Peat balls to Soften Water and Lower pH in an Aquarium

At Tyne Valley Aquatics we use special peat sourced from deep under a peat bog to condition the water in tanks containing dwarf cichlids, angelfish, killifish and tetras.
Since it is contained in a permeable membrane, the tannins and humic acid can naturaly leach out to buffer the water (to around pH6.5 in our tanks). If you want to release more goodness into the water (e.g. after a water change) you can gently squeeze as shown in the video.
Check out the feedback on Ebay from people who have used them with great sucess.
Compounds released also help with plant growth and algae prevention (according to our customers).
As the peat comes from deep under the bog it is very compact and slimy. Ordinary 'aquarium peat' has nowhere near the concentrated compounds so is a very short term additive.
These balls last for many months in an aquarium and are becoming more and more popular with our customers who breed fish, with great feedback about their ease of use and good effect on the water. To buy them (I supply worldwide) please click on the link: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/tynevalleyaquatics/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from...
The balls are more likely to provide a lower, stable pH if you have aquarium sand, not gravel as a substrate. This is because many of the gravels used in aquariums buffer the pH up to above pH7 so this works against the downward buffering peat balls.

Category:

Pets & Animals

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[xxblinkx]

How much do they color the water?

[pondguru]

Not much. It is basically like adding prepared blackwater extract. The colour usually gets removed by your filtration in 5-10 minutes but the benefit stays until the water is diluted by a water change.

[CichlidAsh]

I should have my new tank soon 165l and will be certainly looking into this product as I want too try out Killi fish (in the soon too be spare 40l). I can not belive that someone posted that Peat would kill the fish if you placed it in the aquarium though.

Only thing I could say about the product is the ball does look kind of ugly so hiding it in the aquarium would be needed. Would this product help with plant growth at all?

[pondguru]

There's no way around the look of the balls, really unless you go full peat substrate which you can't remove if the pH drops too low.

Most people use them in breeding tanks so the look doesn't matter although they can be flattened out quite a bit. They do release alot of goodness which does seem to benefit plant growth.

They are starting to be discussed on a few forums, with people who have not tried them cussing them and people who use them saying they are great. Feedback is good on Ebay.

[xHizukax]

WTF!!! this will kill the fish

[pondguru]

The fact that many species of soft water fish have a peat substrate in nature and many species of killifish rely on spawning in peat probably won't convince you that natual peat isn't deadly to fish.

I was always told that you can't argue with ignorance, so I'm in no mood to argue with you, sir.

[Mouajimmy]

@pondguru amen

[UberFiseh]

@CichlidAsh

Plants seem to like lower pH, which peat balls help with.

[pondguru]

Softness will vary but in our tanks the pH is reduced to around 6.5. If we squeeze them more than once a week the pH will drop to 6.0.

[the4blueturtles]

will this soften the water? if so how much?