[babystarz]

I have bought a bag of peat moss to experiment with in my next two 10 gal NPT's. I want to see if I can create a stable low pH environment. If I'm successful, I will be able to keep more species of finnicky wild bettas.

I am not sure how to set up this tank. Should I do a layer of soil, then peat moss, then a sand cap? Skip the soil? Skip the sand cap? How thick should the peat layer be?

If anyone has done something similar, I would love to see pics and hear how you went about it.

 

[PaulG]

My latest no tech has a majority peat soil mix (60%). It's just soil then gravel cap. It's a test to see where the ph and hardness ends up before I add fish.

 

[babystarz]

My latest no tech has a majority peat soil mix (60%). It's just soil then gravel cap. It's a test to see where the ph and hardness ends up before I add fish.

Thanks, I went ahead and mixed 80% peat with 20% soil and a play sand cap. I usually prefer fine grain sand but I was worried it wouldn't hold the peat down. The peat actually did puff up after I added the sand, even though I wetted it down first. So it looks like 3" of peat/soil, when it was really 1". I'm thinking maybe it will settle down eventually.

I have an old filter going and used 1/3 old tank water. I'll test the pH tomorrow and see where it's at.