Need water hardness - help!

[Charlottekoi]

I have a 3000 gallon pond. Our city water is super soft and every time I do a water change the KH drops a ton. As a result I started adding baking soda to raise the KH and stabilize the PH but that just added a lot of salt to the pond. How can I regularly raise the KH of the pond WITHOUT using baking soda?
Ps I’m only a year into this awesome hobby - and I only recently learned about KH. Before learning about KH I lost 3 fish this winter because my super soft water led to a PH crash. Live and learn.

 

[addy1]

We are on a well, very acidic (ph 5.3) soft water. I added chickengrit (crushed oyster shells) to my pond for the first few years. I put in a 100 lb bag into the bog. You want it where the water flows. You could hang it in a bag near the pump, water fall etc.

After doing that my ph stays fine and the hardness sits around 100

Welcome to our forum.

 

[Charlottekoi]

We are on a well, very acidic soft water. I added chickengrit (crushed oyster shells) to my pond for the first few years. I put in a 100 lb bag into the bog. You want it where the water flows. You could hang it in a bag near the pump, water fall etc.

After doing that my ph stays fine and the hardness sits around 100

Welcome to our forum.

We are on a well, very acidic soft water. I added chickengrit (crushed oyster shells) to my pond for the first few years. I put in a 100 lb bag into the bog. You want it where the water flows. You could hang it in a bag near the pump, water fall etc.

After doing that my ph stays fine and the hardness sits around 100

Welcome to our forum.

Addy - thanks for your reply! I’ve heard about crushed oyster shells but worried that they might add salt too. Can you confirm that this doesn’t happen? And how often do you have to switch out your 100 pound bag of crushed shells?

 

[Tula]

Hmmmm, I'm curious about your concern about baking soda adding salt to the pond. From what I've read over the years baking soda or sodium bicarbonate is commonly used to raise PH in ponds. Do you have more information on how much salt is added, by using baking soda and it's ill effects?

 

[Charlottekoi]

Hmmmm, I'm curious about your concern about baking soda adding salt to the pond. From what I've read over the years baking soda or sodium bicarbonate is commonly used to raise PH in ponds. Do you have more information on how much salt is added, by using baking soda and it's ill effects?

Tula, thanks for your note. Since baking soda contains so much salt, every time I add it to raise the KH my salt levels go back up and as a result, I’m having trouble getting my salt below 180 ppm and it should be around 100. Baking soda is commonly used for emergencies when PH is low but I think it’s not commonly used because of its high salt content. At least that’s what I’ve read on the interweb.

 

[addy1]

Addy - thanks for your reply! I’ve heard about crushed oyster shells but worried that they might add salt too. Can you confirm that this doesn’t happen? And how often do you have to switch out your 100 pound bag of crushed shells?

I added many 100 lb bags. Usually one a season for the first 4ish years. I don't test for salt, but everything grows fine, tads live, bugs live, plants live, so if there is salt is can't be much.

When I first built the pond, we let is cycle fishless for around 2 months, then added fish, they all died within a few hours. That is when I found out our water was a acid bath to the fish. Also hardness would not even read, so very soft. We let it sit for a year, running with crushed oyster shells in the bog, plants growing, bacteria growing. The next season the ph was fine the hardness a bit below 100.

I kept adding the shells to get it a bit higher. Then quit, all is fine now.

 

[Charlottekoi]

I added many 100 lb bags. Usually one a season for the first 4ish years. I don't test for salt, but everything grows fine, tads live, bugs live, plants live, so if there is salt is can't be much.

When I first built the pond, we let is cycle fishless for around 2 months, then added fish, they all died within a few hours. That is when I found out our water was a acid bath to the fish. Also hardness would not even read, so very soft. We let it sit for a year, running with crushed oyster shells in the bog, plants growing, bacteria growing. The next season the ph was fine the hardness a bit below 100.

I kept adding the shells to get it a bit higher. Then quit, all is fine now.

Awesome thanks for the detail. One last question if you don’t mind. How often do you do water changes? I read that in warmer months they should be done weekly but given the soft qualities of our city water I’m wondering if that’s too much because it throws everything out of whack again. Given that you’re in a similar situation I’d love to hear how you handle water changes in spring/summer/fall. Thanks again!

 

[addy1]

I do no water changes. I only add water when it gets a bit low. Mid summer I have my water fill on timer. Early season about 15 minutes a day, dead heat of summer about 1/2 hour a day.

A few times I had a bad leak, once caused by a apple, once caused by a leaf. I had to add water for hours. I broke it up between a few days. The ph stayed fine.

 

[j.w]

@Charlottekoi

 

[Lisak1]

Same here @Charlottekoi - no water changes. We were told by an old time pondkeeper that the healthiest ponds had "mature" water. Once you get things in balance, it's best to leave it alone. We add water when necessary, but rarely remove water. Occasionally I'll water my pots or gardens with pond water and then replace with fresh, but that's more to benefit my gardens than my pond.

Caveat: if you have a small pond, this advice may not apply.

 

[GBBUDD]

I am by no means a chemical and balancing guy.. I test the original waters when i started the pond and then a few months latter to see what was happening . And it matters not if it was fresh water pond , planted aquarium , or a reef tank .. Quick fluctuations are usually much worse the water that is not ideal.

 

[Tula]

I personally know of no other way to raise PH without baking soda / sodium bicarbonate.

 

[addy1]

I only used oyster shells, plants and time and my ph went up to around 7.6 or so and has stayed there. I did not use baking soda.

 

[Tula]

I only used oyster shells, plants and time and my ph went up to around 7.6 or so and has stayed there. I did not use baking soda.

I should have included the use of oyster shells too