[Jacob]

I still have some questions and figured I might as well write them here- just questions about water preparation and testing. So ignore this post if you want to read about chocolate gouramis.
Preparing the water is an issue. What ph and hardness lowering products to buy and how much to add to the r/o water is a mystery to me. I got ph lowering powder, but I don’t feel like a very competent amateur chemist.
The tank has a peat filter in it now and test fine, though another issue is that I need to get high end testing equipment. I will not feel like the tank is ready until I have a pH tester, and whatever other hardness and bacteria tests are needed.
And maybe there are low pH range nitrate and other pollutant tests available.
It would be simple to just take peat (of the right quality) and filter the water with that, I have a tank with peat filtered r/o water that test fine as I said, but apparently peat is too unreliable. There are other materials you could use for filtration, and I wonder if that alone is enough to make the water the right value and also clean enough. Oak leaves were mentioned. Maybe the chemical method is best, or maybe there are reliable organic materials that will prepare the water. I can’t feel like the tank will be stable and safe until I’ve established how to prepare the water every time and I actually have the most accurate testers for all the important parameters. And I wonder if zeolite could be used in place of water changes, not to lessen the effort but because that may be less traumatic for the fish than water changes.
Also, I have a plastic plant holder that I’ve attached to the top of the tank so water sprite can live with its leaves in the air and roots in the water, I’m hoping this will be a powerful filter, and the root structures will look beautiful and create grazing areas for the chocolate gouramis. I was also thinking of taking almond leaves, chopping them into fine pieces, and using that as a substrate, even putting in so much that it buries the roots, but the roots are nice looking and it would be a shame to hide them. Maybe a few leaves are all that is needed.
I’m looking forward to hearing about success people have had with chocolates.