KH & GH

[barryian]

Hi -
I've noticed recently I've picked up my feeding pace to twice a day and my kH & gH are dropping like a hot air balloon out of gas. I've had my Kh & gH up around 200. @Meyer Jordan ... nice to see your picture... So would added feeding
use up that much dropping it down to 114 in 3 days? As a refresher, 2000 gallons, Alpha One bead filter 2.5 for 5000 gal with Savio full size and 2 UV's & main drain. Pre-filter might need cleaning. Could the organic matter in the pre-filter
possibly play a role. Oh, pH is 8.3 ... Doesn't go up anymore to 9 since I've been keeping the gH up there.

Also - When adding baking soda to raise the kH, there is no problem adding as much as I want as the pH is always around 8.3 unlike if you had a low pH and had to raise the kH slowly, but .... How would that work with the gH? Would I have to raise that slowly as I've been doing or can I add a couple of pounds at once? I put it in the savio skimmer basket so it runs through the falls slowly.
Thanks so much for any input ....

 

[Dave 54]

Hi -
I've noticed recently I've picked up my feeding pace to twice a day and my kH & gH are dropping like a hot air balloon out of gas. I've had my Kh & gH up around 200. @Meyer Jordan ... nice to see your picture... So would added feeding
use up that much dropping it down to 114 in 3 days? As a refresher, 2000 gallons, Alpha One bead filter 2.5 for 5000 gal with Savio full size and 2 UV's & main drain. Pre-filter might need cleaning. Could the organic matter in the pre-filter
possibly play a role. Oh, pH is 8.3 ... Doesn't go up anymore to 9 since I've been keeping the gH up there.

Also - When adding baking soda to raise the kH, there is no problem adding as much as I want as the pH is always around 8.3 unlike if you had a low pH and had to raise the kH slowly, but .... How would that work with the gH? Would I have to raise that slowly as I've been doing or can I add a couple of pounds at once? I put it in the savio skimmer basket so it runs through the falls slowly.
Thanks so much for any input ....

Barryian Lithaqua is the product we use it bulsters KH and GH . its made from calcified sea weed and is made by a UK company called Kusuri who expost to the US amongst other countries it lasts for a number of years and you have enough to last upwards of four years .

http://kusuri.co.uk/kusuri-products/kusuri-lithaqua/

Hope this helps

Dave

 

[barryian]

Barryian Lithaqua is the product we use it bulsters KH and GH . its made from calcified sea weed and is made by a UK company called Kusuri who expost to the US amongst other countries it lasts for a number of years and you have enough to last upwards of four years .

Thanks Dave. I'll look into it! Mine drops so so quickly and not sure what to attribute that to...

http://kusuri.co.uk/kusuri-products/kusuri-lithaqua/

Hope this helps

Dave

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Additional feeding means additional fish waste. Additional fish waste means additional Ammonia added to system. Additional Ammonia requires elevated oxidation for conversion which depletes KH. Normally this would not create an immediate problem, but then you are trying to maintain artificially high KH and GH levels.
I would monitor your KH and GH levels to see if they continue a rapid decline. At 114 you have more than ample GH and KH to stabilize and buffer your pH. I think that you will find that this decline will begin to level off at somewhere below 100.
How much are you feeding your fish now. It should not be more than 3% total body weight per day.

 

[barryian]

Additional feeding means additional fish waste. Additional fish waste means additional Ammonia added to system. Additional Ammonia requires elevated oxidation for conversion which depletes KH. Normally this would not create an immediate problem, but then you are trying to maintain artificially high KH and GH levels.
I would monitor your KH and GH levels to see if they continue a rapid decline. At 114 you have more than ample GH and KH to stabilize and buffer your pH. I think that you will find that this decline will begin to level off at somewhere below 100.
How much are you feeding your fish now. It should not be more than 3% total body weight per day.

It's hard to say. I know the 3% rule. I've always fed them once or twice a day. I have 10 koi 15 -23" ... Weight wise, tough one. If I had 20 Lbs of fish, that would equate to a bit more than 1/2Lb. 2 handfulls of floating pellets twice a day wouldn't come close to .6 Lbs. I watch it carefully and see if it levels off.

What about the the calcium chloride? When adding that as I never knew about how that keeps the pH below 9, do I have to do it slowly in small quantities. As I said, the Kh isn't a concern as the pH is always 8.3 - 8.4 ??? Nice hair btw. I'm envious ... Going down to Nashville for a week so brought the levels up ....

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Based on what you posted you more than likely have over 40 pounds of fish. So they should be fed at least 1.2 lbs of food per day.
What really is the most influencing factor is that Koi (Carp) have very inefficient digestion processes only completely digesting about 16% of their total intake. This means that about 84% of the food placed in a your pond is passed through the fish completely undigested or just partially digested.
In a typical Garden Pond this mostly settles to the bottom where the fish will forage around and re-eat this food. In a dedicated Koi Pond this does not happen as no sediment is usually allowed to accumulate. This uneaten/partially eaten food is continuously removed through the bottom drain where it then accumulates in either a mechanical filter or a biofilter or both where bacterial action is initiated. Because this natural recycling step is omitted/minimized in a dedicated Koi pond, there is a higher demand on Alkalinity.
The rate of adding Calcium Chloride is determined by who you happen to consult. Personally, I believe that anything that is added to a pond should be done gradually. Abrupt changes in ANY water parameter most certainly would have an effect, maybe a benign effect, but knowing how attune all animals, including fish, are to their environment, any abrupt change in anything would be detected.

 

[barryian]

Based on what you posted you more than likely have over 40 pounds of fish. So they should be fed at least 1.2 lbs of food per day.
What really is the most influencing factor is that Koi (Carp) have very inefficient digestion processes only completely digesting about 16% of their total intake. This means that about 84% of the food placed in a your pond is passed through the fish completely undigested or just partially digested.
In a typical Garden Pond this mostly settles to the bottom where the fish will forage around and re-eat this food. In a dedicated Koi Pond this does not happen as no sediment is usually allowed to accumulate. This uneaten/partially eaten food is continuously removed through the bottom drain where it then accumulates in either a mechanical filter or a biofilter or both where bacterial action is initiated. Because this natural recycling step is omitted/minimized in a dedicated Koi pond, there is a higher demand on Alkalinity.
The rate of adding Calcium Chloride is determined by who you happen to consult. Personally, I believe that anything that is added to a pond should be done gradually. Abrupt changes in ANY water parameter most certainly would have an effect, maybe a benign effect, but knowing how attune all animals, including fish, are to their environment, any abrupt change in anything would be detected.

Wow, 40Lbs? They eat 2-3 full handfuls in about 10 minutes. Since I turn the skimmer off, they get it all. I have to weigh 3 handfuls and see what it actually weighs. They're long but not bulked up. Maybe I underfeed, not a terrible thing. Thanks Jordan!

 

[Dave 54]

Based on what you posted you more than likely have over 40 pounds of fish. So they should be fed at least 1.2 lbs of food per day.
What really is the most influencing factor is that Koi (Carp) have very inefficient digestion processes only completely digesting about 16% of their total intake. This means that about 84% of the food placed in a your pond is passed through the fish completely undigested or just partially digested.
In a typical Garden Pond this mostly settles to the bottom where the fish will forage around and re-eat this food. In a dedicated Koi Pond this does not happen as no sediment is usually allowed to accumulate. This uneaten/partially eaten food is continuously removed through the bottom drain where it then accumulates in either a mechanical filter or a biofilter or both where bacterial action is initiated. Because this natural recycling step is omitted/minimized in a dedicated Koi pond, there is a higher demand on Alkalinity.
The rate of adding Calcium Chloride is determined by who you happen to consult. Personally, I believe that anything that is added to a pond should be done gradually. Abrupt changes in ANY water parameter most certainly would have an effect, maybe a benign effect, but knowing how attune all animals, including fish, are to their environment, any abrupt change in anything would be detected.

I totally agree on what Meyer is saying Koi have no stomach just a modified intestine and take their nutients as the food passes through their intestine because of this as Meyer correctly points out they on;y digest a small amount the rest passing out undigested this is then taken up by our bottom drain and passed down through to the vortex which is vioded when water changes take place the rest is taken up by the other filters where all the biological action takes place.
by the way Meyer its nice to see your face my friend
One final word they need to be bulked up for the winter months dont underfeed but cut it down to two handfulls twice to three times daily
Dave

 

[cas]

Koi (Carp) have very inefficient digestion processes only completely digesting about 16% of their total intake.

Interesting. I had no idea.