Would Peat In The Filter Be Good For My Discus?

[Origami Gourami]

How do!

I inadvertantly purchased HumuPlus (Iron and Mineral) substrate from my lfs, thinking it was a bargainous box of concentrated plant food (D'oh and forehead slap).

However, a cunning plan begin to formulate in my hate-to-waste-anything mind;

Could I use it in one of the baskets in my Rena 404 as a means to get the juicy iron and mineral goodness to my plants? Obviously I'd have to put it higher in the filter trays than the activated carbon I'm guessing, but would it have any adverse effects?

I keep 10 discus in the below set-up, but I'm worried about humic acid changing the pH. Currently it is around 7.5 - 8.0; before anyone gets upset, these are UK raised discus (well, apart from two wilds) who have been fully conditioned to my local water conditions by my lfs and their supplier/breeder.

Would this be a sneaky way to drip feed nutrients to the plants in the tank?

Would it drastically change my pH for the worse?

Am I missing something obviously wrong with this plan?!

Any suggestions gratefully received!!

AtB
O.G

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi there,

From what I can find looks like this is a peat based blend of components (does mention something about lowering pH). I can't see any reason why you can't put this stuff in your filter. I'm not sure about keeping the carbon in at the same time though as this will probably strip out some of the minerals etc that come from the HumuPlus.

As to what effect this will have on your pH, then this to a large extent will depend on where you start. With your figures (7.5-8.0) I would have thought that overtime it would reduce the pH by maybe 0.5 at the most.

However as you will have a fairly high rate of fresh water introduction to the tank with your water change regime, then any reduction in pH is likely to be minimal (what are the GH and KH of your water??).

Andrew

 

[Kenliz]

The Discus will love it. Will you like it is the Question. Try and see but keep a close eye on the pH and Alkalinity. Check what your Alkalinity (KH) is. If below 3dkh raise the Alkalinity to above this level. As your pH is so high i doubt this though. just keep a close eye on the water specs till your happy with what is happening.

 

[dolphin]

Hi

May be a silly question, but are your discus doing good in the current water condtios? If the answer is yes, then don't mess with the chemistry of your water. The more you mess with it, the more work you will have to do to keep it at a constant level.

Stable condtions are much better than changing ones.

 

[Origami Gourami]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the information, much appreciated. To answer a few of the questions posed;

I haven't checked the GH or KH recently, but will do on your advice.

The discus are doing fine and are perky and alert, but I feel I've yet to see them truly blossoming. The plants are struggling though and with the size of the tank I am looking for a different solution to keeping their nutrient levels up. This seemed like a nice way to get both fish and plants to eat their vitamins!

It just struck me as a good, natural filter medium - I'm trying to keep the tank as close to the natural habitat as possible (within reason!) without using any chemicals.

I'm not aversed to a mild tea-like colour to the water, just as long as it doesn't turn it into a 450 litre percolator!

Many thanks for all the advice, most appreciated. Any other thoughts gratefully received!

AtB
O.G