Hello from Southern, NJ

[sissy]

mine stays between 8 and 9 and since the start been that way since 2004 .When it rains it can go up to 9 and stay there for days and then goes back to 8 .Never lost a fish yet gave a lot away .All are happy and healthy and really don't think ph is the biggest killer of fish .Ammonia and lack of oxygen and not enough filtering maybe but ph not so much unless maybe it hits rock bottom low

 

[uscstaylor]

Thanks for the comments guys to answer a few of them...Yes my wife already named them, Cha and Ching, get it Cha-Ching....lol. Once the pond completes cycle we will get two more small ones and name them Euro and Yen. Then as they get older and larger I will make them a much larger pond. I'm sure I'll have a least 2 summers before that happens. I also will be adding shade to the pond along with finishing the slate rock. There's a Filter/Fountain with UV built in it running 24/7 and I do have a nice hiding spot in there for them as well.
I tested my water and so far the levels are fairly low and I'm keeping my eye on the Nitrites and Nitrates and Ammo. Making sure that they stay low...My PH will always fluctuate in the pond.

 

[Graham Griggs]

mine stays between 8 and 9 and since the start been that way since 2004 .When it rains it can go up to 9 and stay there for days and then goes back to 8 .Never lost a fish yet gave a lot away .All are happy and healthy and really don't think ph is the biggest killer of fish .Ammonia and lack of oxygen and not enough filtering maybe but ph not so much unless maybe it hits rock bottom low

 

[Graham Griggs]

I am pleased for the info, as I am just building a new pond. Perhaps I don't need to be as fussy about the ph as I have been in the past., certainly no offense taken, it is to get the help of broad experience that I joined the forum.

From your comments you are describing long established ponds where the residents are used to and happy in stable conditions. But for a new pond the fish will be coming from a stockist that will have had them at about 7.3 - 7 .5 and the big change will kill them.

I have looked in my paper pond books and done a bit of googling and 6.9-7.5 is the recommended range of ph and it is "unusual" for fish to tolerate over 8 for any extended period of time unless they were bred in it, when they can "sometimes" live in up to 9.

Most building materials are strongly alkaline (particularly cement and concrete) so that is which side the risk lies for newly constructed ponds.

Heavily stocked ponds can also build up ammonia which is also very alkaline and can take the ph over 10, which will certainly kill the fish.

I have never heard of, and can't find online, a case of pond fish dying because the water is too acidic, whereas there are loads from it being too alkaline, which was also my own experience where newly introduced fish died in about 8.0 - 8.2.

 

[sissy]

To stabilize ph you can go to a farm store and buy crushed oyster shells that they use to feed chickens to make there egg shells harder

 

[Graham Griggs]

To stabilize ph you can go to a farm store and buy crushed oyster shells that they use to feed chickens to make there egg shells harder

Oyster shells are calcium carbonate and not very soluable (otherwise the oysters would dissolve) they neutralise acid and do nothing in alkaline water - great stabilisers.

 

[Graham Griggs]

Welcome to our group!

Wow - would love one more pond , never mind 10. And 5ft deep is a swimming pool not a pond! Seriously envious.

 

[Graham Griggs]

Thanks for the comments guys to answer a few of them...Yes my wife already named them, Cha and Ching, get it Cha-Ching....lol. Once the pond completes cycle we will get two more small ones and name them Euro and Yen. Then as they get older and larger I will make them a much larger pond. I'm sure I'll have a least 2 summers before that happens. I also will be adding shade to the pond along with finishing the slate rock. There's a Filter/Fountain with UV built in it running 24/7 and I do have a nice hiding spot in there for them as well.
I tested my water and so far the levels are fairly low and I'm keeping my eye on the Nitrites and Nitrates and Ammo. Making sure that they stay low...My PH will always fluctuate in the pond.

What no pound sterling? - perhaps you know something about the brexit vote that I don't?

 

[addy1]

I have never heard of, and can't find online, a case of pond fish dying because the water is too acidic, whereas there are loads from it being too alkaline, which was also my own experience where newly introduced fish died in about 8.0 - 8.2.

I lost all of our original fish when we first built our pond. Our well water is around 5.4 ph. I put the fish in within a few minutes to a hour they were all floating, this was around 2 months after we filled the pond. The only issue with the water was the ph, it read 5.5 when the fish died.

 

[Graham Griggs]

I lost all of our original fish when we first built our pond. Our well water is around 5.4 ph. I put the fish in within a few minutes to a hour they were all floating, this was around 2 months after we filled the pond. The only issue with the water was the ph, it read 5.5 when the fish died.

Wow - again I stand corrected. 5.4- 5.5 is seriously acidic it will kill anything. I have no idea how it could have got that acidic from a natural well, I hope you are not drinking it yourself !. If the pond is still acidic then the previously mentioned oyster shells and/or some lumps of chalk will bring it back. Don't put any more fish in until it has been stabilised at over 6.9, and certainly don't put any soda in which will only make it more acidic.

 

[addy1]

I keep crushed oyster shells in the bog, add 100 lbs every spring. The ph is a nice 7.6 or so for the last 6 years.

 

[Graham Griggs]

I keep crushed oyster shells in the bog, add 100 lbs every spring. The ph is a nice 7.6 or so for the last 6 years.

The comfort zone of a steady 7.6 - perfect

 

[Richardspond]

Hang on to your koi, you will build a bigger one later because this is how it starts