Water Test Results

[Reiner]

I finally bought myself a water test kit which I used yesterday and the results were: Ammonia 0, Nitrite .5-1.0, pH 7.8, KH 5, GH 10. Tap water also pH 7.8. I will wait a week longer to get new fish due to the still high Nitrite level but how can I get the water softer and the pH down in the meantime without using a RO unit since they are to price for me. Any cheap suggestions are appriciated. The size of my tank is a 30 gallon 48 inches long and I use one of those wispher filters on it. Thanks for any help.

[Neil]

Reiner,
Do a search on this forum for some good info on this. You could try using store-bought water to get your hardness down and then peat for acidifying the water. But eventually that will become troublesome and expensive too. If you only have one tank for now, that might be a reasonable option. Hope the nitrite situation gets worked out. Neil

[Eva32181]

Take a bit of clean pantyhose, fill it with peat, and tie the ends off and put it in your filter. My tap is 7.8+ but my tank is much lower. CO2 injection helps, too.