| plants
I wish that were true...we do have some plants, though. Water is not green, although not crystal clear either - but more on the clear side than not. We have about 30 percent coverage with water hyacinth, but these are not happy plants! Pretty much dead and dying and only left there because we dont have the heart to completey remove fish cover and also in hopes that the decaying matter might help in the pH arena. I tell you, they were flurishing at one point. I suspect that we were living off of rain water for a while, and only within the last 3 or so weeks have we had to resort to the hose for a water supply - and that water is definitly running at pH 9.2 or so. I also checked the KH and GH of the tap. KH is zero (or practically - turned after one drop) and GH is high 14 drops x 17.9. So 250. (The pond water is nearly as hard - at 212. I talked to the city water guy and he says that they are softening the water from 450 or so. Not sure what a good range of hardness for koi is, but likely the next thing to work on.
I've check on line for water softener pillows - but that seems oriented towards aquarium use. Besides spending a couple thousand for a household softener...what do you folks do for ponds? |