower ph but not really a significant amount.One thing that really lowered my ph is when I added a DIY co2 unit for the plants. My ph went from 7.4 to 6.5, and remains constant as long as I maintain the yeast mixture regularly. I set my system up before I added the fish, and did not monitor the rate in which the ph drop occurred, so I can't say what the effects would be if you added it to a tank that already had fish. Also water changes do not seem to cause significant swings in the ph. I have read that a ph swing due to co2 is somehow different and not as hard on fish as a ph swing caused by a sudden drop in hardness or the addition of ph adjusting chemicals.

[KingFisher]

I just wanted to add that I testes Jiffy Peat Pellets and they contained fertilizers which made the ammonia and nitrate readings go off the chart. Make sure you do not use those.

[Dave66]

Ok, so I have been doing way too much research on apistos lately.

Too much research country boy? Impossible. For the lives of your fish, no research is too much. Ever. You can not know enough. Been keeping and researching fish for 36 years, and I still learn more about them every day.
I filter through peat in all my FW planted tanks, including the two with Apistogrammas in them. All of them average pH 6.8 in a 24-hour period, gH is 4, kH 5 to 6. You don't notice the tea color unless you look straight down from the top. Otherwise, the water is perfectly clear.

Dave

[country_boy454]

Too much research country boy? Impossible. For the lives of your fish, no research is too much. Ever. You can not know enough. Been keeping and researching fish for 36 years, and I still learn more about them every day.
I filter through peat in all my FW planted tanks, including the two with Apistogrammas in them. All of them average pH 6.8 in a 24-hour period, gH is 4, kH 5 to 6. You don't notice the tea color unless you look straight down from the top. Otherwise, the water is perfectly clear.

Dave

I know that I can never research enough it was just one of those instances where I had been up for the last 5 hours reading everything and anything I could find on Apistogrammas and my eyes were buggin out!

I'm not worried about the tea colored water as I will be getting some driftwood soon for the tannins. Also to hopefully lower the PH a bit. I will also be placing an order or two for ketapang(sp?) leaves for a nice leaf litter base over the nice sand substrate. The tank water parameters are PH 7.4 and KH is 8. I don't have a GH test yet.

Best to get an RO filter.

I would love to get an RO filter but unfortunately I don't think my apartment manager would like the idea very much. This is the time where I wish I still lived in my other house. PH from tap was about 6.2.