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  1. #1

    KBS verses Ammonia & Nitrates

    Guys
    My weekly water checks are perfect. Zero Ammonia, zero Nitrites PH 7 to 7.5 crystal clear water ............ but my KBS value is only 2 or 3 drops. Normally I would add Bicarbonate of soda but I’m now thinking to do nothing as the fish look happy and the water quality also looks perfect.
    What do you think?
    Neil


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  2. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion davethefish1's Avatar
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    Great,
    But if your kh drops to zero
    Your ph quickly goes acidic and all your filter bacteria get wiped out...
    Then you get ammonia spikes as you have killed your filters..

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  4. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
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    Second what Dave says here. You can run a low kh. I have started to and feline runs ro to keep it low. But just even one day off the ball and heavy rain that kh of 2 can be gone along with fikter and possibly fish.. I had a crash over winter lost 10 fish. Mike bass is still working his little cottons off trying to recover from a crash.. It's all about time and experience keeping a very close eye on things.. For safety and peace of mind most run a kh of 5 /6

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  6. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by davethefish1 View Post
    Great,
    But if your kh drops to zero
    Your ph quickly goes acidic and all your filter bacteria get wiped out...
    Then you get ammonia spikes as you have killed your filters..
    Thanks Dave. I will take your advice and get the KH up a little


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  8. #5
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    If you wanted to you could buy a pH controller and peristaltic pump to automatically dose bicarb when the pH drops. The setup costs a few hundred quid though and the pH probe needs calibrating from time to time (and eventually replacing).

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  10. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion davethefish1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ndwgolf View Post
    Thanks Dave. I will take your advice and get the KH up a little


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    as Ajm said you can run a low Kh, but you need to be very vigilant and test regularly and have a tight control on your water parameters.

    is you tap water low in Kh? as some here also struggle to keep the Kh up due to low Kh in tap water, as it can be quickly used up in a pond.
    mine sits around 6 but is 10 at the tap and i trickle in/out 5-10% a day

  11. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by davethefish1 View Post
    as Ajm said you can run a low Kh, but you need to be very vigilant and test regularly and have a tight control on your water parameters.

    is you tap water low in Kh? as some here also struggle to keep the Kh up due to low Kh in tap water, as it can be quickly used up in a pond.
    mine sits around 6 but is 10 at the tap and i trickle in/out 5-10% a day
    I’ve never checked my (water well) KH but I will in the morning. I too add about 10% a day from the well into the pond.
    Neil


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  13. #8
    I’ve just added a couple of kilos of Bicarbonate of Soda. That should bring my KH back up around 7 or 8. I will check and confirm in the morning
    Neil


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  14. #9
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    You should never add more than 20g bicarb per 1000 litres per day when raising KH. Koi absolutely hate a sudden pH change (remember it’s a logarithmic scale so what seems like a small change in pH is actually major to them). Understanding Buffering

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    I was forever adding sodium bicarbonate as my tap water has 0 kh in it, so ive now setup 25l drum in my filter shed that has a sodium bicarbonate concentrate solution in, ive then got peristaltic pump set to come on for 5 mins a day to pump it into the pond,
    Setup like this keeps my kh at 6 i dont have to worry as much now

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  18. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by ndwgolf View Post
    I’ve just added a couple of kilos of Bicarbonate of Soda. That should bring my KH back up around 7 or 8. I will check and confirm in the morning
    Neil


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    This morning the KH was 4.5. KH of well water is zero. I’ve just added another 2kg and that should get me to around 8
    I will look into a self feeding KH boost


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  19. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Gazkoi's Avatar
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    Hi

    As Feline states above for the best care of the Koi this should be done steadily m. Anything else is a high risk for bringing on other problems.

    Cheers

    Gaz

    Quote Originally Posted by ndwgolf View Post
    This morning the KH was 4.5. KH of well water is zero. I’ve just added another 2kg and that should get me to around 8
    I will look into a self feeding KH boost


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