# PH Stability using peat moss



## Spang (24 Feb 2011)

Hellow there,

My tap water has a PH of 8.0, I am thinking of running peat moss in my filter to help with this. 

My concern is after I do a water change won't the PH rise again due to the fresh water then lower over time?

Isn't this a worse situation than having a stable PH of 8?


----------



## Tom (24 Feb 2011)

Yeah, the pH will bounce up again on a water change. You'd probably be better off maintaining the stable pH8.


----------



## Spang (24 Feb 2011)

Cheers Tom! You are always first to reply to my noobish questions! 

Any Ideas how long it takes to adjust water chemistry?


----------



## mdhardy01 (24 Feb 2011)

Also you have to consider what happens if you are away on hols for a couple of weeks 
Years ago I used to run peat in my filter came back from hols to a ph of 4.5!
Matt


----------



## mlgt (24 Feb 2011)

How much peat are we talking about? Simply a bag of peat ?

I never knew this was possible to reach such low ph in a matter of weeks? Can you link me which one you used? 
I am currently looking to buy a RO unit, but it is purely for the benfits of my discus.
However I tend to do a water change once every 2-3 weeks as the tank is low tech. Tanksize is 350l and collecting enough ro water to change water frequently is a pain.


----------



## Spang (24 Feb 2011)

I was seriously considering an RO unit, I live in a one bedroom flat which is tight on space already.

After reading up and seeing that RO units actually waste quite a lot of water it is really impractical for me.


----------



## mlgt (24 Feb 2011)

How big is your tank? Will collecting rain water be another solution? Or going to buy ro water?

My main issue is getting enough water for a 350l tank. But I guess once I do have ro I will have to make use of it. 

Although I have had conversations about my discus set up and they are used to london hard water, but I think because they are asian discus, they will flourish under a better water parameter with somewhat softer water than I already have.

The other solution that I have tried is adding co2 via a FE. This will lower the ph, but doesnt stop the tds being higher than needed. Who said fishkeeping was easy?


----------



## Spang (24 Feb 2011)

Tank is ~140 Litres. but space is the main issue, there is no way for me to collect rain water as I don't have any outisde space. Buying RO water means storing it and extra cost. 

My tank is Low Tech so no CO2 either.


----------

