Water too hard
David "Malc" Crummack
I tested my pond water quality last night and came up with a small problem.
The water in there has gone from 120 ppm to 180 ppm. This read that this is
still OK, but it sounds like trouble to me.
The stream and waterfall are both made from native limestone to match the
rest of my yard. So I don't want to change to a different stone.
Obviously a water change would work but I don't want to add chloramine
laden water.
My ph is stable about 7.5 - 8. I know the buffering effect of the water
will effect ph and don't want to try any remedy until I know the side
effects.
Anyone had experience with hard water.
David...
xs...@pitnet.net
.. you want hard water?.. mine is a little less than 600 ppm and the koi and
GF do fine .. at that ppm, you limestone will not "dissolve" .. I would say
yours is in the ideal range...solo
On 28 Sep 1997 23:46:04 GMT, "David \"Malc\" Crummack" <mlig...@onr.com>
wrote:
remove x in xs...@pitnet.net to send email
Mark Fisher
There is nothing wrong with hard water in a pond. Fish and plants need
some calcium and magnesium in the water, so you have nothing to worry
about. Calcium isn't soluble enough to ever get too high. The limestone
in your pond is s-l-o-w-l-y dissolving, and contributing to your hardness
increase. I expect it to level off at about 200 ppm soon.
However, in the long run, if you replace your evaporated water with tap
water (120 ppm, right?) and if you live in an area with high evaporation
and very low rainfall, the overall hardness will creep up well beyond 200
ppm. Regular water changes will alleviate this.
This is a topic that also comes up regularly among folks who keep heavily
planted freshwater aquaria, and I am really curious why so many people seem
to believe hard water is bad for plants, fish, or for drinking. Think of
all the folks who have to take calcium supplements, because they don't get
enough in their diet. Hard water is only bad for pipes and water heaters,
not for living things. Has the Culligan man scared that many people?
One of the most lush natural streams I have ever seen is the San Marcos
River, in central Texas. This river is spring fed with water that has been
percolating through deep, solid limestone and it is extremely hard (>250
ppm) and crystal clear. The river is literally carpeted shoreline to
shoreline with lush plant growth, and fish abound. We can only dream about
having our ponds look that good.
--
Replace "wombat" with "tpwd" to reply
David "Malc" Crummack <mlig...@onr.com> wrote in article
<01bcc5a2$23a1a060$f65a01c7@default>...
Michael J. Singleton
David,
Read your post, don't see a problem. I am in Florida. My water
comes from a well at 330 ppm, which is regarded as being "moderately hard."
That hardness is caused by the fact that the water-bearing strata is
composed of lime rock. My pond coping is also lime rock, as is the
waterfall. What it adds up to is, almost no pH swings. Natural buffering.
This is a good thing.
Rest assured , you will get other opinions on this. Weigh them
carefully.
Mike S.
--
********************************************************
Michael J. Singleton "In this endeavor,
On the Gulf Coast of as in all things,
Florida, just a little There is no
North of Tampa Bay One True Way."
********************************************************
David "Malc" Crummack <mlig...@onr.com> wrote in article
<01bcc5a2$23a1a060$f65a01c7@default>...
> I tested my pond water quality last night and came up with a small
problem.
> The water in there has gone from 120 ppm to 180 ppm. This read that this
is
> still OK, but it sounds like trouble to me.
brett rowley
In <01bcce23$5ffe2680$2146...@is129.sanctum.com> "Michael J.
Singleton" <msi...@sanctum.com> writes:
Hard water is good for fish health in most cases. The only real
exceptions are for Amazon Basin tropicals that normally live in very soft
water. Koi and goldfish do just fine in hard water. It isn't necessarily
the best case for color enhancment, but is fine for fish health. I have
been producing koi in Brazos River water for over 6 years. The hardness can
vary from less than 100 ppm to over 650 ppm depending on flow rate of the
river, which tributary is running, how much salt water intrusion, local
rainfall, etc., etc. My koi have always done very well in shows, a hard
water life hasn't seem to hurt them.
The pH of this water stays close to 8.3, no matter what you do to it. This
is a good pH for fish. All this trepidation over pH's seems abnormal to me.
Sure, a pH of 7.4 might be perfect, but it is not real life. All the fish
in the river do quite well at a pH of 8.3, I've seen some huge carp and
catfish from there.
The folks that get thier water from the BRA (Brazosport Water Authority) in
thier homes are using the same water my fish are grown in, albeit clarified
and chlorinated. Some nice fish in those ponds, full of hard water.
Now, for a very serious koi hobbiest, softer water might be an issue to get
better skin color on the fish. This might be important on a $10,000 koi,
but is hardly an issue for a $10 one. In Niigata, home of koi, the water is
very soft. Farmers there use lots of lime in several forms to bring the
natural hardness up to a level for fish health and growth to be acceptable.
Ponds (earthen ones) there are limed with calcium hydroxide (aka Austin
White Lime, hydrated lime, bricklayer's lime) and also with calcium
carbonate in the form of crushed hen's eggshells. In thier holding
facilities, they use oyster shells as a source of calcium carbonate to
harden the water and buffer it.
To soften very hard water (for the serious koi enthusiast) is somewhat
difficult. Collecting rainwater and mixing it into the pond water is
one method. Around here (land of the endless coastal chemical plants)
that might be dangerous. Finding a well with soft water and hauling it
to the pond is another method. I have a friend with a big truck, two
2000 gallon ponds, a big water tank, and he comes to get water from my
well at my house, lots of trouble and expense. Moving to East Texas
would be another method to get softer water, but you might as well move
to another country (third world that is) as I lived there for 10 years
and even though the water is nice and soft, the folks nice, the
countryside beautiful, it is still 1910 there. I also think you could
build a big still and distill hard water to get soft water, but the
energy cost would be prohibitive. I am in the process of experimenting
with water softeners to get softer water, but softened water does not
equal naturally soft water, I'll report something as the experiment
progresses. So...if you got hard water, don't worry about it, the fish
won't.
Brett Rowley
Fisheries Biologist
Brett's Fish Farm
Liverpool, Texas