A question but not for the experts

[mel]

Well put Casey that has saved me a job
I was thinking of doing one of these questions a week what do you guys and girls think ?

Yes deffo

Makes good forum reading .

[Old Dragon]

Agreed. Great idea Lee.

[Ralph]

Well maybe you should do 2 questions

1 for us Southern boys who dont have problems with water

1 for the northern monkeys who do :

Ill be the 1st to admit that i wouldnt have chosen PH

[Old Dragon]

My choice

[brian1962]

Well maybe you should do 2 questions

1 for us Southern boys who dont have problems with water

1 for the northern monkeys who do :

Ill be the 1st to admit that i wouldnt have chosen PH

lol .....but we have plenty of it unlike you southerners, when we get a hint of a summer your all shouting "DROUGHT"

[Ralph]

My choice

That is blatant Advertising

:hunter: :hunter2:

[Old Dragon]

[Casey]

Well maybe you should do 2 questions

1 for us Southern boys who dont have problems with water

1 for the northern monkeys who do :

Ill be the 1st to admit that i wouldnt have chosen PH

If you don't do regular water changes to top up the carbonate levels you will end up with a pH crash so its valid for all over the country but maybe more prevalent in soft water areas. Your filter bugs don't just need oxygen and ammonia as food they also eat carbonates as fuel I think its something like they eat 3 parts carbonate to 1 part ammonia so if you have a pond stocked way above the levels nature can cope with (like most of us do) and you like to feed your fish (like most of us do) then they will produce lots of ammonia, your filter bugs will eat the ammonia and carbonates and poop out nitrite then more bugs eat even more carbonate when converting the nitrite to nitrate. So you can see how important the carbonate level is as once it is exhausted then your little filter bugs die and you have a whole heap of problems all of a sudden. There is a direct link between pH and kh (the level of carbonates in your water) as the kh drops then so does the pH so as long as your pH is above 5 but idealy 7.5 your ok (5 is the point where your filter bugs die off). That is what I am led to believe, feel free to correct any bits I got wrong

[huso huso]

i think the bacteria need the carbonates to replenish thier outer skin layers and im sure calcium carbonate is preffered to sodium bicarbonate for this . i would say ph 5 is too low for pond water i wouldnt generally leave it at 6 for long . i use oyster shell to buffer my water even in a hard water area my heavy fish load will deplete kh quickly.

[LeeB]

Northern monkeys
There is a big north south divide when it comes to water carbonates are so important,Ok down south we get shimmies due to the hard water but I would rather that than a risk of a ph crash.