On Sat, 24 May 2008 14:23:58 EDT, Chris Hogg wrote:

Newbie here, requesting information. Sorry I can't help with problem,
but for my education, what are KH and GH? pH, NH3 and nitrites I know
about from chemistry, but I've not come across the other two.

KH = buffering capacity, minimum is around 80. GH is hardness/softness.

Joan, how old is your test and what kind are you using? Strips, drops,
pills?

I had this problem with my lily pond that is surrounded with cement brick
on the edges even though they were treated many times with muratic acid.
About the 3rd year of age of the lily pond I went thru the KHA classes.
With their suggestions this is what I did. I added 4 lbs of baking
soda/1,000 gallons. Then I did daily water changes of 10-15%. There was
enough baking soda to keep the KH up thru many water changes. Seems I only
had to do about 5 and the pH came down to 8.3 and stayed, can't remember
what my KH was, but it was definitely good enough I didn't have to worry
about KH.

Course the one difference in my case is the pH out of the tap here is
around 7.2-7.5. So you may have to do more water changes than I. As long as
the pH is above 8.5 you can add lots of baking soda. ~ jan
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Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us