Hubby agrees with you Steve.
He said the only thing I really need to do is raise my alkalinity with
baking soda.
Priss
"Steve J. Noll" wrote in message
...
I add only softened water.

My unsoftened water GH = 644 ppm, which is insanely high.
Out of the softener it's 40 ppm. After its goes in the pond it
settles around 150 ppm, an acceptable level.

My softener seems to have little effect on the KH. It goes in the
pond around 250 ppm, which is getting on the high side, and settles
out around 180 ppm, another quite acceptable level from everything
I've read.

I wouldn't expect any significant salt in softened water either,
unless the softener is malfunctioning. 0.1% is supposed to be good
for ponds with plants, 0.3% is a popular figure for ponds without
plants anyway. I run around 0.05% as I water fruit trees with water
from the pond. I have to add salt to my softened water to get it up
that high.

I add Crystal Clear Dechlorinator to remove chlorine and chloramine
_only_ if I measure chlorine or chloramine in the water that I'm
adding to the pond. (1 bottle treats 45,000 gallons for $9.) For the
measurement I use the Jungle Chlorine/Chloramine Quick Dip Aquarium
test strips ($7/25 tests.) I prefer not to blindly dump chemicals in
the pond if there's a way to test if they're needed.

Just bear in mind that everyone's water and pond are different.


On Sun, 25 May 2003 08:24:38 -0400, "Priscilla McCullough"
wrote:


This is to those with water softeners.
When you by pass your machine to add water to your ponds what do you do
about the chlorine thats in the water? Do you buy that stuff for the fish
tanks and add in it?
I checked the salt level in there and it read it didn't have any, but I
also
read in the previous thread that it will take out good nutrients as well.

--
Priss
http://priss31.tripod.com/SmallPond.html



Steve J. Noll | Ventura California (zone 10)
| Glass Block Pond http://www.kissingfrogs.tv