New pond ph problem
Hi,
I have had aquarium fish for many years, but just last Thursday completed a project to convert my swimming pool to a Koi pond with a waterfalls. I love it and have added 2 small Koi and 4 goldfish. Two of the goldfish had been living in a 10 gallon aquarium for over a year. One of them reached about 7 inches long.
With that background, I want to ask the experts a question. I have a test kit for measuring ph, phosphate, nitrite, and ammonia. Everything is fine except the ph. It is over 8.0. My thought was that since this is a new pond, the alkalinity was coming from the rocks used in the waterfalls. However, I just measured my tap water and it has a ph of nearly 8.0. I was considering doing water changes every few days to reduce the ph, but with the tap water being so high, that won’t help. So what should I do? Should I just hope the fish will adapt? I have briefly seen only one of the Koi since I put the 2 in the pond. One of the goldfish has gone into hiding none of the fish will eat. They are hiding in the gaps between the bricks used to raise the water lilies off the 4 foot deep bottom. By the way, the pond holds 3700 gallons, so changing water is quite a big deal. Should I consider reducing the ph chemically or just wait until nature makes it acid? The medium in my filter is lava rock. In addition the the 2 water lilies, I have Water Lettuce in the top of the filter, some shallow water plants, and Hornwort for help with oxygenating the pond.
Thanks for any suggestions that anyone can give me.
Dave W
Category: Worldwide Koi Club
