Moving pH

Lately I feel like the pH up and down guru, what with dealing with my lily
pond this spring. Only took 2 doses though to get it down to where the
plants are happy and the algae isn't, and the taddies, and 4 baby goldfish,
lived thru my treatments.

Spoke too soon, 3rd week and it's going back up, so dosing it again. Also,
my koi ponds, that have no reason to be high are up too. Sweater algae does
not keep the murky greenies away when the pH is up passed 8.5, IME right
now. My water is still clearer than many, but taint near gin clear.
Bringing down the pH has worked for me everytime, but I always dose with
baking soda first so my buffer is still in the good range after the acid
treatment. ~ jan


My directions below are directed at 1,000 gallons so adjust accordingly.

1st find out your KH. If needed, bring it up 150-200 ppm with baking soda.
If your pH is above 8.4 it won't harm anything if you need to add a couple
of pounds or more.

In my case, my KH ppm was ~90 and 2 cups brought it to a little over 180. I
then took 2 cups of muriatic acid adding it to 30 gallons of dechlorinated
water in a tub along side the pond. With a small diameter syphon hose I
added it in over my submerged pump that feeds a filter at the opposite end
so I was basically treating both ends at the same time. As it was siphoning
out I also added fresh water (with more dechlor) to the tub diluting it
even more.

Do recheck your KH after 24 hours and add a little bit of baking soda if
needed, to keep the pH balanced, shoot for 90 to 100 ppm.

I only had to do this treatment twice and it's holding now. YMMV, ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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(Do you know where your water quality is?)