"Sue" wrote in message
...
Aeration doesn't remove chloramine so that may be why you saw ammonia.
That pH swing is a bit much for overnight CO2. You could add sodium
bicarbonate to give a bit of KH to buffer the pH but my tanks run at pH
6.4
with less hardness than yours ( 3 k, ~10 GH) and I just keep a piece of

I agree, My tanks are fine with the same water as the pond, even with plants
in them (the same plants as in the pond). I think the fact that 1/3 of the
pond is in direct sunlight at midday and that the pond/bath was white really
boosted the plants growth and also their effect on the water. My tapwater
doesn`t have chloramine, only chlorine. (chloramine forms when chlorine and
ammonia are mixed?)

tufa rock in the filter box to hold up the kH a couple of degrees.

What is tufa rock? (remembers google) Oh, i see... ignor last question...
does it push the ph up much?

A bit more surface agitation to enable CO2 to escape may do the trick ;o)

I have plenty of water agitation, the 100gph pump that runs the gravity fed
filter goes into a fountain and there is a large airstone in the pond to
move water bottom to top.
I think my problem is that I had too many plants for such a small body of
water. And that my water is too soft.

thanks for the reply tho.