Koi suddenly died

[Sushi Prohibited]

Better today: the pH is 7.5 and the KH is 40.

The baking soda instructions I found online said to add 1 teaspoon of baking soda for every 8 gallons of water. With a 4,500 gallon pond, that means I'd need 562 teaspoons, or 12 cups of baking soda. That seems like a lot.

Thanks as always.

 

[WaterGardener]

You are right. That's too much. You don't want to raise it that quickly.

I would add no more than one cup per day. Dissolve the baking soda in water and pour that into the pond. Do that daily until the KH is around 100 or more.

Have you already added baking soda to get it to 7.5? That's a pretty quick jump and I would want to slow that down some. This should take several days.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Better today: the pH is 7.5 and the KH is 40.

The baking soda instructions I found online said to add 1 teaspoon of baking soda for every 8 gallons of water. With a 4,500 gallon pond, that means I'd need 562 teaspoons, or 12 cups of baking soda. That seems like a lot.

Thanks as always.

The formula I've seen (and always use) is one cup of baking soda per 1000 gals. of water, so for a pond of your size I'd use 4 cups. Dissolve the baking soda in a bucket of pond water & pour into an area of high circulation (I pour half of my solution into each of my two skimmers) Wait 24 hours (this should raise your kh by 1 drop), retest & repeat for as many days necessary to bring your kh up to the desired number.

 

[Sushi Prohibited]

Monday pH was 7.5 and the KH was 40.
I added a cup of baking soda that day and now today: pH is 10.0 and the KH is 60.
UGH!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Monday pH was 7.5 and the KH was 40.
I added a cup of baking soda that day and now today: pH is 10.0 and the KH is 60.
UGH!

Did you test at the same time of day? Ph swings from morning to night are one of the signs of having too low kh.

 

[WaterGardener]

Are you using liquid testing kits?

Seems your pond water may not have enough calcium to keep the pH from going over 8.3.

Copied this from another site since they said it much better than I can.

"Although baking soda is inexpensive and extremely effective at raising KH and preventing the pH from dropping, baking soda by itself will not prevent the pH from going above 8.3. This is usually not a problem, but in ponds that have not yet cycled (or that have had a major disruption to the filter) or in ponds with excessive algae problems, the pH can go up during the day and down at night. In these situations, it is necessary to add calcium chloride in addition to baking soda (but not at the same time – separate the additions by several hours). Baking soda will always prevent the pH from going below 8.3, but it can only prevent the pH from going above 8.3 if sufficient calcium is present in the water."

There is also a thread on this site about this. I'll see if I can find that.

 

[WaterGardener]

Calcium chloride to lower PH

Hi all. I used baking soda to raise my KH but now my PH is at 9.0. When I first did the baking soda my PH went up to the 8.4-8.6 range from 8.0. I've read where calcium chloride will lower the PH to 8.3 if baking soda has been used to raise the KH. My questions are what and where do I get...

www.gardenpondforum.com

 

[Sushi Prohibited]

Yes. Afternoon each time. I bought PH down and will add a little at first.

 

[WaterGardener]

I would not use that unless it is calcium chloride. If there is not enough calcium in the water, the pH will just jump up again.

You need to add enough calcium chloride to treat the entire pond. That will stop the pH from going over 8.3.

The last thing you want is your pH swinging up and down constantly.

When you have treated with calcium chloride, you can continue to raise the KH with baking soda.

 

[WaterGardener]

I looked up the ingredients for pH down. There is no calcium in it. It may work to lower the pH, but it won't keep it stable. You need more KH for that.

I think that what you are doing with these products is treating the symptom, not the problem. Adding pH Up or pH down is like going to the doctor for a brain tumor and he gives you aspirin for your headache. It won't cure the tumor. You aren't curing the unlying problem that is causing these pH swings.

Your pond seems to lack the needed calcium that will keep it from going too high. That's an easy fix. Adding the calcium chloride will correct the basic problem and the cause. Adding baking soda will add buffer to keep the pH stable by raising the KH.

By the way, the article I posted is written by a chemist with many years of experience in that field, so he knows what he's talking about.

 

[Sushi Prohibited]

Thank you all.
Seems like I need to get calcium chloride (to lower and correct the pH) and baking soda for KH and pH.

What calcium chloride product would you recommend?

 

[WaterGardener]

There is information on where to get calcium chloride in the thread from this forum that I linked to.

 

[Sushi Prohibited]

pH is still high (10) and KH is 60.
Time to head to the hardware store.

The link showed I should use 1 pound every 1000 gallons of calcium chloride. I have a 4,500 gallon pond. That would be 4 1/2 pounds. That seems too much.

Thanks!

 

[WaterGardener]

The pH won't come down without adding calcium.

I've never needed it so have never used it. I suspect it might be heavy, so 4 pounds may not be as much as it sounds.

You can always start with one pound and see if it helps.

 

[Sushi Prohibited]

I ordered Fritz Aquatics PRO - Calcium Chloride anhydrous Bulk Reef Chemical and got baking soda.
Thanks.