baking soda is temporary, find out why the pH is dropping (is it? or is that the pH
out of the tap?). make sure you get limestone, not quick lime which will push the pH
up over 9 and kill the fish. INgrid

Hal wrote:

On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 00:30:26 GMT, "Tony Rivas"
wrote:

Greetings all,
I have a 2200 gal backyard pond with about 20 2-3 inch comets and koi and
about 1/5 plant cover. This week my pH is at 6.5
How can i get it up to a good range. Can anyone recommend a good amount of
baking soda or lawn lime dust to put in the pond to fix it. Could the pH
have gone down due to a berry tree dropping berries in it all month?

Did you check the ammonia and KH? If you suspect a change from
decaying matter ammonia may be present. KH stabilizes the pH and if
it drops below 100ppm you may have wild swings where the pH reading
can become meaningless.

Baking soda 1/3 pound per 1000 gallons. That will raise KH by 20
ppm. or about 1 degree. Baking soda is a great temporary fix.

I use about 2 cups of ground limestone (garden/lawn lime) in a sock,
placed in the filter flow, to stabilize the pH at around 7.8. When
the pH drops below that level the limestone begins to dissolve until
the pH reaches about 7.8.

Regards,

Hal



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