"chatnoir" wrote:


- PH 8.5 - acceptable.

Wow! I would say the highest you should go is 7.6! How does the PH
very all day long! That should tell you something!

Mine is at 8.5 also. That¹s how it comes out of the tap. As long as there
are not swings, this is fine, although not perfect for the plants.

San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.

On Jun 27, 5:07 pm, San Diego Joe wrote:
"chatnoir" wrote:

- PH 8.5 - acceptable.

Wow! I would say the highest you should go is 7.6! How does the PH
very all day long! That should tell you something!

Mine is at 8.5 also. That¹s how it comes out of the tap. As long as there
are not swings, this is fine, although not perfect for the plants.

San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.

Wow, here in Denver, Colorado it comes out at 7.0!

On Jun 27, 4:15 pm, ~ jan wrote:
On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:56:29 CST, Hal wrote:
Since I'm not seeing another problem your comments make me think I
should look closer, but my pH= 7.8, Ammonia= 0, NO2= 0, NO3= 0, and I
don't think checking salt, KH and GH is really applicable to my
situation, but if you have other ideas, I hope you guys know I respect
your opinion and am waiting to hear.
Hal

This is just a fyi....

KH (buffering) is actually more important than pH, since fish can handle pH
of 6.5-8.5 (probably even slightly higher or lower), but if the pH is
swinging due to low buffering, you can have serious problems. Not only are
all those things hard on the fish, but even the bacteria, in the filter on
pond surfaces, etc., processing the waste do not work as effectively.

Latest info is leave the pH alone, keep the buffering solid. The bad thing
about a high pH is it can make plants fail to thrive. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds:www.jjspond.us

Shouldn't the PH be around 7.0 when you add the buffer?

On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:34:04 CST, chatnoir wrote:

Shouldn't the PH be around 7.0 when you add the buffer?

pH # doesn't matter, if the buffer is needed, add it. Only time one needs
to be careful is if ammonia is present. Then Amquel or similar ammonia
detox should be added first. Buffer is a must to keep pH stable. If you
have enough in your natural water source, water changes will take care of
it if done often enough. Bio-action is what uses it up. If there is not
enough buffering in your water source, then you'll need to add something. I
use Baking Soda when needed, but there are other sources. Hopefully those
who use other sources will chime in. :-) ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

you either have a water softener, it is from a river or a lake, or
they are adding something to the water. even rain from the sky isnt
7.0

On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:33:54 CST, chatnoir
Wow, here in Denver, Colorado it comes out at 7.0!

On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:15:50 CST, ~ jan wrote:

This is just a fyi....

KH (buffering) is actually more important than pH, since fish can handle pH
of 6.5-8.5 (probably even slightly higher or lower), but if the pH is
swinging due to low buffering, you can have serious problems. Not only are
all those things hard on the fish, but even the bacteria, in the filter on
pond surfaces, etc., processing the waste do not work as effectively.

Thanks, Jan!

Latest info is leave the pH alone, keep the buffering solid. The bad thing
about a high pH is it can make plants fail to thrive. ~ jan

How high is too high for pH and plant growth. Today I have pH of 7.8
and yellow parrot feather, the water hyacinth I threw in last week
isn't a picture of health either.

Regards,

Hal

On Jun 28, 9:07 am, wrote:
you either have a water softener, it is from a river or a lake, or
they are adding something to the water. even rain from the sky isnt
7.0

Rain water no! But I have tested a lot of ponds and rives in the
area. They are all near 7.0. No big mineral runoff from the
mountains unless it hits some mined areas! Got a lot of acid bogs in
the mountains; but around Denver, I get around 7.0 fairly
consistently!



On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:33:54 CST, chatnoir

Wow, here in Denver, Colorado it comes out at 7.0!

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:11:11 CST, "Carole"
wrote:

Hi all,
I have a mature pond about 8 years old, 800 gallons, about 50 goldfish
ranging from tiny tiddlers to about 5" long, plus one really big ghost koi
about 18" long. I have all the usual filtration (comprises two large drums
containing filter
brushes and 'foam' pads - these are cleaned 2-3 times a year), waterfall and
oxygenating
plants, UV light, water is nice and clean and clear and always has been.

There is a drain/filter at the bottom of the pond
which takes out the water and feeds it through the filter system and back up
into a small top pond, over a small waterfall, and back into the main pond.
I feed the fish about every couple of days - if they get too much they get
frisky. I top up the pond every few weeks, as and when needed due to
evaporation,
from a tap and use a water conditioner at the same time.


Big problem - In the last week I've found 3 of the larger goldfish just
floating dead in the water. They have no signs of any disease and look
perfectly OK otherwise, just dead. This is very distressing as I'm
spending every
moment checking the pond and expecting all my little friends to die. I put
some medifin in the pond a couple of days ago (I treat it twice a year
normally - Spring and Autumn), but I've had another death since then.

The only thing that's changed recently (don't know if it could possibly be
the reason) - I recently netted the pond because we were visited by a heron,
then I realised that the frogs and newts couldn't get in and out so I put a
length of wood into the water from the side. The wood is sapele (sp?) and
is definitely untreated, but I know some hardwoods have funny substances in
them - do you think this might have poisoned the water ??

I've removed the wood now of course.

I have pond test kits and use them regularly - recent tests (a couple of
weeks ago) gave the following results :
- Ammonia less than 0.1 - no problem
- Nitrate zero - no problem
- PH 8.5 - acceptable.

Thanks for any help, Carole

Hi Carole,

Usually when it is the biggest fish dying there is an O2 problem.

If that isn't the case.... your above numbers tell me the Ammonia could be
have fried their gills so they aren't getting enough O2. The higher the pH
the worst any ammonia in the water is.

I highly recommend reducing your fish load.... but since you mentioned
something about sapele, I googled for it, and it is a toxic wood. It can
cause irritation, dermatitis and respiratory problems in people. Imagine
what it would do to a fishes gills and slime coat.

Thus, water changes, 25% every day, for 6 days.

As far as a climb out for the critters, go to a fish store and look at real
or fake drift wood for aquariums. HTHs, ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us