lessons learned from cold weather

[GazKoi]

Hi Pilbob,

These are all individual units which are used in the industry and hobby.I have a few different types as i monitor more than one system,I mainly use Pinpoint and Hanna testing equipment which are widely available.

http://www.shopsolution.nl/shop/home...americanmarine

http://www.hannainstruments.com/

[farne230]

I had some troubles with using multipurpose meters, have you had these problems. This unit measured temp/tds/ph/ec. Work for a while then the ph and started to fluxuate for no good reason, sent the unit back multiple times and then gave up. I still would like to use a good meter, last one cost me over $350. Are you happy with yours and does it measure more then one perameter?

[karipeters]

Quote: Originally Posted by Brutuscz So, I got curious and measured my water. My GH is 60 and my kh is 30. My ph is 7.0. So...do I have anything to worry about? I do have a level of salt in the pond...need to measure it. Should I add baking soda or do anything at all?

Better to add Calcium Carbonate (CaCo3) to your water than Bi-carbonate. There is a fast acting powder form called 'Buff-it-up' by AquaMeds. This is what we recommend for quick results. Your nitro-bacter can't grow to their max capacity without 120ppm KH or more. You should be able to find some in your area.

[Brutuscz]

Thanks for the advice Kari. I do have a Calcium Carbonate sand on hand(It is a black sand for reef tanks) I probably have 30-40 lbs of it(pond is about 11,000gal). Do you think throwing that in would help? I was also worried about calcium carbonate because I already added salt. Would that be a problem?

I also wanted to add...I have that floating styrofoam product from laguna that is supposed to keep a hole in the ice when a water pump is added. It's a piece of garbage. Today was the first real day that the pond started to ice-over. The 2 air diffusers I have running worked great. The foam thing froze up like nothing was there....a waste of time and money. I already unplugged it so the pump wouldn't overheat or break. Lousy product..don't buy it!!!

Will the air diffusers be a problem...they are on the floor of the pond? Will it affect the temperature at the bottom...I'm worried about super-cooling?!?!

[REC]

B..

You are almost the poster child for a pH crash... Good job looking into your water quality.. Calcium carbonate is a good choice but commercial applications are usually overpriced. You can get calcium carbonate from some good chem supply houses a lot cheaper than the commercial pond-quality products.

Baking soda will work just fine... you can do the math... one pond of BS will raise the KH levels 100 points in 700 gallons of water. Your GH numbers are adequate but could use some attention. If you go with the calcium carbonate, you get the benefit of raising both the KH and GH levels. Baking soda just raises the KH levels and calcium chloride raises both the calcium GH levels as well as the salinity levels (albiet less by ratio).

REC

[Brutuscz]

Thanks Rec...I moved and this is a new pond. It is in the same town...but the water is much softer. The TDS is 51. I have never dealt with this before. Do I have to worry about salt levels with calcium carbonate? Thanks again...new pond...new problems!!!

I just checked that sand I have. It is Black Calcite sand. Safe to add, and how much?

Does Montimorolite clay do anything for this? I add this weekly during the summer.

[Birdman]

I found out the hard way that four feet of exposed 2" pipe with 4,000 GPH going through it WILL FREEZE! The 1st day of our cold snap. 3 degrees, I woke up to find everything from the vortex on frozen solid. Took me 6 hours of dismanteling everything to get it all thawed. I built a tent over the vortex and filters/pumps and am keeping a heat lamp going durning the day and a small propane heater going at night.

[PapaBear]

Our pond is partially tented and the pump and main filter are fully tented. We shut the stream down months ago to minimize chilling and there is a stock tank heater in the main filter chamber to keep everything relatively stable. This has kept everything comfortable and ice-free even though we've had a 10" snow that stayed on the ground for about 2 weeks followed by the heavy freezing rain/sleet/snow of this past week. This is the coolest winter we've had here since we started keeping Koi so it has been a good test. So far so good, even with overnight lows near 0 at times and highs in the 20's much of this past week we've had no ice on the pond.

[Eugeneg]

In my new pond this year, I have 2 air pumps with airstones running. The laguna styrofoam thing..with a small water pump running. I also have 2 floating heaters in the water, but not plugged in...just in case everything else fails to keep the ice open.

I found that the thermo Pond 3 heaters worked the best air stones made too big a hole at times therfore exposing the pond to wind chill I do not think that you need great big holes in the jce for air exchange . The only thing you have to make sure that you have the electrical cord susspended as it could tip the heater .
Regards
Eugene

[Brutuscz]

http://www.seachem.com/products/prod...GrayCoast.html
This is the Calcite sand I have. I have 88lbs of it. I placed this all in a flow-through bag. The bag is now in my pond near my air bubbler. How effective do you think this product will be for buffering? My salt level is .25%...any worries? I placed it all in the bag for easy removal if there is a problem. Thanks again for the advice.