What should amonia and PH levels be?

[PS3]

i cleaned my pond yesterday i vacumed the bottom it was not that bad.and i took out about 200 gallons while cleaning. and today i did an amonia test.and it was 0 ppm so tomorrow i will test it agin. iam not sure if the water change helped or the bio filter kicked in yet lol

 

[koikeepr]

congrats! That's what you want to see on ammonia--a big fat ZERO.

 

[BennyLava]

Ok thanks for the help, I got the ammonia under control now.

But what exactly is it, that causes PH levels to rise?

 

[koikeepr]

Per the web:

pH is the way water is determined to be acidic or alkaline. 7.0 is considered to be neutral. Koi and goldfish live quite comfortably in pH ranges of 6.8 to 8.0. The danger with pH is when rapid changes in pH occur, resulting in stress to your fish and, on many occasions, death. We call them pH spikes. Slight changes in a 24-hour period in pH is normal. Heavily planted systems will have more severe pH swings due to the plants giving off oxygen during the day and taking away oxygen at night and giving off carbon dioxide. Your lowest pH reading will be early in the morning. pH does affect the toxicity of ammonia. The higher the pH, the more toxic any measurable amount of ammonia will be to your fish. The perfect pH range for pond fish is 7.2 to 7.6.

 

[BennyLava]

So if you have a waterfall, you are at a lower risk for PH spikes than if you don't.

If you have a lot of plants, that is.

Cause I have a lot of plants in my pond, that I love and that are part of my biological process. I need them to stay there and use the nitrates. But since I have a decent sized waterfall, it will be oxygenating, and countering the effect of the plants at night, correct?

 

[koikeepr]

I would say an air pump with a disc deep into the pond on the floor would be better. Waterfalls aerate upper parts of ponds only, and not deep underneath where low levels of oxygen exist. I keep my aerators cranking at night--but I also don't have any plants.

 

[BennyLava]

I'm afraid I have to ask... what type of "disc" are you referring to?

But, my pond cycles through the filter and to the waterfall once every hour. It seems to me that there wouldn't be time for a deeper area of the pond, to have low oxygen levels. It would seem like the water would circulate fast enough for the lower areas to become oxygen depleted.

 

[koikeepr]

just an air disc (circular type) or stick.

Let me illustrate the way air in a pond works. With a waterfall, air only gets in at the surface of the water and not deep inside the pond where the lower layers have no oxygen. The pond has three stratified layers of water as follows:

Here's a photo of what a waterfall does:

Here's a drawing of what an air disc does:

Big difference!

 

[3qtkidz]

wow - I have never heard of a disc. That is super cool. Might be looking into this more. (after I complete my filter)

 

[koikeepr]

You can buy a 5" disc at petsmart. I think they're like $6.99.

 

[drew05]

What is the procedure for a wAter change? Drain 20% of water and fill pond from water hose and add dechlor? Or do u leave water in another tank and add dechlor then add to ur pond later?

 

[koikeepr]

drain 20%, add 20% fresh water in, then add dechlor to take care of the 20% you just reintroduced.

 

[Squidhead]

With aquariums I usually add the dechlor into the stream of new water to kind of mix it up and contact the tap water quicker. I don't think it really matters, just puttin' my 2 cents in.

 

[koikeepr]

right, i used to throw mine into the waterfall so it would all get stirred up.

 

[PS3]

can i run a air stone down to the bottom of my pond if i have to?