[KoenEeckhoudt]

Hey Guys and girls!

I'm in the middle of a new project at my home. I have in my 29 gallon 5 angels. I 've read a whole lot of information, and I've read that they can thrive very well in water that's actually a bit harder then they would have where they naturally live.

I have my 5 angels now, and they are doing VERY well... they have a very healthy appetite, and their coloration is fantastic.

Now: to lower the pH (it's quite high from the tap), I use peat to filter (love the brown color it gives off) and to soften it a bit more, I use about 10% of RO water on 90% tap water.

I have no intention of breeding (yet?).

Now... this is a 29 G tank. Quite easy to maintain (concerning the 10% RO water which I get from a LFS, dont have a RO device at home (yet?). Suppose I want to alter my 125, to keep them in... How sufficient is the peat actually? it gets my pH down in the small tank easily... Been around 6.5 for a few days, and it looks stable.

Will it be this easy to make a lot of water acidic as well?

Will I have more fluctuations?

How much peat do I actually need to put in my filters?

it's just some thinking I'm doing... I'm not gonna do this in the first month or so, but I'm considering a new 75-100 gallon tank... It was my intention to keep my Tropheus in there, but now that the angels are working out, I'm beginning to doubt it a bit.

Downside would be that I'd have to get rid of the tropheus, wich I wouldn't like at all. this means that I want to be very very sure about succeeding in the angel tank, before I make such a decisioin.

Thanks in adavnce for the tips

Grtz,
Koen

 

[Dutch Dude]

Maibe you can give more info abouth the tapwater. PH, KH, GH, conductivity. Maybe you won't even need to bring the PH down!

 

[iplaydrums1]

Now... this is a 29 G tank. Quite easy to maintain (concerning the 10% RO water which I get from a LFS, dont have a RO device at home (yet?). Suppose I want to alter my 125, to keep them in... How sufficient is the peat actually? it gets my pH down in the small tank easily... Been around 6.5 for a few days, and it looks stable.

Will it be this easy to make a lot of water acidic as well?
as long as you use the peat and keep the ph monitored then yes...if all else fails use a PHOSPHATE FREE buffer to bring it down real quick

Will I have more fluctuations?
no *** found acidic water sets itself and then stays, especially if you use ro water and do smaller water changes more frequent. it works best that way for fish like discus and angels anyway.

How much peat do I actually need to put in my filters?
depends on the type of filter??? or the type of peat youve been using? i used fluval peat moss and i put it in a filter bag in a cannister filter and it worked great.

other than that the only thing i can say is monitor the water for a while, larger tanks are easier to maintain but you should still let things sit for a while before putting the angels.

 

[KoenEeckhoudt]

thx for the info

I'm gonna stay with my 29 for a bit right now... and maybe have a go at a larger tank in a few months

 

[Dutch Dude]

Hi Koen. I guess you also speak Flaams? A lot of questions and a lot of possibilities. I expect the best solution to soften the water and to lower the PH is by using more RO water. A small amount of 10% for the water change doesn't do that much. To be honest,....I don't think it will be worth the effort. To get some real benefits from RO water I suggest to use 30% to maximum 70% RO water on your weekly wc (water change).

Peat will do more as only lower the PH. Peat will color the water and add tannins and minerals. This will benefit the health of fish and also stimulates breeding. The amount of peat depends on the peat it selves, tanksize, cleaning regime, PH, GH, KH and so on. So no one can tell you how much you should exactly add. You have to try on trail and error base. Ad some to the filter, measure and increase or decrease the amount of peat to get the right PH. The effect of peat in a large tank will be the same as a small tank,....the larger the tank the more peat you need but thats quit obvious.

So we talk abouth peat and RO water but we still don't know the water prams like PH, GH and KH of your tap water. Maybe you won't need to lower the PH and domesticated angels will be fine on PH=7.