pH of 9+

[Ralph Parker]

Thanks for the advice @sissy , I'll make sure to keep it as sterile as possible. I do have a de-icer but wintering didn't go so well last year so I may invest in an indoor aquarium.... I'll see. Thanks for the warning!

 

[sissy]

try building a hoop house over the pond colleen and others have had great success with them.building one easier than catching the fish

 

[Ralph Parker]

Thanks for the advice, ill look into it

 

[Ralph Parker]

An update for everyone, I left the pond alone for a little while(about 2 weeks). I stopped adding anything. pH has lowered to 7.5-8, which is nice. I'll be adding a few goldfish tomorrow and posting updates on how they do here for any future readers. Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice!

 

[Lisak1]

I stopped adding anything

If only we could convince every new pond owner - stop adding things!

Glad to hear things have improved!

 

[Ralph Parker]

An update: I added one 3" comet and one 3" shubunkin to the pond today. They seem to be happy and acclimatizing well so far. I plan on adding some more in the next week if this goes well. Pictures to come tomorrow.

 

[mrsclem]

Now that you have fish in your pond, you really need to quarantine any new fish before adding them to your pond.

 

[Mmathis]

Totally agree with @mrsclem about quarantine for future new fish!

 

[Ralph Parker]

Alright thanks guys! So far fish are alive and well!

 

[paco]

Great information here...thanks
Could someone suggest a simple and somewhat quick quarranty procedure for adding some
new fish to my pond. I have used a salt bath for a few days in the past but am suspicious that it was not enough to protect my koi. Thanks in advance paul

 

[Lisak1]

Hey @paco - can I suggest you do one of two things (or both!) Either search this forum for "quarantine" or start a new post. People won't see your question here as it relates to pH.

Glad to see you here!

 

[paco]

Hey @paco - can I suggest you do one of two things (or both!) Either search this forum for "quarantine" or start a new post. People won't see your question here as it relates to pH.

Glad to see you here!

Will do. thnx

 

[Lisak1]

Will do. thnx

Good! Because it's an excellent question. We recommend quarantine all the time, but I'm sure you're not the first one to wonder how to do that if you're not familiar with the process.

 

[carolinaguy]

It’s hard trying to follow the testing logic in the thread. If you don’t have any fish in the pond, why are you testing for ammonia? Where does this water come from? City or well? Collecting data on everything without a reason misses the point of testing. We have kept koi for 15 years and have never found a need to test for hardness. Folks do it and I’m not criticizing their rationale. For us it has never been necessary. If there are no fish there will be no ammonia. Fish pee ammonia. Ammonia is converted to nitrite by nitrosomas bacteria. Ammonia is their food. No food then no bacteria. Nitrobacter eat nitrites and make nitrates that feed your plants. No nitrites then no nitrobacter. That bacteria doesn’t show up in force for maybe six weeks after introducing fish. Phosphate testing is really uncommon. And unless you have a Taylor titration kit for testing for chlorine you can’t really quantify the chlorine value. You need a threshold value to evaluate chlorine. As for pH, no test kit goes above 9.0.

If you really want to drop the pH, then use vinegar or Muratic acid. Dr Johnson cautions against using vinegar which is ascorbic acid because of the byproducts, but if you have no fish then no problem. We have used it for years sparingly with no problems. Muratic acid is commercial hydrochloride acid and must be used sparingly. It is a chlorine compound but is actually safe for a pond as opposed to chlorox which is sodium hypochlorite and is deadly.

Personally I wouldn’t chase pH, but that’s your call.

 

[MitchM]

Testing the water gives the pond owner and the people he/she is asking advice from a basis for solutions and providing useful advice.
Bacteria need nitrogen in it's various forms; ammonia, nitrite and nitrate for their food, they also need oxygen, carbonates, magnesium and trace minerals to perform their life functions.
A proper balance of minerals using KH and GH measurements will ensure that PH remains stable.
Any outdoor pond will receive some degree of organic matter. Leaf litter, topsoil dust, animal droppings, bugs that live and die count as organic matter. Organic matter contains nitrogen.
Phosphate testing is really only useful before string algae shows up, but if the presence of phosphate is detected, perhaps the pond owner can take action before string algae becomes a real problem.

Testing can be tedious, but I for one, think that in the early stages of pond set up and pond keeping, it helps with understanding the pond health and eventually water testing for the most part can be accomplished by basic observation.

I do agree that chasing the PH number alone is not a good idea.

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