rain/ pollen/ wind/spring water test results

[addy1]

I ran water tests on our pond before it rained and after it rained. I do have rain water running into the pond via gutter flow, mainly from a metal roofed shop. We finally got some rain it did a nice pond flush water change.

Our well
ph 5.6
hardness 17.9 gh/kh ie one drop
rain 5.7 today

The pond, filtered with my bog, after it rained

ph 7.6
hardness kh 89.5 (5 drops)
gh 107 (6 drops)

All other tests zero

About the same it was all last summer. I am really lazy about testing the water, it never changes.

Before it rained:
ph 7.8
hardness kh 89.5
gh 107

all other tests zero.

Yeah I am one happy pond keeper.

 

[sissy]

We just had a good storm go by a little while ago and one good thunder storm last night .I did get to spray my house with the bleach and dish detergent before the rain got here and now my house looks nice and clean and it will help kills some of the ants that are already out .I have to check my pond as soon as the rain stops ,I did test it yesterday before the rain and normal 9 as usual .I did lower it one time and the koi seemed to take on a white appearance to them and after a couple of days it went back up and they were fine .I took the water to the pet shop to be tested last week

 

[taherrmann4]

We had a bad storm move through last night, wind and hail and about 2" of rain in a very short amount of time. I rarely check my pond water any more, it never changes when I do test it.

 

[sissy]

yeh seems that why with me also tmann after addy posted I decided to check mine and it stopped raining a little over half hour ago and still the same and ph still 9 and every thing else is zero .

 

[addy1]

I have been told, since I do water changes via rain fall.......good ones when it rains hard...........that hardness and ph would change. So I was checking to see if it did. Nope was the answer.

If it does not rain, I use our well water, very soft and acidic water.

 

[sissy]

Thats why I checked mine your post reminded me of that also .I was wondering also because we had a lot of thunder and lightening last night and this afternoon ,and no change at all .I thought maybe because of that and the wind blowing things around there would be a change .With your metal roof you would think you would get more of a change because of dirt and pollen on the roof .But see no change .Makes you wonder if there really was anything to that .I guess if other people test right after rain we will know more .

 

[addy1]

I use gutter water from part of our house roof, asphalt , and the shop, metal. I have seen posts of people saying they see an oil slick from the roof. Ours is 3 years old, never have I see any oil from the house roof. I have even collected some in a bucket to "look at it" ie with the eyes. It looked pretty darn clear, no collection of muck. The fish are doing fine, the tests we run are fine. The ppm via my meter are better than our well water.

I mainly wanted to see if the excess water would change the ph or hardness. I tested it after hard rains last year, it never changed last year.

We are rural, do not have the city pollution issues other might have.

 

[domsriltz123]

yeh seems that why with me also tmann after addy posted I decided to check mine and it stopped raining a little over half hour ago and still the same and ph still 9 and every thing else is zero .

 

[addy1]

a good feeling you get when your pond is doing well, even with a lot of rain.

 

[crsublette]

Addy, don't ya use crushed oyster shell ?? or maybe something else ... I might be thinking of someone else.

If not, sounds like something is leaching into the water to add calcium bicarbonate and magnesium bicarbonate to raise your KH. I've heard types of rock is capable of changing this. Or might be something being blown in with the wind ... hmm..

I know with my dinky little 435gallon water feature, I had to add much de-ionized RO water, which is very close to soft rain water, to make a dent in my 196 KH water. After 200 gallons of de-ionized RO water, finally my KH is 124.6 and GH of 198.8.

With as huge your pond is, ya likely did not add enough rain water to make a dent in your KH.

As to the reason why your KH is higher since ya only been adding soft water, something is being added to the water either by Mother Nature from wind or bugs or from product supplemental such as crushed oyster shell or particular type of rock. Something is going on preventing your pH from crashing.

 

[addy1]

I added bags of crushed oyster shells into my bog. Our well water is so soft it does not register with the liquid test kits. I think the maturity of the bog, the plants, and whatever else is going on out there has helped balance the pond. My hardness in the pond and the ph have been stable now since last spring. 2011 spring

 

[icsd71]

My PH is high with the city water we use. So my pond Ph is high. What can i do to help control the high PH when the water i use if it doesnt rain is high PH?

 

[don't ask]

honestly i can't follow the reasoning that rainfall is enough to change reading much... unless your pond was pretty low or you're draining water from below... i have a hard time seeing the rainwater falling on top of pond disperses the remaining water enough to make a difference... or are we talking chemical properties of rainwater and not the volume?

 

[addy1]

[quote name='don't ask' timestamp='1339120554' post='122907']
honestly i can't follow the reasoning that rainfall is enough to change reading much... unless your pond was pretty low or you're draining water from below... i have a hard time seeing the rainwater falling on top of pond disperses the remaining water enough to make a difference... or are we talking chemical properties of rainwater and not the volume?
[/quote]

I have gutter water going into the pond, so it is more than just rain fall. It does a good water change when it rains.

 

[don't ask]

thanks addy.. i understand that it can be and sometimes is helpful...just wondering if there is a way to truly know how much is being turned over or if it's the chemical properties of rainwater that do it... you know like after a thunderstorm that smell that's in the air or like when you can smell a storm brewing...