Peat in a canister?

[Jeff in Chicago]

Hello all.

Yet another question from this board newbie. I read somewhere that peat can be beneficial for blue rams. First of all, is this something others can verify, and secondly, what's the best way of incorporating it into a canister filter - fiber vs. pellets, etc.

Any other peat-related advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[bigredspecial]

What is your tapwater at for ph and hardness? Rams, as with most South/Central Amarican fish, prefer soft, acidic water. It isn't absolutely necessary, but rams are sensitive fish, so it helps.

Basically, if your water is hard, peat in the filter will soften it. If your water is alreadt soft, it may do nothing, or it make it even softer.

In summary, Yes, it can be beneficial, but it depends on your source water.

As for granules vs. fibers, it once again depends on the water. One worls faster, one lasts longer.

 

[Avalon]

Peat in a cannister filter would be best used in a media bag. Using peat will have the best effect in a moderately hard water, say 6-12 degrees GH. Much more, and peat won't have much influence on pH. You can save yourself a bunch of money and use sphangum (sp?) peat, available at any place that sells plants, typically in very large bags.

However, the use of peat may only be to recreate breeding conditions, as most "soft-water" fish will acclimate well to harder waters. You may have better success with with moderately hard water and softer, rather than very hard waters. I'd say if you have water in excess of 15 dGH, then you might take some steps to lower the hardness for your rams. RO is a good solution. Mix some with your tap water, relative to you requirements, and you'll be good to go.

Edit: forgot to mention that pH does NOT play much of a role in fish health when kept reasonable, 6-8. Hardness does. Since hardness does tend to affect pH, many think that pH is the be all, end all. It's not. Breeding certain fish would be an exception.

 

[Jeff in Chicago]

Thanks for the guidance - that helps a lot.

 

[echoofformless]

I use peat in two of my tanks with canister filters. They are blackwater tanks, so I kind of do it on purpose. But it's also because Philadelphia tap water is hard and alkaline. You should test your tap water to see what its parameters are before any treatment, that way you know how much and what sort of treatment to give. For example if your tap water is soft and acidic, it's already a ram's delight. Another example is the fact that I'm about to keep Malawi cichlids in my Philly tapwater without any treatment at all. It's already perfect.

Now while it's perhaps not entirely necessary to do any peat filtration or other hardness / pH adjusting filter media for fish health, I strongly believe that it does enhance their lives in some way. My h. rasboras for example, are some of the deepest ruby red colored razzies you could see. Same goes for all of the other fish that live in my 20g blackwater tank now that it is firmly established. And I've only lost three fish in the past two years, two of which were already a few years old. So I guess you could say I'm a pretty firm believer in trying to recreate the fish's native environment as closely as possible.

But that doesn't mean you need to do in order to have an amazing succesful tank.