rain/ pollen/ wind/spring water test results

[j.w]

 

[don't ask]

aww.. hugs to ya J.W. i assume this was to support my comment

 

[j.w]

Yes and when looking at that chart you'd think it should smell like poop,lol!

 

[don't ask]

hmmm.. yes i liked the animal residue reference... poop would have been more universal.. at least i hope they meant that and not slaughtering

 

[j.w]

Ewwwwwwww, gross I didn't think of slaughtering..........lets just think it's poop!

 

[crsublette]

[quote name='icsd71' timestamp='1339118415' post='122887'] 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? [/quote]
High PH is created by a high KH presence. Ya control this by "cutting", or dilute, the calcium carbonate hardness, called KH, by mixing rain water (which is close to the same thing as de-ionized reverse osmosis water, also called di-RO water).

The dilution is dependent upon the volume of KH.

I have a 435 gallon water feature. My well water has a 8.5 pH with KH of 196.9 (11 degrees) and GH of 250.6 (14 degrees). To dilute my water, I had to literally add around 200 gallons of di-RO water to bring my water down to 8.1 pH, KH of 106.8 (6 degrees), GH of 124.6 (7 degrees). I need to add just a few more gallons of di-RO water to bring my KH down another 17.8 points, or one degree lower, so I can reach a pH of around 7.6~7.8.

The cheapest di-RO system I have found has been at Bulk Reef Supply. NOTE: di-RO water is only used to mix with, or dilute, good drinking water. Do not fill your pond nor drink straight di-RO water. This stuff is pure water, even more pure than rain water. di-RO water is actually 0 degree of KH and 0 degree of GH and has a pH of around 5.0~5.2.

icsd71, ya really need to get the API liquid KH/GH test kit so you know for sure what your KH and GH is in your water.

If ya are in the situation of water being low in GH and high in KH, then you might need to add extra supplemental products to increase GH if it gets too low from using di-RO water. Fish need the minerals, calcium, and magnesium, provided by the GH rating, to help with osmosis regulation amongst other processes.

Also can use acid to lower the KH. Phosphoric acid (found in some "pH decreaser" products) or use a much stronger acid call Muratic acid. Be careful with this Muratic acid; the fumes and acid can seriously injure ya so ya need to wear protective gear. If your KH is really high, then you will have to use alot of the stronger Muratic acid to reduce the KH. Acid is cheaper, but di-RO water system is just safer.

[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]
Overflows. If the pond is high enough to overflow. Old water leaving through the overflow and new water is the low pH rain water.

While using my experience to dilute my water feature just one degree, for addy's big pond total of 10,000 or so gallons, she would need around 500 gallons at least to maybe drop her KH one degree. However, she has crushed oyster shells in her bog; crush oyster shells is an extremely slow release KH product. So, she would likely need to dump, in a small time frame, much more than 500 gallons of rain water to change just one degree of KH. (one degree of KH is equivalent to 17.8~17.9 points)

Rainwater goes through a purification process, but rainwater chemistry is all different according to what surface area it came from and what it goes through in the air to get "purified" before it becomes rains. This is one reason why rain across the country have a different pH.

 

[addy1]

lol I would need to put a flow meter on my gutter in put into the pond, I know during a heavy rain the water coming out of the pond is like a mini river. Or is there a way to calculate the number of gallons of water on the sq footage of a roof. My weather station shows the exact amount of rain that falls here. IE a shop 24x36 and 0.51 inches of rain == xxx gallons.

 

[crsublette]

Welp, from what i've read, the coefficient is .623 gallons per sq.ft. per 1 inch of rain. 24' x 36' is 864sq.ft. Take the total square foot area multiplied by the coefficient and amount of rain.

864 x .51 x .623 = 274.519 or about 275 gallons from .51" of rain on a 24' x 36' roof ... assuming there is zero splash off the side of roof, zero leaks, and no diversions as the water travels.

So, ya would need about 93 / 100s of rain, almost 1" of a rain, to harvest 500 gallons to at least maybe have an affect on your KH, dependent upon the leaching rate of the oyster shells that is adding KH.

Then, also, there is the rain falling into the actual pond it self and drainage into from the surrounding area and into your streams and so on. So, from a .51" rain, I am guessing ya might be getting close to 500 gallons after adding all this extra surface area.

Just my guess according to how much water it has taken to dilute 5 degrees of KH in my little 435 gallon water feature. So I could be completey wrong, just very roughly guessing, hehe

 

[addy1]

I also have 1/2 of our house roof going into the pond, need to get exact measurements, they are peaked roofs, so splash occurs, no gutter leaks currently, We have 4 down spouts heading to the pond. Two going into gardens, it will be a soft estimate of gallons into the pond

thanks for the formula