Interesting.. our water here is VERY soft.. as a matter of fact, we can't
use full amount of dish washer soap or washing machine soap for fear of the
suds coming out.

What effect does it have on ponds?

Well it depends on if we're talking General Hardness or Alkalinity. When I
say KH (what they have on the test box) I want to know the
Alkalinity/buffering # ppm. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Jan, my water is very soft. We have a water softener/purification outside
that all our liners goes through.
I will go into town tomorrow and see about getting a KH test.
I have two rolls of washable filter media in the settlement pond. Its
Coarse, 1.5" thickness, 28" x 7 yds.
I feed twice a day, once in morning once in evening.
Usually at evening I give them frozen watermelon and peas/shrimp. Its been
really hot here.
The hyacinths hasn't done well this year, but the lettuce is. Albeit they
have brunt edges since its been near 100 or 100 the past month.
I haven't done any water changes except when I drained the settlement
chamber twice since March.
We have afternoon showers about once a week, then I add some water if pond
starts getting low from evaporation.
Thanks for trying to help.
Priss

That KH number will help a lot.

I do know when others have posted, in the past, that they have hose water
that goes thru a water softener, they've been told to by-pass it if
possible. Those doing the telling were more expert in water chemistry than
I.

Do you know why your outside water goes thru this purification/softener
system? I'm really thinking this may be your problem. Because otherwise, it
sure sounds like you're doing everything right (except water changes which
doesn't matter currently considering the water source). If there is no way
to by-pass you will need a KH test and we can tell you how much BS to add,
etc. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 12:11:37 -0400, "Priscilla McCullough"
wrote:

Nitrite is 0.
PH is 7.5
I just cleaned my settlement and filters out 2 weeks ago.
I've cleaned them twice since March.
I can't find Aquazyme here.
I have rode all over looking for it.
I know the guy at the pond store said my holds about 9,000 gals of water.

Even if you had a nitrAte kit, you would rarely get a reading from a
hobbyist's type test, not with green water.

What kit are you using? The kit I use doesn't have a problem getting a
reading from water containing nitrates, regardless of whether or not the
water is green. If the green color affects the colorometric readings, or
if the reading is off the high end of the scale you can always dilute the
sample and change the result proportionately (of course, if it is off the
high end of the scale, then you already know there is a seriously nitrate
problem). I have no idea what makes you say that you can't get a reading
with a regular nitrate kit, Jan. They've been standardized for many years.

I'd like to know what your KH is, I'm wondering if your water is so soft
it
is why the algae is flourishing? This can also make the filter bacteria
not
work at optimum.

What kind of filter media and how much?

How often and how much do you feed the fish?

Are the water hyacinths growing and multiplying, dark green?

How often and how much water change outs do you do? ~ jan

It's a 9,000 gallon pond. She should rarely, if ever, have to do water
changes. Additions, yes. Changes, only if there is something dreadfully
wrong.

"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
Interesting.. our water here is VERY soft.. as a matter of fact, we
can't
use full amount of dish washer soap or washing machine soap for fear of
the
suds coming out.

What effect does it have on ponds?

Well it depends on if we're talking General Hardness or Alkalinity. When
I
say KH (what they have on the test box) I want to know the
Alkalinity/buffering # ppm. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Just to make it more clear (or not):

kH is carbonate hardness, which is the measurement of the capacity for
water to neurtralize acid, is also known as buffering capacity. For
standard pond situations where the pH is between 6 and 8.2, carbonate
hardness generally reflects actual alkalinity.

General hardness is a measure of all the dissolved salts in the water.
These salts are principally composed of calcium and magnesium. General
hardness is usually referred to as total hardness.

"Priscilla McCullough" wrote in message
...
Jan, my water is very soft. We have a water softener/purification outside
that all our liners goes through.
I will go into town tomorrow and see about getting a KH test.
I have two rolls of washable filter media in the settlement pond. Its
Coarse, 1.5" thickness, 28" x 7 yds.
I feed twice a day, once in morning once in evening.
Usually at evening I give them frozen watermelon and peas/shrimp. Its
been really hot here.
The hyacinths hasn't done well this year, but the lettuce is. Albeit they
have brunt edges since its been near 100 or 100 the past month.
I haven't done any water changes except when I drained the settlement
chamber twice since March.
We have afternoon showers about once a week, then I add some water if
pond starts getting low from evaporation.
Thanks for trying to help.
Priss

I would bypass the water softner for your outside faucets, because you are
just throwing away expensive soft water, and it does the fish no good.
Also, and I think this is really most important in your case (and some will
argue with me on this, but I don't care because I've raised fish for 35
years), you are feeding your fish too often. If you have a 9,000 gallon
pond, believe me, there should be plenty for the fish to scrounge on. Only
feed them once a day. Let me repeat that - only feed them once a day. I
know some ponders who only feed their fish three or four times per week,
and sometimes even less. The reason is that you are adding too many
nutrients to the pond, and causing the algae bloom. Fish are liars and
will make you think that they are starving when chances are that they are
not. Only feed them what they can eat in a few minutes. Clean up any
uneaten food. Don't let it rot in the pond or drop in the bottom. Make
sure leaves don't sink into the pond, and always trim away dead vegetation
to prevent it from adding to the pond nutrient load. Do these simple
things, and your pond should over time begin to clear up.

"Priscilla McCullough" wrote in message
...
Humm, my pond kit don't have a nitrate test.
Its just the 3 I mentioned plus salt, I don't use salt unless fish look
sick.
Priss

You need to get a nitrate kit. Nitrates are responsible for algae blooms
in garden pondsmore often than anything else.

" George" wrote in message
news:c59Ge.217981$xm3.162990@attbi_s21...

"Priscilla McCullough" wrote in message
...
Nitrite is 0.

What is your nitrate level, not your nitrite level?

PH is 7.5
I just cleaned my settlement and filters out 2 weeks ago.
I've cleaned them twice since March.
I can't find Aquazyme here.
I have rode all over looking for it.
I know the guy at the pond store said my holds about 9,000 gals of
water.

You can order it online. Twelve ounces treats 10,000 gallons:

http://doityourself.com/store/u388850.htm

" George" wrote in message
news:1l5Ge.190014$x96.43037@attbi_s72...

"Priscilla McCullough" wrote in message
...
I bought some calcium bentonite yesterday.
I have green water in my pond and it won't clear.
Its been up and running since March.
15x15 4ft deep.
About 9 Koi of various sizes, none bigger than 13 inchs.
It has 3 bottomdrains witch goes into a 4x10 4ft settlement/filter
pond.
My pump is a Sequence External Self Priming Series 1500 - 5400 G.P.H
1/3 HP
The out take is a Venturi into the pond. I do have a small pipe also
that leads into a small veggie filter.
Water test shows.
Nitrite 0
Ammonia is 0
PH is between 7.0 and 7.5
I have a good bit of water lettuce and hyancits but no lillies.
I don't think lillies will grow that deep in water.
I live on the coast of Ga. and bird predators are many here.
My previous pond even with netting on the predator birds would stand
on plant shelves and pick out my fish.
So with this pond I didn't make shelves and haven't had any problems
with predators. But now its green water.
It gets really hot here also. My set up is just like a friend of
mine and his pond is crystal clear and he has a lot more Koi. Alot
bigger also.
The only difference is he has no trees in his yard and I do.
Should I let the pond be and wait it out? Seems like water would
clear by now though.
Or use the calcium bentonite and if I do, how do I use it?
Thanks,
Priss

Others have said that bentonite works. I only use it for planting
water plants, so I couldn't tell you if it works for that purpose.
Perhaps you need to have a large veggie filter. How often do you
clean out your settlement filter? What are your nitrate levels? You
could add Aquazyme according to directions and see if it solves your
problem. It works wonders for me. If you use Aquazyme, give it about
a month to work. And remembers, these things do take time, so have
patience.

I bought a new kit.
My readings are Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Total hardness 10
Total alkalinity about 60
PH is between 6.5

Priss





"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
Jan, my water is very soft. We have a water softener/purification outside
that all our liners goes through.
I will go into town tomorrow and see about getting a KH test.
I have two rolls of washable filter media in the settlement pond. Its
Coarse, 1.5" thickness, 28" x 7 yds.
I feed twice a day, once in morning once in evening.
Usually at evening I give them frozen watermelon and peas/shrimp. Its been
really hot here.
The hyacinths hasn't done well this year, but the lettuce is. Albeit they
have brunt edges since its been near 100 or 100 the past month.
I haven't done any water changes except when I drained the settlement
chamber twice since March.
We have afternoon showers about once a week, then I add some water if pond
starts getting low from evaporation.
Thanks for trying to help.
Priss

That KH number will help a lot.

I do know when others have posted, in the past, that they have hose water
that goes thru a water softener, they've been told to by-pass it if
possible. Those doing the telling were more expert in water chemistry than
I.

Do you know why your outside water goes thru this purification/softener
system? I'm really thinking this may be your problem. Because otherwise,
it
sure sounds like you're doing everything right (except water changes which
doesn't matter currently considering the water source). If there is no way
to by-pass you will need a KH test and we can tell you how much BS to add,
etc. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

"Priscilla McCullough" wrote in message
...
I bought a new kit.
My readings are Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Total hardness 10
Total alkalinity about 60
PH is between 6.5

Priss

Hmm. Total hardness indicates that the water is very soft. It should be
in the range of 60-100 ppm. Alkalinity is low, and would indicate low pH.
Your pH measurement (6.5) bears this out. You need to slowly raise the pH
and alkalinity over time (severla days to a week) to get it up to
acceptable levels. Ideally, your alkalinity should be between 80-100 ppm
for optimum buffering capacity. There are several ways you can do this.
The best/easiest way is to slowly add sodium bicarbonate over a period of
days to slowly raise the alkalinity, which should also help raise the pH.
In addition, you should add epsom salts to keep the magnesium/calcium
levels balanced, and raise total hardness. And finally, if you can get it
in your area, I would add some limestone rocks to any waterfall (or other
area of strong water flow) you might have. The limestone will help with
the buffering capacity, and slowly add calcium and trace elements to the
water.

This will help balance the water in your pond, but it may not have a direct
or immediate affect on your algae. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that
your nitrate reading is so low. Another possible culprit for your algae
problem would be high phosphorus (phosphorus can cause algae blooms), but
considering your other readings, this may not be an issue. The only advice
I can give you is to try to get these parameters balanced out and keep them
within acceptable levels. That is not as hard as it sounds if you execise
a little diligence and patience. I have found that having limestone in my
water flow helps maintain the alkalinity, general hardness and
calcium/magnesium levels over a long period of time, which will also help
maintain a stable pH. I believe you were the one who was using water from
your water softner to use as make up water in the pond. You should bypass
this softner and use straight city water (add de-chlor), which should have
more balanced buffering capacity, have a higher general hardness, and, one
would hope, a higher pH. Test your city water before it goes into your
softner to see if this is the case. I hope this helps.

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 02:46:53 GMT, " George" wrote:
I have no idea what makes you say that you can't get a reading
with a regular nitrate kit, Jan. They've been standardized for many years.

American Pharmaceuticals, and the reason I say that is because the other
KHA in the club said his Nitrate kit wasn't working (his pond was green). I
asked if I could have it to test on my aquariums (which always have a
reading nitrate). Kit worked on those just fine.

It's a 9,000 gallon pond. She should rarely, if ever, have to do water
changes. Additions, yes. Changes, only if there is something dreadfully
wrong.

Sorry George, you're dreadfully wrong. Go read Norm Meck's article:
http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/finalnet.html#waterchange regarding that. If
you don't believe him, then we'll agree to disagree, but I've taken the Koi
Health Advisor training thru AKCA, have you? ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

I bought a new kit.
My readings are Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Total hardness 10
Total alkalinity about 60
PH is between 6.5
Priss

Hi Priss,

You need to get your KH/alkalinity up, else your bacteria isn't going to be
working well and your pH is going to be swinging, bad for both critters and
filter. I think this is why you're have the algae problem.

Use 1 cup/1000 gallons of Baking Soda (mix in water, add slowing to pump
chamber (or at the end of filter) or add to water fall, or around the edges
of the pond). Wait 12 hours and measure KH again. You want to get it up to
at least 100. Unless you have a pressurized filter, then you want to go up
to 150.

Do get some koi clay. Between it and the BS you should be able to
counteract the affects of the purification system.

Do start doing, at least, 10% water changes 2-3 X month. I think with the
above, your pond will "pop" (clear) real quick. Once that happens you won't
be cleaning the filter like you currently are.

Baking Soda and Clay will have to be added on a regular basis as your
purification system is taking out vital minerals & other things koi need.
You might want to do a KH measurement on a sample of it, to see what the
buffering is after it has gone thru the treatment system. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~