Thread: Test Results

That Nitrite is crazy, and so is the ammonia range. I'm assuming a typo?
You're aiming for as close to zero as possible,. certainly not over 0.25ppm for Nitrite
And same for ammonia. Anything over 0.5 is a problem.

...just googled that kit. Do you have one aimed for a swimming pool, not a pond? If so you need another kit specifically aimed at Koi ponds.

I don't think that is the case and even if it was 2.9 would be massively high in a Koi pond.
It is more likely that Lo would mean somewhere in the former half of 3-100. Anyway not really worth arguing the toss. .
Hopefully that's just the lowest reading it is capable of showing and everything is fine. But all that is telling you that it is somewhere between zero and instant death. You need a new test kit

Am in the middle of nps and my nitrite is 0.5 and am panicking!

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Originally Posted by big h

Is there anybody you trust that can swap some of their mature media for your media

Na mate . It's all old media so think it'll all be fine in a couple weeks hopefully right in time for big feeding

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It goes without saying that the ideal levels of nitrite and ammonia are as near to zero as possible but, in cases where a biofilter isn't fully matured i.e. in new pond syndrome or in spring when the biofilter is rematuring after it's winter dormancy in an unheated pond, the maximum tolerable level of nitrite for koi is 0.2 mg/L (ppm).

That said, I drew this chart to show the acceptable levels of the most important parameters and the corrective action to take if any parameter is out of the acceptable range

If anyone wants a copy that can be laminated for future reference, there is one in the document library on my website. Follow the instructions at the bottom of this page to download and print:
www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/ammonia_chart.html


Table action and ammonia chart 679.jpg

Originally Posted by rolo

great idea shall print it off and post in the fish house for guidance for neighbour while im on holiday.
what does one use to raise KH.

keith

Bi carb . I have tap kh of 0 or 1 so have to bicarb all the time, can buy big sacks of food grade bicarb for not much money really ebay is your friend , manky sanke site dose have a right up

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Originally Posted by rolo

great idea shall print it off and post in the fish house for guidance for neighbour while im on holiday.
what does one use to raise KH.

keith

Sodium bicarbonate is a safe and reliable way to increase KH. As to how much to use, the Internet is full of "experts" who tell hobbyists to add loads at a time to raise the pH to their preferred value and, fortunately, koi are tough enough to survive the pH being raised too quickly. However, although koi can adjust their body chemistry to acclimatise to any pond pH in the normal range of 7.0 to 8.5 , they are stressed if the pH is raised too quickly so the KH should be raised slowly to the desired value.

As to the ideal KH value, ponds can be successfully run at low values of KH and pH by those who deliberately choose to or by those who have to cope with low values of these parameters from their source water. However, under these conditions, great attention must be paid to the values of pH and KH and small regular additions of KH are essential in order to maintain a stable pH and especially to prevent a crash. Running a pond at low values of KH and pH should not be attempted without a good knowledge of the relationship between KH and pH.

For hobbyists who want a less demanding testing regime that gives a stable pH, and a good safety margin against the possibility of a pH crash, a KH value in the region of 5°KH to 7°KH (90 to 125 mg/L) is recommended.

I spoil the students I teach and below is another table I calculated for those on my Water Quality course. It gives the correct amount to add per day until the desired KH is reached. Raising the KH in 10 mg/L steps is the ideal rate and raising it in 20 mg/L steps is the maximum rate.

Table - sodium bicarbonate dose.jpg

OK, there is a lot of information above so please ask if you or anyone else needs anything explained but, in terms of neighbours looking after a pond during holidays, I always suggest getting the KH/pH to their ideal values beforehand and tell the neighbour to just feed the fish and, (diplomatically) to leave the KH and pH alone in case they sod it up!

Originally Posted by rolo

many thanks for quick reply. yes that's all neighbour does is check on the pond . MK1 pond had auto feeder on while away no sensors reading this that and the other he just did a weekly water change and cleaned filters once a week and he knew if koi where not happy boys and girls. now MK 2 just over 4 months old i've installed ph and temp probes a flitreau combi drum and tempest filter fish are fine and are always looking for food. just checked KH its reading 8-9 and ph 8.5 . its the ph raising by approx 0.8 through the day that has me concerned. ignore ph probe and check fish by sight ??
keith

If you mean the pH is rising during the day and is 0.8 pH higher in the evening than it was in the early morning and then falling back overnight to its usual morning value then that is due to photosynthesis. Here's why:

Photosynthesis removes dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂) so many people blame it for causing pH variations but the correct way to look at photosynthesis is to consider that it doesn't cause the variations, it restores your pH to its normal value after CO₂ from fish respiration has lowered it during the night. That may seem odd but this explanation might make pH variations easier to understand:

Measure your pH at the end of a sunny day when photosynthesis has removed as much of the dissolved CO₂ as possible and call that your natural pond pH. Measure it again as early as possible in the morning and the difference between the two is caused by dissolved CO₂ due to fish respiration.

If there were no fish in the pond, there would be no downward night time pH change caused by the increase in dissolved CO₂ for photosynthesis to restore or, if you suddenly added a load of fish without altering the aeration, the night time reduction in pH due to the increase in dissolved CO₂ would be greater. So, photosynthesis should be seen as helping to restore the natural pH by removing the variable parameter (dissolved CO₂) that lowers pH rather than photosynthesis causing an upward variation.

Koi can happily adjust to any pH in the range 7.0 to 8.5 but they have to make biological changes to keep their blood pH in a narrow range (7.7 to 8.0) regardless of the pond pH and the maximum pH variation they can cope with without becoming stressed is 0.2 per day. If you want to reduce the daily variation, try greatly increasing aeration to gas off the excess CO₂ .

Seems very normal.