Kh

[WaterGardener]

Yes, but it won't go above 8.3 or so, no matter how much baking soda you use. I keep the KH in my pond at 200 or more so my pH is at that level.

To me, your KH is a bit low. I like to see it around 100 at least. I have a bead type filter that I was told works best at a higher KH, around 200, so that is what I aim for.

A pH in the 8+ range is not too high. It's not a problem.

 

[rubyduby]

Yes, but it won't go above 8.3 or so, no matter how much baking soda you use. I keep the KH in my pond at 200 or more so my pH is at that level.

To me, your KH is a bit low. I like to see it around 100 at least. I have a bead type filter that I was told works best at a higher KH, around 200, so that is what I aim for.

A pH in the 8+ range is not too high. It's not a problem.

Thank you for your quick response WaterGardener..I will add baking soda…my pond is only about 900 gallons…how much would you add at first? Do you think if I bring it up to 100 that would be okay? My plants are pale apparently due to low nitrate (my pond is only 5 months old ) so I hope a higher pH will not cause them to get worse…

 

[BKHpondcritters]

1 cup of baking soda per 1000 gallons will raise your kh 1 drop, so you should use just a bit less than 1 full cup. Mix it in a bucket with some pond water & pour it in an area of good water flow (I usually pour mine directly into the skimmers, or at the top of the waterfall) Wait 24 hours & test again, then repeat if necessary until you get the kh up to your desired level.

 

[WaterGardener]

The plants will be fine. Mine grow like weeds.

I just looked up how much baking soda is needed to raise the KH 1 drop. I get 3.37 ounces, just under half a cup.

It won't hurt to use a full cup of baking soda or more. Having KH higher than 100 is a good thing in my opinion, and it's difficult to have too high a reading. I will boost mine to 300 or so before heavy rain to make sure I would have enough to buffer that extra acid from the rain. Some people keep theirs as high as 400., So there is a very large range.

If you want to be cautious with raising the pH, add that one cup measurement over 2 or 3 days and not all at once.

 

[rubyduby]

The plants will be fine. Mine grow like weeds.

I just looked up how much baking soda is needed to raise the KH 1 drop. I get 3.37 ounces, just under half a cup.

It won't hurt to use a full cup of baking soda or more. Having KH higher than 100 is a good thing in my opinion, and it's difficult to have too high a reading. I will boost mine to 300 or so before heavy rain to make sure I would have enough to buffer that extra acid from the rain. Some people keep theirs as high as 400., So there is a very large range.

If you want to be cautious with raising the pH, add that one cup measurement over 2 or 3 days and not all at once.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me. I will add the BS over a couple of days

 

[rubyduby]

1 cup of baking soda per 1000 gallons will raise your kh 1 drop, so you should use just a bit less than 1 full cup. Mix it in a bucket with some pond water & pour it in an area of good water flow (I usually pour mine directly into the skimmers, or at the top of the waterfall) Wait 24 hours & test again, then repeat if necessary until you get the kh up to your desired level.

Thank you for explaining how to add it to the pond BKH! I was worried about not doing it right and hurting my fish.

 

[rubyduby]

How important is GH? According to my test the GH is VERY high showing around 300ppm yet my KH is 89.5 ppm................Is something wrong here or could this still be because my pond is only 5 months old?

 

[WaterGardener]

Honestly, I never even check GH anymore. Mine tends to be about the same as my KH, or it did when I was testing for it.

GH is the total mineral content of the water, mainly calcium and magnesium. So it measures the hardness of the water. Fish do well in hard water. They need those minerals.

I don't know about plants, but it would seen that the minerals would be good for them, too. I suppose it's possible to get too much, but I don't know what that level would be.

 

[Lisak1]

I will add the BS over a couple of days

That made me LOL... kind of how I approach every day life. Haha!

Anyway - I wanted to add that there are many of us lazy ponders who just let nature take it's course and things seem to manage themselves pond wise. Maybe if I lived in an area where acid rain was a problem, I'd take a different approach, but hands off seems to work well for me. Just wanted to extend the invitation to anyone who wants to join my support group.

 

[WaterGardener]

You are lucky that you don't need to worry about it. I'm not as fortunate here and rain will drop the KH pretty quickly. But it's an easy fix and I'm used to dealing with it, so it's really no problem for me. Just a part of regular maintenance here.

It would be nice not to have to be concerned about it though.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

That made me LOL... kind of how I approach every day life. Haha!

Anyway - I wanted to add that there are many of us lazy ponders who just let nature take it's course and things seem to manage themselves pond wise. Maybe if I lived in an area where acid rain was a problem, I'd take a different approach, but hands off seems to work well for me. Just wanted to extend the invitation to anyone who wants to join my support group.

I tend to let things manage themselves too, generally speaking, but I've seen how the rain makes my kh drop dramatically. I did a little experiment recently when a heavy rain was expected - I tested kh right before the rain was predicted to start & it was at 9 (drops, so around 160 or so) We had a good 2 - 3" of rain come down & I tested when it stopped, about 24 hours after the previous test. The result was 7 (drops, so around 125) The only reason for that drop overnight was the rain, and if I didn't keep an eye on it, before too many such rains went by my kh would be pretty much down to zero. In my case, it's "easier/lazier" to test occasionally & stay on top of adding a bit of baking soda from time to time, rather than wait for possible problems with unstable ph from the kh being too low & having to scramble around & fix things.

 

[rubyduby]

That made me LOL... kind of how I approach every day life. Haha!

Anyway - I wanted to add that there are many of us lazy ponders who just let nature take it's course and things seem to manage themselves pond wise. Maybe if I lived in an area where acid rain was a problem, I'd take a different approach, but hands off seems to work well for me. Just wanted to extend the invitation to anyone who wants to join my support group.

Well that is what I have always done in the past and have been lucky enough not to have had any problems but now that I have a much smaller pond (by about 15,000 gallons smaller) and I am in a much warmer climate (FL) I have to learn how to adapt to these changes...we get torrential rain here in the summer and with such a small pond I think I could run into problems if I don't raise the KH a little bit at least...

 

[cas]

• GH is a measurement of soft or hard water.
• This is essentially a measurement of Magnesium and Calcium in the water. The more Magnesium and Calcium in the water, the harder it is, and the higher the number.
• GH is the calcium and magnesium required for fish bone and scale development, and trace elements such as iron and phosphorous that are needed for plant growth.
• As water hardness rises, heavy metals and some other chemicals become less toxic.
• Hardness also bolsters Alkalinity which in turn buffers the pH, preventing any wide pH swings. Soft water is less buffered than hard water.
• If the pH is going above about 8.5, increase the GH to 100. This will help maintain the PH in the 8.2 – 8.4 range.

 

[rubyduby]

• GH is a measurement of soft or hard water.
• This is essentially a measurement of Magnesium and Calcium in the water. The more Magnesium and Calcium in the water, the harder it is, and the higher the number.
• GH is the calcium and magnesium required for fish bone and scale development, and trace elements such as iron and phosphorous that are needed for plant growth.
• As water hardness rises, heavy metals and some other chemicals become less toxic.
• Hardness also bolsters Alkalinity which in turn buffers the pH, preventing any wide pH swings. Soft water is less buffered than hard water.
• If the pH is going above about 8.5, increase the GH to 100. This will help maintain the PH in the 8.2 – 8.4 range.

Thank you for this information cas…according to your 5th and 6th comment my high (300) GH would prevent pH swings?

 

[cas]

according to your 5th and 6th comment my high (300) GH would prevent pH swings?

That's what I understand. I was getting real high PH readings and when I increased the GH to be equal the KH, my PH stays consistently at 8.3.