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I first put it in a bowl and scald it with boiling water, let it soak for a very short time – just until all granules are sunken. Then I pour it through a sieve to remove the hot water. After that I spread the granules on the bottom of the aquarium, in a very thin layer of about the grain size, just enough to merely cover the ground.
I think an amount of two cups is enough for a 20 l tank. Just try with a small amount – you can easily prepare a bit more if needed.Ok tks Stefanie for your method! I found this peat in France, I make order and I’ll try in my tanks because my actual method to reduce my pH is not good, I have 5,50-6,20!
But remember – it’s only one part of my preparing of water, I additionally put in oak and beech leaves, alder cones, and I soak a small amount of black peat in the rain water I use for the tanks. I think it’s the sum of these single methods which leads to a low pH at last. And that’s still not all – I think that, for example, the tank size plays a role, too. Still each single tank is a living system, with imponderables beyond our influence……………
Yes of course. I added 1 cup of granules peat. pH is 5,70. I’ll mesure my pH tomorrow to see.
Conductivity 35 us.My P. Tweediei male keep the eggs in this nest now, I don’t want to disturb him!
Hallo!
You are talking here about how to get the lowest pH… 🙂 … I know, that Paros at home have very low pH…but down from 4 pH on I mean to have read its also for Paros stress …
From what pH down will it be dangerous?
My prepared Paro tank has already about 4,7 pH , conductivity 50, in the morning (in the evening pH even will be lower, am I right?
In my wild cought Spaerichtys selatanensis tank I have already 5,3 pH with conductivity of 97.Who can say from what pH it begins to become dangerous also in black water?
By the way, I´m really a bit shocked that I´ve found out now, that almost all of my other fish (L333, Boraras brigittae, corydoras pygmae) all are black water fish .. in the internet or in books you have to search long to find further informations than kH, temperature, size of tank …..
Concerning this, at the moment the best information I got in my aquaristic shop was about the spaerichtys selatanensis …
Perhaps the shops are afraid to tell about black water, because the wouldn’t sell so much fish than …Informations about the african fish (high calcium) and sea water perhaps are more better … but I don’t know much of them.
Hallo!
This evening I have a pH about 4 measured with foto meter and 5 measured with my Milwaukee pH meter … In future Paro and my Spaerichtys selatanensis tank.And in the Spaerichtys tank the water isn’t quite clear. Makes peat the water not so clear? That tank has an UV clearer, with a new lamp, so I think with that low pH that will not be a bacterial blast. The fish seem fine, as usual …
Does peat need some time before it begins really to work ?
Hmmmm…… Does anyone has an idea?
Is this fresh peat or is it dried loose peat that you are rehydrating? If the latter, I have some notes somewhere that I’ll try to dig out for you in due course. If the former, then so far as the acidifying effect is concerned, it starts its work straight away.
The turbidity you observe is from very small particulate matter : I’ve played with it and it passed through a 53-micron screen! A few thicknesses of kitchen paper gets rid of it (though it’s very slow and hardly convenient for in-tank use!). There’s less turbidity from fresh peat than there typically is from rehydrated. I don’t know about compressed dried peat (pellets, or whatever) because I’ve never played with it.
Other than its effect on pH, peat leaches humic acids into the water column. If it’s anything like leaf-litter (oak, catappa etc.) tannin is leached first ; then as immersion continues, fulvic acids. But I don’t know whether peat does that – it must be loaded with fulvic acids, so I guess the fish must get some benefit from it right away?
Incidentally, I’m playing with some fresh peat at the moment. I was startled to note the presence of nitrite. (It was at a low concentration but, as we know, nitrite toxicity to fish increases alarmingly with decreasing pH). Have you been able to observe something similar with the peat you’re using?
You can use dipslides to roughly ascertain the numbers of aerobic bacteria in your water. The type you’d need is BT2 – they’re easily available and are less than £10 for a box of 10 in the UK.
Hallo Vale!
Thank you very much for your long post!!!
Here I try to answer step by step:
1. I use as the title of the threat says, dry black peat granule (pressed material) in a little filter bag.
2. This morning I ve measured nitrite with photometer, and the paro tank has 0,6, the selatanensis tank 1, 4.
3. I´ve taken out today old alder cones, a half resolved catappa leaf, and moss. I see, I should do that more often …
4. If the turbidity really is just caused by fulvic acid from the plant materials, I think it will be o.k. for the fish – I just read that the black water would be coloured but very clear …5. I´ve found a dip slide test for water beds 😉 and it measures aerobe bacterias, I have ordered it …
Hallo,
My water is clear again.And there wasn’t a bacterial problem, I ve had just 10*2 KBE/ml, I think the UV Clearer does its work!
What type of black peat do you use in the rain water to prepare your water? Granules? The same peat in the tank? What’s the pH after preparing this water?
Tks.
Davy
Hello you two
I’ve been using for years Torgranulat as Bodengund with rainwater.
My pH value goes to the exchange and water changes to pH 3 and then settles down a few days later at pH 4-5 a. However, I make every week 50% water changes with water from 8-15 up means that almost anything goes if you keep the temperature at least 25 ° C ……………….. . except deissneris https://www.parosphromenus-project.org/media/kunena/emoticons/sad.pngHello 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.
So I think that the pH is over rated value. I change the peat when I clean the tank, when the ground is 2x a year, then I also do inventory.
Otherwise, I do not begrudge my animals much calm and good food. It has not spawned any Paroart with me, even if I do not always get the same pups. Exception is perhaps ornaticauda want it really acid.
Greetings Bernd
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