Green tea to soften water?

lookimawave

I read that peat moss and carbon filtration counteract each other. Can i achieve the same water softening with green tea? Does the carbon filtration also counter effects of greentea?

GwenInNM

There is no need for carbon, for every day tank use. I'm not sure that it's true about carbon effecting soft water, however. Peat moss is good for this, but you will have tannins in your water. Indian Almond leaves are also good, a bit of tannins with these too. I have no clue about green tea, but I wouldn't use it in a fish tank. Drinking, yes.

Maxillius

tea contain stuff like caffeine I would not reccomend using it in aquarium!

lookimawave

Water softening | The Skeptical Aquarist

This is the source. They recommend just putting the used teabag and not the tea so no caffeine is introduced. They seem to know what they're talking about...

I feel like that water softening pillow might be filled w/ peat moss...?

AlainaToadpipe

I'm a little confused about the carbon not being necessary for every day tank use. Do you mean the amount that comes in the filters for things like the whisper filter, or additional carbon being added to the tank?

GwenInNM

Typically, you'll find most don't use it. It is only good for a couple weeks max. at removing chemicals in water. It's good to put in fiter, to remove medication, and after a week it has no properties of any use.

I don't know much about carbon, I've just learned here, it's not necessary, so I've never used it. Maybe someone else will explain it better. You want to focus on having a good amount of biological and mechanical filtration - such as ceramic chips and foam sponges. Don't ever rinse your filter media in anything but tank water that has been treated with de-chlorinator. What type of filter do you have?

Gwen

AlainaToadpipe

I have one of these Tetra Whisper PF10 Filtration System at PETCO
I did not purchase it at petco, but at the local pet store, the link though is to their ad for it, so it has the picture and specs. :) I thought I understood the idea to be to continue to change out the inserts in the filter on a regular basis (so, new charcoal in that regard). I don't add any charcoal other than that to my system.

GwenInNM

You often have to wonder about the companies that design some of these filters, telling people to throw away the cartridge and replace (more money for them) Each time you do that you are throwing away your good bacteria, and can possibly be putting your tank at risk to go through a mini-cycle. If I were you, I'd forget about buying the cartridges. I'd make my own filter media for the filter. Get a sponge filter to fit, or cut one and/or some cheap fiber floss. Any pet store should be able to show you what I'm talking about for "mechanical filtration". That goes at the bottom of your filter. You can buy, for a small filter (10 gal) Aqua-Clear filter insert biomax, at a petstore (few bucks) and lay that in over the sponge (this is the ceramic chips I was talking about). I like Aqua-clear filter media, but there are other brands, ways to do this. These should fit in the filter you have if you buy the 10 gal size. Check them out. That's all you need. You "never" throw the stuff away, just rinse it in old tap water maybe every other tank change or less. At some point when the filter sponge is falling apart, you can replace, but keep the old one in until the new one has time to establish. The ceramic chips will last a very long time. You'll want to stack this to reach up, let's say an inch from the top of the output. I hope that makes sense. You're just fashioning your own filter media that will be a bit more effective than those flimsy filter inserts. Carbon serves no purpose except to clear cloudy water or remove chemicals/meds from water - just remember it is only effective for about 1-2 weeks max.

Gwen

AlainaToadpipe

Wow! Okay, that is soooo much less expensive and makes much more sense than having the carbon sucking everything out of the water (assuming one was diligent enough to change the filter every couple of weeks). I'll look into doing that with mine then. Thank you for the suggestions!