[quote=”Davy” post=3304]Hello Bernd,
This method works fine but I need to change to peat on background after few weeks because the pH increase.
I think to buy Kati Ani next month. The water on exit of it has a pH between 3,5 and 5. With my corner bubble filters with peat on it I can have pH between 3 and 4.[/quote]
Some peat stuff from killibreader. If you need to get very low pH levels and have it stable. Do not relate on substrate, prepare the water.Do not use aquarium peats as they seem to be processed to not be that acidic. Try to buy some unprocessed peat for gardening purposes, just make sure it does not contain any fertilizers or other aditives. Its like 10x cheaper and you can use the peat granules as a substrate for much longer, they still look ok. You need to make sure the peat is acidic kind of peat (fast check: wet the peat and put a little NaHCO3 (baking soda) on it, if it start to foam it is acidic or just leave it in RO water for day or two and check for parameters. Try different peats and find what works best. To condition the water put the peat in to some bucket and use strong aeration. This will help to dossociate the humic and fulvic acids molekules and you will get lower pH levels faster. The water you get this way will be very stable in pH for a long time. I use alder cone extract, ketapang extract and oak bark extract too ( prepared the same way, do not boil it just use small 5 litre barrels from mineral water for example and strong aeration, leave it alone for couple days) to prepare simmilar type of water. the dosage of extracts is of course dependent on quality of ingredients and how strong you make it. Learning to use it takes some time, but it will pay off. You need well fermented stuff when you are going to prepare ketapang and alder cone extracts, do not use green leaves, buy some good ones. When collecting the alder cones, find some non poluted locality and go for cones that already fell from the trees and are not washed out by rain. Hope that helps