The Goldfish Guru lives in Alabama. People started calling her after
their Koi started dying (she had training in fish diagnosis mostly for
the catfish farms down in Ala). She was checking their pH and finding
this wild swinging that isnt normal for Ala. That is when she found
out they were dropping these plaster of paris "pills" into their
ponds. when they removed them, the swinging stopped. this was a few
years ago, dont know if people still do it.
I live where they "mine" the limestone for export. So I have ponds
out at the dacha that are filled with well water. At the same time,
we have a water softener and filled my tanks with water with no buffer
at all and had to add it back. Now I live in the city with water out
of the lake, soft water and have to add hardness. WHAT to put into
the tank and what NOT to put in the tank is of great concern. I used
to use organic dolomitic limestone (walmart) and then the quit selling
it. Now I use the liquid stuff I mentioned before. I just want
people to be careful. Ingrid

On Sun, 13 May 2007 10:19:51 CST, Hal wrote:
I suspect this was something you heard about instead of personal
experience and the pH pill you heard about was more than just Plaster
of Paris, or one with additives to enhance molding qualities, like
silica. I don't know what else might be used, possibly quick lime or
one of those used in cement for quick setting?

I've had more success at raising the KH along with the GH, instead of
just raising the GH with limestone's by using calcium sulfate, in the
pH pill than any other substance. I must admit it is difficult to
find a plaster of Paris without additives. I haven't tried one with
quick lime though .

Regards,

Hal