Question about pH

[ashirley]

I have floating baskets for my water lillies. My iris are planted bareroot in the stream and they grow like mad. I didn't create any shelves when i built mine either
We used straight sides in an effort to deter predators but it does limit the planting.

 

[crsublette]

Start with 3 tablespoons of each dissolved in a container of pond water before adding it to the pond slowly pouring around the perimeter. Allow to mix and retest GH. Repeat this process until you achieve a reading of 100 - 150 mg/L'
Epsom Salt can be found most anywhere. Home Depot carries 'Pool Time calcium hardness increaser' which is safe for use around fish in the quantity required.

Meyer, would you start with this amount for a 1,000 gallon pond?

@cas Honestly, his dosage is unnecessarily low. This practice is done quite often in aquaculture and on the koiphen forum and neither use such low dosages, even for a small pond.

I understand the exaggerated caution as to why Meyer suggests such a low dosage regiment, but it is simply not necessary.

Increasing GH is an incredibly common practice.

Calcium chloride to lower pH (https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/calcium-chloride-to-lower-ph.12358/)

 

[crsublette]

@cas Common dosage is 16 ounces per 1,000 gallons. Just be sure to dissolve in a bucket prior and slowly dump the spread bucket solution around the pond's parameter.

or... 8 ounces calcium chloride... 8 ounces epsom salt....

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Meyer, would you start with this amount for a 1,000 gallon pond?

Yes. When adjusting any water quality parameter, it should be done gradually.

 

[crsublette]

Yep, I agree... 16 ounces per 1,000 gallons is actually quite a gradual change... especially even more so when the dosage is dumped relatively even around the pond's parameter.

If this was not true... then you would hear everyone in aquaculture and Koiphen stating otherwise...

 

[crsublette]

Calcium Chloride dosages
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=27647

This is just an example... don't waste your money on the product above.. you can get it far cheaper at a hardware store, in the pool section.

...that particular product recommends 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons... which is 100 dry teaspoons per 1000 gallons... 6 teaspoons to 1 ounce... so 100 teaspoons is 16 ounces...

16 ounces per 1,000 gallons...

I can keep on going on and on with other references that prove my point...


Sorry, 3 tablespoon dosages is done out of a sense of unnecessary, exaggerated caution... Might as well do it in 1 tablespoon dosages if caution is your aim...

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Yes. When adjusting any water quality parameter, it should be done gradually.

This amount should raise the Hardness in a 1,000 gallon pond about 5 ppm.

 

[crsublette]

@cas Take either approach you feel comfortable doing...

I am not telling you what to do one way or the other... just giving you options...


...and the dosage I mentioned is not hazardous to your pond nor fish nor other creatures in any sense of the term... just be sure to spread out the dosage along the parameter of the pond...


For some history... here is where the "16ounces per 1,000 gallon" began from in the hobby realm all the way back in around 2004...

....and pond hobbiests have been using this completely safe dosage ever since...


Roddy Conrad (http://koiorganisationinternational.org/?q=author/dr-roddy-conrad)

He's a good guy, but not as active as he used to be due to other priorities.

Raising GH
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?47197
(( 1 pound = 16 ounces ))

In chemical theory, if you add a pound of Epsom salt per 1000 gallons, the GH should increase 60 ppm. Also, in chemical theory, if you add a pound of calcium chloride flake, the GH should go up around 120 ppm. In actual practice, the GH does not go up quite as much as theory predicts, because a portion of the calcium and magnesium are quickly consumed in the pond chemistry.

I prefer to add a pound per 1000 gallons of both Epsom salt and calcium chloride if the GH is too low, then wait two days and test again to see if the GH came up into my preferred range.

 

[cas]

This amount should raise the Hardness in a 1,000 gallon pond about 5 ppm.

Thanks. I was just wonder that.

 

[cas]

@crsublette , thanks for the link to Koiphen - I liked his explanation.

 

[crsublette]

I have floating baskets for my water lillies. My iris are planted bareroot in the stream and they grow like mad. I didn't create any shelves when i built mine either
We used straight sides in an effort to deter predators but it does limit the planting.

@ashirley ... for another option... look into a "bog"... many excellent examples of them in this forum and the bog does not have to be actually in your pond... it can be next to your pond or stream... the bog can simply be a container, fed by a portion of your pump's flow, and the water gravity flows back into the pond and/or stream.

@addy1 talks about bogs in an excellent thread... these bogs can be any size.... sorry, pictures don't seem to be there anymore in that thread, Bog building (https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/bog-building.6894/)

 

[ashirley]

Ok, after more testing and yet more rain, it appears that my Kh and Gh are really almost non existent. I have added oyster shells to the skimmer and bio filter yesterday. I was afraid to add too much thinking that small changes are best. How long before I should see results? How much should I add for a 4000 gallon pond? Is there a more efficient way to add it other than in bags in the filters?

 

[ashirley]

Ok. After testing tonight, kh is at 2 drops and gh still 1. Ph is 7.5. Fish all still active and eating well. What should i do now?....give up.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Ok. After testing tonight, kh is at 2 drops and gh still 1. Ph is 7.5. Fish all still active and eating well. What should i do now?....give up.

Interesting, pH seems to be relatively stable even though the results of the last two (2) rounds of the KH test vary.
Do not worry about the pH, but you need to decide what action to take on the KH. Your current reading is acceptable, but the KH would be at a better level of buffering at 5 or 6 drops. The KH level can be raised quite simply with the addition of Baking Soda. Use this calculator to determine the amount of Baking Soda required.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/info/calculators/alkcalc.php

Again I advise that this be done gradually.
Oyster shells effectiveness is based on the pH of the pond water. They are basically self-administering as to release Calcium Carbonate. It used alone they will stabilize the pH at about what it is now....7.5, which, incidentally is the preferred pH of Koi.

 

[ashirley]

Thanks. What about the gh?