"rasta" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 31 May 2004 10:42:26 -0400, Mike Patterson
wrote:

Is there a single web site that discusses all the various chemical
issues?

snip

time and again i have read the site of the provided link by you.

here is another:

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/water/waterhome.htm

chlormines in your water?

http://www.co.arlington.va.us/dpw/wss/wquality/fish.htm

another very good h2o quality site:

http://www.akca.org/

click-Koi Health Advisor -Basic Water Quality-Basic Water Chemistry
*i constantly refer to this one as well.*

keeping a coupla freshwater aqauriums, a fish only salt tank - and now
a goldfish pond, it seems as if *some* of my time is consumed with
being a h2o chemist. am using a RO unit with an inline DI filter for
the aqauria and have started using this same filtered water for 10%
water changes to the pond.

hth,

positive vibes, rasta
http://rynholland.tripod.com/
http://rynholland.tripod.com/pond/id2.html
http://rynholland.tripod.com/pond/id1.html


Be careful when using pure water for water changes, as it can knocked the water
quality out of balance. From the Koi Club of San Diego:

"There is some disagreement about salt in Koi ponds. Our San Diego tap water
often has a salinity of up to 0.5 ppt. This amount cannot be tasted but we drink
it and we put it into our ponds as make up water. If our Koi were put into an
absolutely pure (distilled) water environment, the osmotic pressure would be so
high that some would be unable to eliminate the excess water and would die
almost as if by drowning. On the other hand, if the salinity approaches that of
the internal tissues of the fish, the osmosis process will decrease or even
reverse. This can cause the fish to die, essentially of dehydration. Any
discussions should therefore center not on should salt be in the pond but how
much."

If you use purified water for water changes, it is probably a good idea to check
the hardness and salinity afterwards, and adjust accordingly. The acceptable
salinity range for freshwater ponds is 0-5 ppt. You can read more about it at
this link:

http://www.koiclubsandiego.org/H2oQual.html#SALINITY