understanding API water test results

[crsublette]

To make sure your bacteria have some KH fuel to grow, then add only 1 ounce of household baking soda, that has zero additives, and is labeled as sodium bicarbonate. For a 285gal pond, 1 ounce will raise your KH by a little over 1 drop (or 20ppm). Then, 3 days later add one more ounce or, if you are doing a big water change, then add the baking soda with each water change. When you get your KH test, it should read at least 3 drops of KH (or 54ppm). If you can get some crushed coral or oyster shells from your local fish store or pet store, then I would sprinkle 8 ounces of it on the pond floor. At the end of the week, you will have very slowly and safely raised your KH by 4 drops (or 71ppm)

Extremely important. FIRST get the ammonia under control before adding the baking soda. The rise in KH will increase your pH making your ammonia more toxic and poisonous to the fish. This is why those ammonia neutralizer products are so extremely important to do first.

 

[Carolyn22]

Chris

For a 285 gallon pond, you need to either have fantastic filtration or start lessening the number of fish you have in your pond or this whole scenario will happen again. Additionally, your goldfish will start breeding again. I know when I had goldfish they seemed to breed every month and thus the numbers of goldfish were in the hundreds in a very short period of a year or two. Also, 285 gallons is not enough for koi - they really need more water. There are a number of different calculations out there to use when figuring a pond size for koi.

Capewind - I hope your homefront issues resolve themselves for you very soon.

 

[crsublette]

Chrisusvi, do you know if those goldfish are from the koi carp family or comet goldfish family??

I know the black moore is a "fancy goldfish" so no concern there.


Chrisusvi, the simple little bio-filter I described will only last you for a little while before it also starts to fail.

For a retail store option, then you can get a Zakki Shower. You likely only need the smaller Japanese Lantern Shower. You will have to call him directly to get a price since everything is custom made, but it may take a couple of weeks until you receive it. For the number of fish in the pond, you might need a bigger one, but he will get you straightened out though if you tell him your situation.

For a DIY bio-filter, you can build your self a bio-filtered that is called a moving or fluidized filter such as one described in Birdman's Fluid Bed Filter. Steve (birdman) sells a fluid bed startup kit online, but you have to buy the barrel. Bio-media is where the majority of the bacteria grow and the bio-media and air pump are the most expensive pieces. The total weight of fish in the pond is what determines the volume of bio-media. So, as I am guessing to the weight, my guess is you need at least 1 cubic feet of bio-media.

I bet ya either of these bio-filters will never fail ya until the fish start to multiply. Eventually, the fish will multiply with the healthier water you create so you will need to get rid of them.


Also, since your pond is quite overstocked with fish, then your bio-filter's energy source, KH, will be consumed quite fast so you will need to stay on top of it in keeping it up.

 

[capewind]

Carolyn .. I agree with your post. I tend to push the evelope with crowding (not in the main pond but other areas) and have always managed to stay on the safer side, but I really am interested to see what is given for advice to get this mini pond back on track.

The home front issue is now mostly emotional exhaustion, it is getting better. Brought in some help, now it's basically just being worried. It'll get better. Thank you for your well wishes.

 

[chrisusvi]

The goldfish I have don't breed...never have. I don't have any koi fish. The goldfish I have were bought at about an 1" or 2. I decided to build a larger tank outside the house and put them in a larger environment. A couple of years later they are now about 6" to 7". I'm surprised that they haven't bred yet.
Curiously, would the decaying hyacinth bring the ammonia levels up also?

 

[crsublette]

The goldfish I have don't breed...never have. I don't have any koi fish. The goldfish I have were bought at about an 1" or 2. I decided to build a larger tank outside the house and put them in a larger environment. A couple of years later they are now about 6" to 7". I'm surprised that they haven't bred yet.
Curiously, would the decaying hyacinth bring the ammonia levels up also?

Yes, any plant decaying or any decomposition will increase your ammonia levels, but this is a slower process and is not instant and any ammonia released is reletively small compared to what the fish and food can create in the water.

 

[capewind]

The goldfish I have don't breed...never have. I don't have any koi fish. The goldfish I have were bought at about an 1" or 2. I decided to build a larger tank outside the house and put them in a larger environment. A couple of years later they are now about 6" to 7". I'm surprised that they haven't bred yet.
Curiously, would the decaying hyacinth bring the ammonia levels up also?

They most likely have been breeding, but in such a small area, became fish food:-( We never had many babies in our old pond (2000 gallon)... I'd occasionally spot one or two, but they always got eaten.

 

[Carolyn22]

When I had goldfish, that was all they did. We started out with about a half dozen and ended up with hundreds. I finally got rid of all the goldfish because it was just too much. The koi bred like crazy too, but they never bred like the goldies.

In any event though, there are still too many fish for 285 gallons in a pond. If you don't thin out your herd, you will have the same problem with the water parameters - unless you add more filtration to your pond. It is better to go way overboard in the area of filtration than to go under.

 

[crsublette]

Yep, big fish eat little fish especially if not always fed. Fish meat protein in fish food is quite prevalent. There are particular fish though that are more willing to eat live food than flake or pellet fish food. Sunfish and weather loach are two fish I am told that prefer to eggs and fry; going to try them this summer.

Other than out of concern of physical proximity causing the fish to hurt each other, the filtration quality determines the quality of the pond's ecosystem and thus how many critters the pond can support. Maintaining a healthy ecosystem is why filtration is used so it is always better to have too much filtration.

When the critters outweigh the filtration, then bad things happen causing the ecosystem to fail thus death to critters.

 

[capewind]

I wouldnt say if not always fed ... look at how many fish join into the chase during a pond spawning ... some of them are simply trying to eat those eggs as fast as they are released:-(

 

[smack a yak]

what is a good kh level after reading this thread i went out and bought a kh test cause its the only test i didnt have i never got one cause i have never had any nitrate levels above 0 ppm and ammonia levels above 0 ppm and i also finly got me a pleko whitch i have been wanting for a while hes a big 1 footer anyways i did the kh test yesterday and got 7 drops whitch is about 125 ppm is that a good level

 

[crsublette]

what is a good kh level after reading this thread i went out and bought a kh test cause its the only test i didnt have i never got one cause i have never had any nitrate levels above 0 ppm and ammonia levels above 0 ppm and i also finly got me a pleko whitch i have been wanting for a while hes a big 1 footer anyways i did the kh test yesterday and got 7 drops whitch is about 125 ppm is that a good level

Yep, anywhere between 5 and 11 drops is good. It doesn't hurt to have up 20 drops either, but it is when it drops around below 5 when you'll start seeing issues.

You may likely see it drop faster after a really big rain as well.

It would be good to test your source water as well. If your source water is high enough in KH, then you can just do some water changes from the source water to raise the KH.

 

[chrisusvi]

Ok. I'm back. I got my GH and KH test kit today. What shade of green and yellow do I need to get a good reading? When it starts to turn green and yellow or do I need to see a good solid green color and a good solid yellow.

 

[chrisusvi]

Ok. I figured everything out here.
Here are the current readings compared to March 24th.

At 6:00pm EST/AST - April 2, 2013
Air temp. - 88.3 degrees
water temp. - 86.7 degrees
KH - 1 (17.9)
GH - 4 (71.6)
PH - 6.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 80-90ppm (yikes!)
Note: changed the UV bulb in the Laguna Pressure Flo 700 with new sponge rings replacing tomorrow.

What does all this say?

 

[capewind]

Charles already wrote above that you want to fall 5 - 11 (or more) drops on the KH ... so if you were only at one drop, you are extremely low and need to raise it. I dont have the experience to tell you how best to raise it, so will wait for others to respond.