High PH in my Pond
mondotomhead
13 years ago
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drh1
13 years agosharon_greenacre
13 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (29)Hi Groundbeef, I am sorry to hear that you also live in IL. You as I have the mistake of living in one of the worse states in the country.(LOL)If you get your water from the city of Springfield than chances are that you don't have well water. Most if not all the water in Springfield comes from lake Springfield. Most of the water in the lake comes from surface water and doesn't have the carbonates that most of the well water in IL. I live in a city that gets all of the water from shallow and deep wells. This water has alkalinity of 425 ppm and hardness of 430 ppm. So unless you are doing no water changes with the well water the carbonates will never get used up. As others have stated this water will not be a problem for the pond. I do have a dealkalizer and have been able to keep the ph in my pond at 7.5. I have not used it in several years as it was more costly than it was worth. Yes it can raise or lower the ph depending what the ph is. The article is a very good article as far as it goes. It only talks about part of the chemicals in baking soda. Bake soda is NaHCO3. The HCO3 does get used up but not the Na. Very little of the Na is used up in pond processes. That is why baking soda is a good quick fix but if I was looking for a long term fix I would look at Calcium Carbonate. As the carbonates get used up the Calcium is used by every living thing in the pond. The second thing is if your source water is low in carbonates it is probably low in Calcium also. That is why in the article he talked about using things like coral as a long term fix. Coral is mostly Calcium Carbonate. It is how limestone was made which is mostly Calcium Carbonate. The problem is getting enough in the pond so that it can dissolve fast enough to keep up with the acid that is being produced by the pond. I want to apology if my comments came off as me attacking you. That was not my intention. My typing skills are poor at best so my comments tend to be short and to the point. This can and does sometimes be offensive. So once again I would like to apology to you. Mike...See MoreHigh PH in pond
Comments (2)How high is your pH? A pH around 8 is actually desirable. Read the article in the link. Get a water hardness test kit and make sure your hardness is within the guidelines suggested in the article. Ordinary baking soda will help to raise the hardness level. Do not add acid to lower the pH. Here is a link that might be useful: is your pond running on empty...See MoreWhy is my pH so high?
Comments (11)Included with the test report is an explanation of what was found. What was found and reported with your soil test other than the soils pH is in the 7.5 range? What is the ratio of Magnesium to Calcium? What is the level of organic matter. This is another illustration of why gardeners should not use those "soil test" kits from the garden centers. There is a tremendous difference in the pH scale between 6.5 and 7.5 because the scale is logrithmic and each division, number, is ten times different than the previous. A soil that is somewhat alkaline can repel earthworms. They, like most plants, do best with a soil pH between 6.2 and 6.8 where most all plant nutrients are most readily available....See Morewater witha high ph then mist with a lower ph ?
Comments (2)Danny, I think with growing your mosses that you would be better off with an r/o unit and hand sprinkle them with the more acidic pH. The best thing about r/o water is that salts and most contaminants are filtered out (depending upon the type of filter being used). With tap water it is not just the pH but the percentages of salts in the water that may be impacting your mosses. Look for telltale signs of any salt accumulation on the soil around your mossy rocks. There are mosses that do well with a more alkaline habitat but I do not know what they are. I suspect these are species that occur in more specialized habitats such as in the desert and I would suspect that they would not do as well in your particular situation. But I am only surmising. This topic suggests a possible experiment as to whether or not it is the pH or the presence of salts in tap water that is the real culprit in your browning mosses. To isolate use steam-distilled water with a pH that is adjusted to 8 and use a test batch of moss to determine if comparable results are encountered. In the meantime don't use tap water....See Moresharon_greenacre
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