PH Level Issue

Hello folks!
I just wanted to see if anyone had a situation like mine and therefore some
advice to give. I have a 2 year old, 1500 gallon pond with 6 medium sized
koi. I just began testing the PH level recently and found it very high (over
9). I was told to carefully and gradually add Muriatic Acid to bring the PH
level down. I did and for a very short period of time, brought the PH level
down to about 7. However, it doesn't stay 7 very long and spikes right back
up to nearly 9.

Any guesses on why the PH level doesn't level off?
Thanks in advance for anything you can offer.
Steve

In article , simplesoul
wrote:

Hello folks!
I just wanted to see if anyone had a situation like mine and therefore some
advice to give. I have a 2 year old, 1500 gallon pond with 6 medium sized
koi. I just began testing the PH level recently and found it very high (over
9). I was told to carefully and gradually add Muriatic Acid to bring the PH
level down. I did and for a very short period of time, brought the PH level
down to about 7. However, it doesn't stay 7 very long and spikes right back
up to nearly 9.

Any guesses on why the PH level doesn't level off?

Is this a concrete pond ?

jay
Thu May 20, 2004



Thanks in advance for anything you can offer.
Steve

"Go Fig" wrote in message
...
In article , simplesoul
wrote:

Hello folks!
I just wanted to see if anyone had a situation like mine and therefore
some
advice to give. I have a 2 year old, 1500 gallon pond with 6 medium
sized
koi. I just began testing the PH level recently and found it very high
(over
9). I was told to carefully and gradually add Muriatic Acid to bring the
PH
level down. I did and for a very short period of time, brought the PH
level
down to about 7. However, it doesn't stay 7 very long and spikes right
back
up to nearly 9.

Any guesses on why the PH level doesn't level off?

Is this a concrete pond ?

jay
Thu May 20, 2004



Thanks in advance for anything you can offer.
Steve



Do you just top off the water in the pond? Or do you regularly change it by
removing water and replacing it??

Tim

I do want to thank both Tim and Jay for responding so quickly. As you know,
when your obsessive about a pond you like to resolve issues like this as
soon as you can.

I have a pond which has cement only towards the top of it... about the top 8
inches and it's about 2 1/2 feet deep. I would think that after 2 years the
cement would not be problematic. Especially as little cement as I have
used... ???

I did empty the pond 1/2 way recently and then refilled it. However, I did
not check the PH level until after doing so and so did not ad the muriatic
acid until after adding the fresh water.
Cheers!





"T" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Go Fig" wrote in message
...
In article , simplesoul
wrote:

Hello folks!
I just wanted to see if anyone had a situation like mine and therefore
some
advice to give. I have a 2 year old, 1500 gallon pond with 6 medium
sized
koi. I just began testing the PH level recently and found it very high
(over
9). I was told to carefully and gradually add Muriatic Acid to bring
the
PH
level down. I did and for a very short period of time, brought the PH
level
down to about 7. However, it doesn't stay 7 very long and spikes right
back
up to nearly 9.

Any guesses on why the PH level doesn't level off?

Is this a concrete pond ?

jay
Thu May 20, 2004



Thanks in advance for anything you can offer.
Steve



Do you just top off the water in the pond? Or do you regularly change it
by
removing water and replacing it??

Tim

In article , simplesoul
wrote:

I do want to thank both Tim and Jay for responding so quickly. As you know,
when your obsessive about a pond you like to resolve issues like this as
soon as you can.

I have a pond which has cement only towards the top of it... about the top 8
inches and it's about 2 1/2 feet deep. I would think that after 2 years the
cement would not be problematic. Especially as little cement as I have
used... ???

What is the alkalinity/pH of your fill water?

That said, its the concrete. I really wouldn't fret about it too much.
You will be prone to suspended algae and perhaps... perhaps... less
successful breeding....

Best treatment, a TWO part epoxy pool paint.... very, very costly and
time consuming.

jay
Thu May 20, 2004




I did empty the pond 1/2 way recently and then refilled it. However, I did
not check the PH level until after doing so and so did not ad the muriatic
acid until after adding the fresh water.
Cheers!





"T" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Go Fig" wrote in message
...
In article , simplesoul
wrote:

Hello folks!
I just wanted to see if anyone had a situation like mine and therefore
some
advice to give. I have a 2 year old, 1500 gallon pond with 6 medium
sized
koi. I just began testing the PH level recently and found it very high
(over
9). I was told to carefully and gradually add Muriatic Acid to bring
the
PH
level down. I did and for a very short period of time, brought the PH
level
down to about 7. However, it doesn't stay 7 very long and spikes right
back
up to nearly 9.

Any guesses on why the PH level doesn't level off?

Is this a concrete pond ?

jay
Thu May 20, 2004



Thanks in advance for anything you can offer.
Steve



Do you just top off the water in the pond? Or do you regularly change it
by
removing water and replacing it??

Tim

Hello Jay,
You asked
What is the alkalinity/pH of your fill water?
It is 7.5

I guess it's useless to treat the pond with muriatic acid, hunh? I suppose
if I kept the water level below where my concrete starts that might help?
Then again my two-tiered water fall is made of concrete too.... rats
*%@#$!!!

You've been very helpful and I do thank you!!!



__________________________________________________ __________________________
_______
That said, its the concrete. I really wouldn't fret about it too much.
You will be prone to suspended algae and perhaps... perhaps... less
successful breeding....

Best treatment, a TWO part epoxy pool paint.... very, very costly and
time consuming.

jay
Thu May 20, 2004




I did empty the pond 1/2 way recently and then refilled it. However, I
did
not check the PH level until after doing so and so did not ad the
muriatic
acid until after adding the fresh water.
Cheers!





"T" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Go Fig" wrote in message
...
In article , simplesoul
wrote:

Hello folks!
I just wanted to see if anyone had a situation like mine and
therefore
some
advice to give. I have a 2 year old, 1500 gallon pond with 6
medium
sized
koi. I just began testing the PH level recently and found it very
high
(over
9). I was told to carefully and gradually add Muriatic Acid to
bring
the
PH
level down. I did and for a very short period of time, brought the
PH
level
down to about 7. However, it doesn't stay 7 very long and spikes
right
back
up to nearly 9.

Any guesses on why the PH level doesn't level off?

Is this a concrete pond ?

jay
Thu May 20, 2004



Thanks in advance for anything you can offer.
Steve



Do you just top off the water in the pond? Or do you regularly change
it
by
removing water and replacing it??

Tim

On Thu, 20 May 2004 17:28:34 -0700, "simplesoul"
wrote:

Any guesses on why the PH level doesn't level off?
Thanks in advance for anything you can offer.

pH isn't a thing like chlorine or salt, but a relationship with
hydrogen ions that tell us whether the water is more acid than
alkaline. The pH is stabilized by KH ,called alkalinity hardness
carbonate hardness and probably other things but you need to maintain
about 150ppm of these minerals to be able to get pH readings that make
sense. The acid directly consumes the KH and should not be allowed
to reduce the KH below 150 ppm.

Morning pH readings before the sun rises will be lower than evening
readings because the plants consume oxygen at night and release carbon
dioxide which forms carbonic acid in the water and causes a lower pH
reading. During the day plants consume carbon dioxide and use
sunlight to produce plant food and the pH readings go a bit higher.
Fish live well in pH readings up to 9. If it isn't over 9 and the
fish are doing well, I wouldn't bother it.

I don't have a concrete pond, but others do and they have live fish
and I can't tell you how high their pH goes, but I suspect it is
higher than 7 if they have a good KH reading.

Regards,

Hal