I didn't know that me knowing that would one day be useful 😁
The idea behind using it in a filter was to acidify the water to encourage breeding. It seemed to work for the fish, but many aquatic plants prefer alkaline water.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I don't know about your pond @bédé, is it large? ... about 7x6x3ft.
About the same as yours . Rectangular, if a paving stone is 2ftx2ft, then 8x6x3 feet. Two large water lilies in open mesh pots with only shingle as medium. masses of oxygenators. About 6 8" orfe and ca. 10 (they breed) various sizes small goldfish, as far as I can see through the weed to count.
My anti-heron net also keeps the dragonfly larvae, great diving beetle and other thugs out
I have a clean-out and repot about every 2-3 years. My pond is at a high point so I can't syphon. I have a Vacu-pump thing that is difficult to use, so isn't. I just reduce the mud with a fine-mesh, flat-ended net specially bought for the job. Topped up as and when with tapwater. No filter. I have never measured the pH.
I only feed so that they come when called. Orfe as shoalers are very sociable. The goldfish have learnt from them.
When we lived in the NE, our drinking water was like you describe. You got a tan in the bath. And the loo always looked unflushed. Peat.
"Pete.8": In Surrey I used to buy my tropical freshwater fish from the guy who first bred Neon Tetras. He used to store rainwater with a sack of peat in each tank, so I know what you mean.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
They weren't easy to breed - I did have some success, but really not worth the faffing about. Watching Siamese Fighting fish and other anabantids breed is an amazing sight, and no faffing about with water - and they were much keener anyway 😁
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
@Pete.8 yes I'm pretty sure the water should be like us humans - slightly alkaline. @bédé your pond sounds lovely! Yes, I think if everything in it is happy then it's nicely balanced, and just needs minimum attention. You just reminded me I have some litmus paper somewhere, so I'll test the water when it's settled, though looking at the poor lilies it might well have been too acidic for a while. It's about 3ft in diameter at its widest, and we used to get 7 or 8 lilies.
I doubt if a pond would have a pH outside of 6 to 8. That might affect how happy a plant was, but is not likely to stop it growing.
When I had a tropical fish tank, my interest matured to more the plants and creating an underwater show garden. Naturalistic, no sunken galleons. But also no filtration or aeration. I went for fish that shoaled, had interesting movement, and coexisted peaceably.
I gave up when the plants started to blacken and die, like with a frost. The fish were fine. I never found a reason. I now think it might have been salt build-up as I always used tapwater to top up. I think you will be able to keep salt build-up under control in a pond if you remove dead plants in the autumn and remove oxygenators and algae throughout the season.
Test with litmus paper, but live with the brown. I am overqualified in chemistry so never touch those sort of things now,
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
@bédé it's definitely an 8. I've put a drop of vinegar in - I know it's a sticking plaster but if it brings the pH down a little bit, the plants will have a fighting chance. I used to keep tap water in a big bucket for a week before cleaning & refreshing my tropical tank, it gets the chlorine out. My dad had goldfishes and orfes in a pond, and ran a constant trickle straight out the tap. Tropical fish are more sensitive though aren't they - I looked into starting a saltwater tank - what a palaver!!
I thought you were trying to get the pH more alkaline. If the pH is about 8 then that's about the same as my ponds - quite alkaline. pH 1-6 = acid pH 7 = neutral pH 8-14 = alkaline
It's a logarithmic scale - so a +1 step change in pH means that the pH gone up 10x. a -1 step change in pH means that the pH gone down x10
Vinegar isn't the answer.
PS - the pH will also change during the day - the CO2 absorbed by plants will cause the pH to rise (more alkaline) - overnight the pH will fall - just a little. In my fish tank I had CO2 injection and halide lighting - the plants grew like crazy. I'd pull a bucketful out every week.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I looked into starting a saltwater tank - what a palaver!!
So did I. And what a cost.
The guy who bred the Neom Tetras also was early into marine tropicals. I think it was he who introduced the idea that corals acted like plants in keeping the water pure. But it's difficult to keep a fish community that don't eat the coral and each other.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I'm surprised that you are on the alkaline side, I would have thought that brown water meant acid. pH 8 though is not too high. What pH is your tap water? What pH is the neighbouring soil from which water might enter the pond?
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Yes I assumed it'd be acidic too.. No soil can get in, and I top it up with rainwater, which is pretty neutral pH. (About 6.5) Pete, vinegar can help, but only as a 'quick fix' temporary solution.
Posts
The idea behind using it in a filter was to acidify the water to encourage breeding.
It seemed to work for the fish, but many aquatic plants prefer alkaline water.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
My anti-heron net also keeps the dragonfly larvae, great diving beetle and other thugs out
I have a clean-out and repot about every 2-3 years. My pond is at a high point so I can't syphon. I have a Vacu-pump thing that is difficult to use, so isn't. I just reduce the mud with a fine-mesh, flat-ended net specially bought for the job. Topped up as and when with tapwater. No filter. I have never measured the pH.
I only feed so that they come when called. Orfe as shoalers are very sociable. The goldfish have learnt from them.
When we lived in the NE, our drinking water was like you describe. You got a tan in the bath. And the loo always looked unflushed. Peat.
"Pete.8": In Surrey I used to buy my tropical freshwater fish from the guy who first bred Neon Tetras. He used to store rainwater with a sack of peat in each tank, so I know what you mean.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Watching Siamese Fighting fish and other anabantids breed is an amazing sight, and no faffing about with water - and they were much keener anyway 😁
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
@bédé your pond sounds lovely! Yes, I think if everything in it is happy then it's nicely balanced, and just needs minimum attention.
You just reminded me I have some litmus paper somewhere, so I'll test the water when it's settled, though looking at the poor lilies it might well have been too acidic for a while. It's about 3ft in diameter at its widest, and we used to get 7 or 8 lilies.
When I had a tropical fish tank, my interest matured to more the plants and creating an underwater show garden. Naturalistic, no sunken galleons. But also no filtration or aeration. I went for fish that shoaled, had interesting movement, and coexisted peaceably.
I gave up when the plants started to blacken and die, like with a frost. The fish were fine. I never found a reason. I now think it might have been salt build-up as I always used tapwater to top up. I think you will be able to keep salt build-up under control in a pond if you remove dead plants in the autumn and remove oxygenators and algae throughout the season.
Test with litmus paper, but live with the brown. I am overqualified in chemistry so never touch those sort of things now,
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I used to keep tap water in a big bucket for a week before cleaning & refreshing my tropical tank, it gets the chlorine out. My dad had goldfishes and orfes in a pond, and ran a constant trickle straight out the tap. Tropical fish are more sensitive though aren't they - I looked into starting a saltwater tank - what a palaver!!
If the pH is about 8 then that's about the same as my ponds - quite alkaline.
pH 1-6 = acid
pH 7 = neutral
pH 8-14 = alkaline
It's a logarithmic scale - so a +1 step change in pH means that the pH gone up 10x.
a -1 step change in pH means that the pH gone down x10
Vinegar isn't the answer.
PS - the pH will also change during the day - the CO2 absorbed by plants will cause the pH to rise (more alkaline) - overnight the pH will fall - just a little.
In my fish tank I had CO2 injection and halide lighting - the plants grew like crazy. I'd pull a bucketful out every week.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
The guy who bred the Neom Tetras also was early into marine tropicals. I think it was he who introduced the idea that corals acted like plants in keeping the water pure. But it's difficult to keep a fish community that don't eat the coral and each other.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I'm surprised that you are on the alkaline side, I would have thought that brown water meant acid. pH 8 though is not too high. What pH is your tap water? What pH is the neighbouring soil from which water might enter the pond?
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
No soil can get in, and I top it up with rainwater, which is pretty neutral pH. (About 6.5)
Pete, vinegar can help, but only as a 'quick fix' temporary solution.
@Pete.8 your tank looks brilliant!
@bédé I don't think I'd have gone out the house again if I'd had a marine tank!