Rand Simberg wrote:
snip
The cement and mortar are several months old now, and I've changed the
water a couple times, so I suspect that the lime is mostly leached out
by now. I know there's a good biofilter situation going on
(presumable in the stream bed), because for the last week, I've put
pure ammonia into it, spiking it up to several parts per million, and
it's back down to zero within a day or so, with a corresponding
increase and decrease in nitrites. The ph is a little high (near 8)
but when I add acid to take it down, it goes back up again within a
day or so.
Look to the lime in your mortor if you are running at 8.o and rebounding
that hard it is being buffered by the the mortar. What is your Tap water
pH??? I would bet it is 1 or 2 points lower and I will guarentee your
supplier is running a lot lower especially in thier feeder tanks where
you have a huge bioload and a lot of organic material.

Your pH is shocking them. You have a couple fixes. First is dig your
larger pond. The extra volume will dilute the buffers and allow the ph
to stablize. Do many many water changes to remove the disolved minerals.
When ph rebound stops you know you have reached that stable state.
Aclimate the golds to a higher ph level. Do this by placing them in a
holding tank and slowly drive the ph up over about a week. Over the long
term this may or maynot work 8.0 is very alkaline for them but it has
been done.



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JSin
Lost Generation Custom Tattoo
To reply Kill the idiot