High PH level

[Bart]

Ok Thanks I will go to the feed store in the morning and buy some oyster shell.
I just want to say right now that I really appreciate all the help I have received from y'all and this entire forum. If it wasn't for y'all there is no telling what kind of shape I would be in. I just hope one day I will have enough experience behind me that I can return the favor and help others to.
Thanks again
Bart

 

[sissy]

also do you have a lot of pollen from trees that does not help with water quality .Also buy yourself some baking soda for your pond and use that .Mix enough to walk around your pond with it as you pour it in .I mix mine in the 20x30 pond in a big bucket and walk around pouring it in amazed the water is clear it was totally green when I bought the house 3 weeks ago

 

[vertigo72]

Oyster shells raise the Ph!

Its great if you have an acid water source, as they only dissolve in acid water, and by dissolving they will increase your GH and Ph. Your water is currently extremely alkaline, the opposite of acid. Adding oyster shells will do nothing, they wont dissolve, but if they did, they would do the opposite of what you want.

As others said, water changes are your best bet for now, best way to avoid too abrupt changes. Once your water get somewhere between 7 and 8 Ph, you can add those shells, especially if your water source is more acid than that.

 

[DrDave]

I have had concrete ponds without this problem. It may just require frequent water changes to leach out the lime or whatever is raising the PH. I wouldn't go crazy with adding stuff before trying that. If you have significant contact with concrete products and it does not clear up, then a liner is your next best thing unless you want to seal the concrete. That could be very labor intensive since everything has to be clean first.

 

[vertigo72]

I have had concrete ponds without this problem.

Not without rinsing the concrete with strong acid and/or coating them.

 

[DrDave]

I did neither and had no problems.

 

[j.w]

I have a ph test kit so I'll test the ph of the brick doing the water test and see what happens and I will look in my old aquarium supplies to see if I might have a GH Tester.

 

[fishin4cars]

Oyster shells raise the Ph!

Its great if you have an acid water source, as they only dissolve in acid water, and by dissolving they will increase your GH and Ph. Your water is currently extremely alkaline, the opposite of acid. Adding oyster shells will do nothing, they wont dissolve, but if they did, they would do the opposite of what you want.

As others said, water changes are your best bet for now, best way to avoid too abrupt changes. Once your water get somewhere between 7 and 8 Ph, you can add those shells, especially if your water source is more acid than that.

No, oyster shells do not raise the PH, they raise the GH nad KH so that the water has buffering. But your right on that you need to get the water close to the desired Ph before adding. Adding them now will only make it harder to adjust the ph. baking soda will adjust the Ph drastically and fast! It raises the Ph not lower it. Not what Bart needs right now for sure. acid is not a good solution at all if you have anything alive in the pond, water changes, or filtering through a water softener or through Peat moss is the other options. to me the best way is simple water changes it should slowly get it down and not drastically change anything else and is really the cheapest method to get it in a better range.

 

[shakaho]

Rather than just assuming the block are the problem, why don't you test the hypothesis. Lower the water below the blocks, and test the pH for a few days. If it stays stable, do a water change big enough to measurably lower the pH, and test it for a few days. If it stays steady, the blocks are probably the culprit.

What I don't understand is why the blocks are in the water. You say the liner is under the blocks. The blocks I have on top of my liner don't hold anything. They get wet in a downpour, but as soon as the rain ends, the water all flows out and they are dry again.

I've used concrete sealer on concrete patio blocks and pavers. They shed water pretty well. You could take one of the top row or unused blocks, put it in a tub of water and see if it changes the pH. Then seal the block and repeat to see if it affects the pH after sealing.

I think I'd just keep the water below the level of the blocks.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

I did neither and had no problems.

No fish either, huh? Or plant life?

 

[DrDave]

Nice to see you back Will!
I was raising goldfish and the pond plants were Papyrus. The key is to fill, soak and drain a few times to leach out the surface of the concrete. I never had any problems. back then I never bothered to check water ph. I guess I got luckey.
Years ago, the koi breeders were recommending asphalt emulsion for concrete ponds. I never used it. I worried about petroleum byproducts and the potential for poisoning the fish.

 

[vertigo72]

No, oyster shells do not raise the PH, they raise the GH nad KH so that the water has buffering.

Try it, it raises Ph. Oyster shells are almost entirely CaCO3 aka calcium carbonate, which is alkali (anti acid). It does increase KH (and to some extent, GH as well), assuming it dissolves, and that provides Ph buffering, but the direct result is a Ph increase.

not that it matters a lot to the OP, as CaCO3 is pretty much impossible to dissolve when the Ph is over 8 :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_carbonate#With_varying_pH

Oyster shells, not unlike baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), is great to mix with an acid water source, as it increases the Ph and GH/KH, making well or even rain water much more suitable for your pond. But its not gonna help anything if you have too alkali water.

 

[vertigo72]

Nice to see you back Will!
I was raising goldfish and the pond plants were Papyrus. The key is to fill, soak and drain a few times to leach out the surface of the concrete. I never had any problems. back then I never bothered to check water ph. I guess I got luckey.

Very lucky indeed. That you had goldfish. Goldfish love alkali water, they thrive when Ph is 8 and can apparently even survive 9-10. Untreated concrete pond will give such high Ph values, there is no way around that.

 

[Bart]

The liner comes up and over a 8" shelf. The blocks lay on top of the liner and then the liner comes up the back of the blocks. I did this so at the water line you can not see the liner very well. It makes it look like the blocks go all the way down the side. At least that is what I was trying to do.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

Thanks, Dave. Looks like you were very fortunate to be raising easy plants and fish. Cool.

I've not had experience with oyster shell raising gH. It will, like BS, raise pH to a point if pH is low, but if it is too high, it won't do much at all. A small mesh bag of peat in the filter will bring it down gradually, between 7 and 8 you can add rinsed crushed oyster shell to the mix, after removing the peat. This will increase your carbonate buffer, to help avoid an acidic pH crash, which is deadly to fish.

If your fish are jumping into the air or "flashing" (scraping) on the bottom or sides, or if you can see sore spots on the fish itself, this can indicate either too high or too low pH, or too rapidly changed pH. They're just not comfortable with the changes or extremes.