crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
Yep Yep. :claphands:
First Time High Ammonia!
- Thread starter gardenlady
- Start date
Awesome and that should help my Nitrite level as well! Thanks...................again
Your plants will not survive that level. .1% is safe for most, but not all.
Okay...please tell me what you think. We have just finished adding from the hose water and plants to the redone pond and as you can see from the pic it's not a pretty color but it's from adding the pea gravel and plants into the bog and it's stirred up all the dirt from it. And as you can see the test for Nitrate isn't zero and I'm wondering if the reading is from everything in the pond. The PH High is at 8.2 which is it's consistent reading. This is strictly water from the hose that was added so I'm starting all over except for the plants. Should I leave the fish in the container until tomorrow since everything is perfect as far as reading go and since I know that the batting will have the water clear by morning. Sure need your input on this and also wondering if I should put some salt in, a little at a time to get it to .1 or .2% before or after I put the fish in. Thanks as always!
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crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
Dave is correct.DrDave said:
For the Water Hyacinth, found this interesting publication from University of Berkley talking about using salinity to control the growth of Water Hyacinth since this plant is terribly invasive in particular areas. The study indicates that, at above .05% salinity, the plant showed significant signs of stress, few leaves, different shape of leaves, but the plant was still growing.
Also, all, or at least most, fully aquatic plants will die at a 0.10% salinity and also Water Lettuce will be tinged by it.
However, most terrestrial plants will survive the 0.10% salinity.
At a salinity of 0.20%, Water Mint and a couple other plants will show signs of stress and death.
At a salinity of 0.30%, there are many plants that will show signs of stress and even death.
At salinity above 0.30%, only a few very hardy plants will tolerate this such as Canna, Fairy Moss, Hibiscus, Water Celery, Water Chestnut, and just a handful of other plants.
I know this due to a very honest birdy, but I can not say more than this unless I get into trouble.
So, unless there is another document folk can share, folk will just have to take my word for it or don't take my word for it. :cheerful:Actually, .10% salinity is more than enough to combat nitrite toxicity, but I tend to go higher just to make sure due to how nitrite can accumulate. It is the chloride portion of salt that combats the nitrite toxicity, but the volume of this chloride portion is according to the volume of Nitrite and .15%~.20% salinity can protect against alot of nitrites.
Now, you can use calcium chloride (one pound per 1,000gallons or .016ounces per gallon), but there is no good way of measuring the Chloride product so it's always a guess when using it to combat nitrite toxicity.
In these quarantine tank situations, I like a low salinity since it also helps to reduce stress and calm the fish and stress is one of the major reasons why fish get sick.
Also, keep in mind that salinity only mixes well with particular fish medications. With some fish medications, the salinity will mix with the medication to create a fish toxic compound.
I think the reason why many folk are against salinity is primarily due to the impact on plants and it is tough to manage in a full pond application. I would only use salt in quarantine tank context such as Gardenlady's situation.
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
gardenlady said:
1) And as you can see the test for Nitrate isn't zero and I'm wondering if the reading is from everything in the pond.
Yep, probably residual from everything that was in the pond unless your source water inherently has a noticeable Nitrate reading. If you're on city water, then source water information is public information, available upon request, from your local water municipality office.
2) The PH High is at 8.2 which is it's consistent reading.
Very good and not too high at all.
3) Should I leave the fish in the container until tomorrow since everything is perfect as far as reading go and since I know that the batting will have the water clear by morning.
Since this is an old pond, which likely still has some bacteria residue on the liner and other stuff, then I would imagine the good guys are just stunted a bit due to the entire ordeal, but I bet they will return stronger than if the pond was spanking brand new.
With this said, I would not just add all the fish at once. I would just add some, like half or a quarter or a third, of the fish volume back into the pond. Wait a couple or few days. Add some more. Wait a couple or few days. Although, you might be fine putting them in all at once as long as the water has been properly treated for chlorine, etc.
4) Sure need your input on this and also wondering if I should put some salt in, a little at a time to get it to .1 or .2% before or after I put the fish in.
Ugh, personally, I would not. You can bring it up to .1% at most, but I would definitely not go higher and definitely not add anymore salt and let future water changes dilute the salt. I mainly use salt in smaller controlled environments, such as a quarantine tank like the container where your fish currently reside.
Were ya able to flow meter your water as you were filling up the pond to know your exact gallons ??
uhhh..flow meter.......apparently not..LOL! He was supposed to build me a 3,000 gallon pond after having about an 800 gallon, but now he says he thinks it's "about" 1,500 gallons, so if I add anything like salt it would be a little at a time to make sure I don't go over 1%. I thought the 1% would be helpful due to the stress they might experience after I move them again. The Nitrite was zero btw and I haven't done the KH because it's one drop at a time and thought perhaps it would be more accurate after I get all the yuck out of the pond. The water has been treated for chlorine already using Pond Prime so they are set to go back in.
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
WOH!!!! Very BAD typo !!! :cheerful:gardenlady said:
Ya forgot the decimal point.
Should be... .1%
Just looking out for ya and the readers. :claphands:
Salt would help in the transition, but I would definitely only do this once, or be extremely conservative about the frequency of doing it, when talking about putting it in your big pond.
Well I just figured everyone would know what I meant...oops! I will put a small amount of the solar salts into a bucket of water and pour around the perimeter tomorrow morning. Thanks Charles!
The hubs was cooking steaks in the backyard and saw a grey egret on the fence of the next door neighbor. We've never seen a grey one here before. Had to go get my fake egret out of the house where he's been stored since the dig collapse and stick him back out there. Between him and the alligator head we've kept predators away so hopefully it keeps working.
YEAH! The pond is rebuilt and almost completely done except where it is obvious I have more things to do. Hubs moved the bog to a different location and it ended making the pond look larger. I moved all of the large "rocks" around the perimeter of the pond today and those that back up to the bog he is going to mortar in so we can raise the level of the water in the bog as well as the pond itself. The fish are happy and the water tests all look really good except the nitrate which is still a little high. I added a little watered down solar salts at a time and meant to get it to .1 which it was but then I checked tonight and now it's at .2 Need to get more plants so they can hide from the gray egret that was next door yesterday. Anyway...just happy everything is back together!
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
Very nice!! :afro: :claphands: :banana:
Yeah, that'd be it for the salt. I would just let what ya have stay and do an occasion big water change to dilute it over time.
I really love the stone work.
Yeah, that'd be it for the salt. I would just let what ya have stay and do an occasion big water change to dilute it over time.
I really love the stone work.
Yep that's it on the salt and we will be adding more water so that will dilute is some was well I assume. I was at .03 so I added some more..little at a time and then it was at .05 was I added more and all of a sudden it as at .11 and then tonight it was a .20. I have a bucket still full of water and undissolved salt so I will just stick it in the garage for now until I might need it. Only water changes fix the nitrate correct? Which is weird if it's true because it's never been anything but zero before so it can't be the tap water. BTW..on your comment on have some beneficial stuff on the liner..he ended up power washing it to make sure he wouldn't miss any other tears, so probably wasn't much if anything remaining on it. I'm glad you like the stone..me too.
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
Yeah, really gotta make sure the salt is dissolve in the bucket otherwise, with just few granules not dissolved, you will see a sudden jump in salinity that ya did not expect.
Water changes and plants are the easy ways to reduce Nitrates, but Nitrates have to be extraordinarily high, near 80~100ppm or even higher, to ever become a problem. Here's a thread that might give some insight: How to control Nitrates?
I bet there is still some bacteria residue to help out, even though it was power washed. This might be the reason why you are registering such high nitrates already. Sounds like the residual bacteria are rehabilitating the pond quite fine.
Water changes and plants are the easy ways to reduce Nitrates, but Nitrates have to be extraordinarily high, near 80~100ppm or even higher, to ever become a problem. Here's a thread that might give some insight: How to control Nitrates?
I bet there is still some bacteria residue to help out, even though it was power washed. This might be the reason why you are registering such high nitrates already. Sounds like the residual bacteria are rehabilitating the pond quite fine.