Anyone have this happen after winterizing?

[SEKCOBRA]

There is a gap between what is good for the water and what is good for plants.
Our test kits and methods are not all that accurate, so I'm generalizing when I say healthy water PH should be between 7.5 and 8.
Complex plants (ie, not algae) do best when the PH is 7 or just under. At a level of 7 or under is when they can uptake nutrients most efficiently. PH and CO2 levels will swing back and forth during the 24 hours of a day, so there is a constant re-balancing going on. Algae will grow if the PH swing is out of an ideal range for too long.
A constant high PH will starve out most complex plants.(those with a root system) Algae will then gladly step up and consume the available nutrients.

You should have about equal ppm measurements of KH and GH.

Hi Mitch
My plants grew really well once the salt level was brought down this summer. My PH is never below 8.5. more around 9. I can't imagine if 7 is better how the plants would have done. lol. Going on year two this spring. maybe the ph will come down a bit.

 

[MitchM]

That's great!

The PH really only matters at the plant root tip where the nutrients are consumed by the plant.
There are so many variables involved, plus different plant species, it's hard to make a general rule.
Salinity is definitely not desirable though because plants will consume chloride ( from the salt - sodium chloride) instead of nutrients and will starve as a result.

 

[SEKCOBRA]

HI All
All the leaves have fallen so I removed the net today. I found a lot of algae growing on the rocks. Stream is covered in hair algae. Water is crystal clear. PH 9.3 at 4:30pm. Water temp 45 degrees. Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Phosphate 0. KH is low at 107. Fish all seem good. Does anyone do anything besides top off the water level through the winter? Im keeping my pump running again this winter. Does anyone add sodium bicarbonate during winter? I try to keep the KH about 150-170 during the season. Im guessing im done testing till spring. Looks so bare and blah now.
Thanks

 

[Lisak1]

Nope. I just let it run. All that algae is doing the work for you. Come spring if I still have a lot of string algae on the waterfall I'll clear it off, but I like to wait until the plants start to green up so I know they're doing their part. At this time of year I look for the beauty in the ice formations... and dream of spring!