"Priscilla McCullough" wrote in message
...
Jan, my water is very soft. We have a water softener/purification outside
that all our liners goes through.
I will go into town tomorrow and see about getting a KH test.
I have two rolls of washable filter media in the settlement pond. Its
Coarse, 1.5" thickness, 28" x 7 yds.
I feed twice a day, once in morning once in evening.
Usually at evening I give them frozen watermelon and peas/shrimp. Its
been really hot here.
The hyacinths hasn't done well this year, but the lettuce is. Albeit they
have brunt edges since its been near 100 or 100 the past month.
I haven't done any water changes except when I drained the settlement
chamber twice since March.
We have afternoon showers about once a week, then I add some water if
pond starts getting low from evaporation.
Thanks for trying to help.
Priss

I would bypass the water softner for your outside faucets, because you are
just throwing away expensive soft water, and it does the fish no good.
Also, and I think this is really most important in your case (and some will
argue with me on this, but I don't care because I've raised fish for 35
years), you are feeding your fish too often. If you have a 9,000 gallon
pond, believe me, there should be plenty for the fish to scrounge on. Only
feed them once a day. Let me repeat that - only feed them once a day. I
know some ponders who only feed their fish three or four times per week,
and sometimes even less. The reason is that you are adding too many
nutrients to the pond, and causing the algae bloom. Fish are liars and
will make you think that they are starving when chances are that they are
not. Only feed them what they can eat in a few minutes. Clean up any
uneaten food. Don't let it rot in the pond or drop in the bottom. Make
sure leaves don't sink into the pond, and always trim away dead vegetation
to prevent it from adding to the pond nutrient load. Do these simple
things, and your pond should over time begin to clear up.