My ph level is a little high (8.2) and so my local pond shop told me to add a little muratic acid to my skimmer each day until I got it down to 7.2. I started doing this about 4 days ago and now I can't see the bottom of my pond. It's a new pond (7 days old) and I have been seeding it with beneficial bacteria every day. My question is; does this guy know what he is talking about? I'm starting to think that the acid has been killing off all of my beneficial bacteria and to boot, my ph doesn't seem to be getting any lower. In looking at the water I can't tell if it has a green tint to it or if it is more of a brown tint. All I know is that my pond is really dirty looking. Amy help would be much appreciated.
muratic acid in the pond
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trying to change PH this way will almost always fail. buffers in the water resist ph change which means you need to add even more acid, once the ph buffers are gone you end up with a PH crash and it bounces around with no buffers in the water.
If your water has natural buffers from the tap or well the PH will go right back to 8.2. Lowering PH is very difficult and often requires rain water or reverse osmsis water to reduce it. 8.2 is not that high, fish can easily adjust to this. I wouldn't try to change it all.
If your water has natural buffers from the tap or well the PH will go right back to 8.2. Lowering PH is very difficult and often requires rain water or reverse osmsis water to reduce it. 8.2 is not that high, fish can easily adjust to this. I wouldn't try to change it all.
If you know chemistry, this should be simple. HCL is it's chemical structure. The Hydrogen will react with the base (high PH) and nuetralize it, The residue is CL (chlorine gas) and your water, H2O.
The chlorine will evaporate and you can always declor to speed this up.
A word of caution! Do not do this without some prior knowlege on handling muriatic acid and the proper protective clothing and mask.
Also, do not try to change your PH in a single dose. You will have to experiment with small doses and doing a PH test an hour later. This could take days and once you get a feel for it that time will be greatly reduced.
Don't ask me how much to use, only you know all the conditions you are dealing with. The variables are:
Volume of water
PH level
What is the base you are trying to reduce?
The concentrate of your HCL
Temperature
and there are others.
Your fish will die if you try this in haste. I would add it at the outflow of a pump and try to keep the fish away or remove them altogether.
I do not recommend this method, but you asked so this is what I know.
There are safer but not faster methods...
The chlorine will evaporate and you can always declor to speed this up.
A word of caution! Do not do this without some prior knowlege on handling muriatic acid and the proper protective clothing and mask.
Also, do not try to change your PH in a single dose. You will have to experiment with small doses and doing a PH test an hour later. This could take days and once you get a feel for it that time will be greatly reduced.
Don't ask me how much to use, only you know all the conditions you are dealing with. The variables are:
Volume of water
PH level
What is the base you are trying to reduce?
The concentrate of your HCL
Temperature
and there are others.
Your fish will die if you try this in haste. I would add it at the outflow of a pump and try to keep the fish away or remove them altogether.
I do not recommend this method, but you asked so this is what I know.
There are safer but not faster methods...
As of this evening my pond is crystal clear and the fish all seem to be doing good. I talked to another "Koi expert" today and he told me that Koi will adapt and live fine in water with a ph of 8.2. I think I'm going to trust his judgment and leave well enough alone. If I start having problems with my fish, I'll take a different approach.
Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the help.