I’m with you mate, I keep two aquariums at home here in Sydney. I don’t fully understand water chemistry, but I know that what I do here works for me. I get a lot of compliments from people saying how beautiful and clear the water in my tanks is, I also have fish and shrimp that breed like wild fire, so I must be doing something right. Good message Kev. Cheers
Blair Knight has 129 Subscribers. You have over 24 thousand. "A person with experience is Never at the Mercy as to someone with a theory" Your my one stop shop for information to my project, as you are Passionate about what you do.. That/We admire. Keep up the great work Kev. Take care.
ok. long term watcher and follower but this time i would want to give a little contribution. Indeed, Mr Blair points at a very important side of the "closed ecosystem" ponds. bacteria consumes carbon along to keep their "job" in the nitrogen cycle. BUT... every living being is made of carbon. the ammonia the bacteria gets is coming from food, plants, excrements degradation and even from dead bacteria too. and where there's NH3, there's also twice as much if not more CH3. bottomline, if the nitrogen cycle is well balanced. the carbon cycle is balanced too. that's what most fish keepers seem to never make into account: the carbon cycle.
It heavily depends on the setup, the location in the world, the amount of water in the pond, and the amount of rain or snowfall that the pond or system receives, and if the pond receives any natural minerals in some sort of way, and how many oxygen plants the pond has. For example, I live in the Netherlands, I only have a small pond with a relative small amount of water, and I have a relative large aquaponics growbed system that will catch a lot of rainwater when it rains. And when it does rain it can rain for 10 or 12 hours long. There is no natural supply of minerals and the natural CO2 supply is most likely not sufficient enough to keep up with the changing factors, such as rain and the use of CO2 by oxygen plants. And I have a lot of oxygen plants. After a recent measurement I noticed that the GH and KH values were dangerously low after months of heavy rainfall. We received more than twice the average amount of rain. GH value was 3 and KH value was 2, and it is supposed to be 8-12 for the GH and around 8 for the KH. Bacteria produce hydrogen when they convert waste materials, and hydrogen is an acid. With enough bi carbonates in the water the carbonates are able to neutralize the acidic hydrogen. This process also depletes those carbonates. If the KH is too low, as it were in my case, then the amount of hydrogen can become too much in a single night, and cause a PH crash, and kill all the fish. luckily the PH crash did not happen because I was just in time to address the issue. Especially when you have an aquaponics growbed system that is packed with a lot of nitrification bacteria this PH crash can happen quickly. I also had a lot of algae growth, another sign that something was not right with the water. Now my GH is 12 and my KH is still a bit too low, but I have to wait for two weeks before I can add the KH+. However, this weekend I had my GH at 10, and my KH at 5 and two days after serious long hours of rainfall, about 10 to 12 hours a day, the GH value was already lowered to 9, and the KH to 4, and we have plenty more rain on the way for this week. My advise would be that it doesn't hurt to measure, and to add GH+ and KH+ minerals if the GH and KH values are far too low, especially when you are experiencing algae growth and stunned plants after heavy rain or snowfall. But never add those minerals at the same time and never within two weeks from each other, and always start first with the GH+. Because in the northern hemisphere the natural supply of CO2 to the pond is not always sufficient enough to keep track with the amount of rain of snow that falls, and the amount of CO2 that is being used up by plants. Wrong GH and KH values is a main cause for algae growth, fluctuating PH values, stunned plants, and dying fish in the northern hemisphere.
I used to have ponds with a liner and dirt floor with a lot of plants, and even tho most of the times i couldn't see the fish, i would find them when emptying the pond and they will have a good size on them. I never did any water changes and my feeding was minimal.This way i had no problem rasinig carp, koi, goldfish, minnows, pikes, and other to a good size even tho there wasn't much space for them. Also tropical fishes i kept over warmer months outside never had any problems and would breed like crazy. I remember once my cory grew so much outside in one year more than others that have been in aquarium for multiple years with regular water changes.
Yes sir you are right they say some stuff about fish releasing hormones to stunt other rivals growth but information is hard to get on that topic so I don't know if it's true and if there is information i can't understand what they are trying to say about the topic this topic needs more sciencetific attention
I love the video. What you say sounds real and I trust your pond methods, because you are having such success with them. My favorite pond to see is always your 3 x 4 M. And the small wood framed pond with the urn. Cool stuff! I really love your olive barrel bog designs.
All I can say is I like more fish and I like eco systems I try to what you do and add what others do too. I think water changes are helpful but a skimmer stop you needing them as frequently. I think know what you do and why you are doing it will help anyone. I have stared keeping Koi about 5 years ago just put them in the old pond. Last year as it was lockdown I got pond envy so cleared it out add plants got the rile working. Well they double in size and seem happier
I have a small pond...approx 500- 600 gal. I now have about 8 comets, as the hawk had a fish dinner recently. I am glad to hear you don't feed your fish much, as I don't either. I find it mucks up the water. My question is about frogs. I have a couple of very large bullfrogs. Do they bring down the water quality like having too many fish would?
Frogs are usually pretty good if you look at the lifecycle as a whole. At least the frogs I get, I’m not familiar with bull frogs. The tadpoles- frog cycle consumes a lot of food, which really translates into nutrients being removed from the pond.
My question is about water removal and addition. I live in California, where we get zero rain for sometimes 9 months at a time. Thus I will be only adding to my pond. Maybe up to 100gallons a week in the summer. Any worries about only adding for that long from the tap. I am using a de-chlorinating high end water filter to add water. Should I occasionally remove water before adding? I could water my yard plants with it. I wouldn’t want to waste the water.
There’s no harm in doing water changes and it’s not a waste if you water the garden. The thing is not all ponds and environments are the same. Those little wine barrel ponds I have are under the roof line so no auto top up from rain. I don’t do water changes on them just top ups this is going on 3 maybe 4 years, fish breed, no die off. You just need to find your own sweet spot. 👍
@@Ozponds I was worried about possible accumulation of minerals and or contaminates from the water itself over time. Thank you. I might water the plants. I’m sure they would love that.
@@QuadView why don’t you do a full water test instead of worrying? Test once early spring when pond has been topped up by winter rain and test again in the fall after you have used tap water to top up all summer long. If there’s no appreciable difference it means your pond system is self balancing and doesn’t need water change.
Thanks for the video, I have a 3/4 acre mud pond filled with rain water. The pond goes up and down with rain as much as 2' in one day with a really heavy rain. Anything I can do to raise my ph currently at 5.7 or will my koi get use to the low ph?
Just think enough to cover the liner. I made a video about the difference between big & small pebbles. Big pebble or small pebble for the bottom of a pond? th-cam.com/video/bgZi5FALpBY/w-d-xo.html
Hi Kev, I have a goldfish pond - certainly not overstocked. 20-25 fish in about 5000 litres. I haven't had any fish die for over a year or two. However, in the last 3 days I have suddenly lost 1 per day! Also, I have noticed over the last few weeks that they all appear very slow compared to usual, but I thought maybe I was imagining it :) There is not that much algae in the water, and a few months ago after watching one of your videos I stopped feeding the fish. I tested all the levels and they all seem perfect, except PH looks high - probably 8.5 to 9.0. So of course now I start to wonder if they died because I stopped feeding them (I am not meaning to sound like I am blaming you for that - what you say about not feeding them makes perfect sense actually). I have a pressure filter on the pond which hasn't been cleaned in maybe over a year, but I have no idea if that explains alkaline water or fish deaths. I rinsed off all the filter sponges today thoroughly just in case. What are your thoughts on this please, if you don't mind?
G’day mate. I thought all the birds were eating your fish? Did the fish look emancipated? I’m guessing there is enough food if there is some algae. The pH is high but I wouldn’t be too worried about it. I just checked mine and it was higher, possibly because of all the plant growth. I’m not much of a fish whisperer, it’s something I’d like to learn a lot more about. Diagnosing fish problems is hard, especially from afar. Have you added new fish? Any strange weather recently? What has changed recently? Those are the sorts of things I question if the water parameters are good.
@@Ozponds birds stopped eating the fish because I put an ugly net over that pond 😑 yes I understand it's difficult to diagnose fish problems - from close as well as afar I reckon! Fish look normal and healthy (even the dead ones). Nothing at all has changed here... No unusual going ons. That's why I am at a loss to explain it. 2 more sitting on the bottom now, so I expect more dead tomorrow 😔
Hey Kev, I just filled up a new pond about 5x5 metres. A week later the water is turning green which I kind of expected. I have no fish in the pond, just plants, and there is a 10 metre stream leading to the pond. I don't have a filter as I don't have fish. The pond is in full sun. So my question is will the green water go away on its own or do I need to race out and get a UVC which will be expensive? I was hoping if I just added plenty of plants, the green water would correct itself. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks 🙂
New ponds are always so unpredictable! In my experience the green is caused by a lack of bacteria and being that the pond is so new that makes sense. The stream, the plants and all the rock and gravel will get colonised by bacteria. How long it takes to stabilise I can’t say (they are all different). I’ve had success using a flocculent to help clear green water faster and if you haven’t already maybe add some bacteria. Hope that helps.
@@Ozponds 🤣. Quick question about a skimmer bucket for a large round pre formed poly tank pond: do you think setting the the bucket lip just above the water line with a simple cut out section on part of the rim will be enough to form a surface tension draw across the the water’s surface? I am thinking if I go for a black bucket to match the poly tank colour and maybe build up some larger rocks around the other sides of it it will shield the ugliness of it a little. Cheers
![Koi pond pH and KH - [PART 1]](/img/n.gif)
I’m with you mate, I keep two aquariums at home here in Sydney. I don’t fully understand water chemistry, but I know that what I do here works for me. I get a lot of compliments from people saying how beautiful and clear the water in my tanks is, I also have fish and shrimp that breed like wild fire, so I must be doing something right. Good message Kev. Cheers
Sounds like you’ve found your sweet spot Tom👍 Keep up the good work!
Blair Knight has 129 Subscribers. You have over 24 thousand. "A person with experience is Never at the Mercy as to someone with a theory" Your my one stop shop for information to my project, as you are Passionate about what you do.. That/We admire. Keep up the great work Kev. Take care.
Thanks mate.
ok. long term watcher and follower but this time i would want to give a little contribution.
Indeed, Mr Blair points at a very important side of the "closed ecosystem" ponds. bacteria consumes carbon along to keep their "job" in the nitrogen cycle.
BUT... every living being is made of carbon. the ammonia the bacteria gets is coming from food, plants, excrements degradation and even from dead bacteria too. and where there's NH3, there's also twice as much if not more CH3. bottomline, if the nitrogen cycle is well balanced. the carbon cycle is balanced too. that's what most fish keepers seem to never make into account: the carbon cycle.
Great contribution 👍
It heavily depends on the setup, the location in the world, the amount of water in the pond, and the amount of rain or snowfall that the pond or system receives, and if the pond receives any natural minerals in some sort of way, and how many oxygen plants the pond has. For example, I live in the Netherlands, I only have a small pond with a relative small amount of water, and I have a relative large aquaponics growbed system that will catch a lot of rainwater when it rains. And when it does rain it can rain for 10 or 12 hours long. There is no natural supply of minerals and the natural CO2 supply is most likely not sufficient enough to keep up with the changing factors, such as rain and the use of CO2 by oxygen plants. And I have a lot of oxygen plants. After a recent measurement I noticed that the GH and KH values were dangerously low after months of heavy rainfall. We received more than twice the average amount of rain.
GH value was 3 and KH value was 2, and it is supposed to be 8-12 for the GH and around 8 for the KH. Bacteria produce hydrogen when they convert waste materials, and hydrogen is an acid. With enough bi carbonates in the water the carbonates are able to neutralize the acidic hydrogen. This process also depletes those carbonates. If the KH is too low, as it were in my case, then the amount of hydrogen can become too much in a single night, and cause a PH crash, and kill all the fish. luckily the PH crash did not happen because I was just in time to address the issue. Especially when you have an aquaponics growbed system that is packed with a lot of nitrification bacteria this PH crash can happen quickly.
I also had a lot of algae growth, another sign that something was not right with the water. Now my GH is 12 and my KH is still a bit too low, but I have to wait for two weeks before I can add the KH+.
However, this weekend I had my GH at 10, and my KH at 5 and two days after serious long hours of rainfall, about 10 to 12 hours a day, the GH value was already lowered to 9, and the KH to 4, and we have plenty more rain on the way for this week.
My advise would be that it doesn't hurt to measure, and to add GH+ and KH+ minerals if the GH and KH values are far too low, especially when you are experiencing algae growth and stunned plants after heavy rain or snowfall. But never add those minerals at the same time and never within two weeks from each other, and always start first with the GH+. Because in the northern hemisphere the natural supply of CO2 to the pond is not always sufficient enough to keep track with the amount of rain of snow that falls, and the amount of CO2 that is being used up by plants. Wrong GH and KH values is a main cause for algae growth, fluctuating PH values, stunned plants, and dying fish in the northern hemisphere.
Yep, your hands off, replicate nature approach suit me perfectly. Currently binge watching most of your content
You poor bugger. Heads up I’m awfully boring!
I used to have ponds with a liner and dirt floor with a lot of plants, and even tho most of the times i couldn't see the fish, i would find them when emptying the pond and they will have a good size on them. I never did any water changes and my feeding was minimal.This way i had no problem rasinig carp, koi, goldfish, minnows, pikes, and other to a good size even tho there wasn't much space for them. Also tropical fishes i kept over warmer months outside never had any problems and would breed like crazy. I remember once my cory grew so much outside in one year more than others that have been in aquarium for multiple years with regular water changes.
There ya go 👍 that’s my kind of science. Sounds like a perfect little ecosystem.
I definitely like your style and take in everything!
Wonderful video. Thank you.
Yes sir you are right they say some stuff about fish releasing hormones to stunt other rivals growth but information is hard to get on that topic so I don't know if it's true and if there is information i can't understand what they are trying to say about the topic this topic needs more sciencetific attention
Could watch your lazy streams and tumbling rock falls all day 😍, thanks Kev 👍
Thanks 😊 I lose at least an hour everyday just looking at the ponds and streams.
I love the video. What you say sounds real and I trust your pond methods, because you are having such success with them. My favorite pond to see is always your 3 x 4 M. And the small wood framed pond with the urn. Cool stuff! I really love your olive barrel bog designs.
Thanks heaps Ken. Appreciate it 👍
All I can say is I like more fish and I like eco systems I try to what you do and add what others do too.
I think water changes are helpful but a skimmer stop you needing them as frequently.
I think know what you do and why you are doing it will help anyone.
I have stared keeping Koi about 5 years ago just put them in the old pond.
Last year as it was lockdown I got pond envy so cleared it out add plants got the rile working.
Well they double in size and seem happier
Very good 👍
I have a small pond...approx 500- 600 gal. I now have about 8 comets, as the hawk had a fish dinner recently. I am glad to hear you don't feed your fish much, as I don't either. I find it mucks up the water. My question is about frogs. I have a couple of very large bullfrogs. Do they bring down the water quality like having too many fish would?
Frogs are usually pretty good if you look at the lifecycle as a whole. At least the frogs I get, I’m not familiar with bull frogs. The tadpoles- frog cycle consumes a lot of food, which really translates into nutrients being removed from the pond.
@@Ozponds Our bullfrogs eat smaller frogs. They are large. Good to know about the tadpoles bc the female just laid a ton of eggs.
My question is about water removal and addition. I live in California, where we get zero rain for sometimes 9 months at a time. Thus I will be only adding to my pond. Maybe up to 100gallons a week in the summer. Any worries about only adding for that long from the tap. I am using a de-chlorinating high end water filter to add water. Should I occasionally remove water before adding? I could water my yard plants with it. I wouldn’t want to waste the water.
There’s no harm in doing water changes and it’s not a waste if you water the garden. The thing is not all ponds and environments are the same. Those little wine barrel ponds I have are under the roof line so no auto top up from rain. I don’t do water changes on them just top ups this is going on 3 maybe 4 years, fish breed, no die off. You just need to find your own sweet spot. 👍
@@Ozponds I was worried about possible accumulation of minerals and or contaminates from the water itself over time. Thank you. I might water the plants. I’m sure they would love that.
Sounds like a good plan 👍
@@QuadView why don’t you do a full water test instead of worrying? Test once early spring when pond has been topped up by winter rain and test again in the fall after you have used tap water to top up all summer long. If there’s no appreciable difference it means your pond system is self balancing and doesn’t need water change.
Very informative and a joy to watch.
Thanks Leslie 😊
Thanks for the video, I have a 3/4 acre mud pond filled with rain water. The pond goes up and down with rain as much as 2' in one day with a really heavy rain. Anything I can do to raise my ph currently at 5.7 or will my koi get use to the low ph?
There’s no way I would try and adjust the ph on such a large pond.
Do aquatic plants use up KH/Carbonate? Could having too many plants cause the pond to not be balanced?
I’m honestly not sure.
How much gravel do you put at the bottom of the pond? I only have a small pond 500 litres. And is it better to use small gravel or the larger size?
Just think enough to cover the liner. I made a video about the difference between big & small pebbles. Big pebble or small pebble for the bottom of a pond?
th-cam.com/video/bgZi5FALpBY/w-d-xo.html
@@Ozponds thanks will watch it.
Hi Kev, I have a goldfish pond - certainly not overstocked. 20-25 fish in about 5000 litres. I haven't had any fish die for over a year or two. However, in the last 3 days I have suddenly lost 1 per day! Also, I have noticed over the last few weeks that they all appear very slow compared to usual, but I thought maybe I was imagining it :) There is not that much algae in the water, and a few months ago after watching one of your videos I stopped feeding the fish. I tested all the levels and they all seem perfect, except PH looks high - probably 8.5 to 9.0. So of course now I start to wonder if they died because I stopped feeding them (I am not meaning to sound like I am blaming you for that - what you say about not feeding them makes perfect sense actually). I have a pressure filter on the pond which hasn't been cleaned in maybe over a year, but I have no idea if that explains alkaline water or fish deaths. I rinsed off all the filter sponges today thoroughly just in case. What are your thoughts on this please, if you don't mind?
G’day mate. I thought all the birds were eating your fish? Did the fish look emancipated? I’m guessing there is enough food if there is some algae. The pH is high but I wouldn’t be too worried about it. I just checked mine and it was higher, possibly because of all the plant growth. I’m not much of a fish whisperer, it’s something I’d like to learn a lot more about. Diagnosing fish problems is hard, especially from afar. Have you added new fish? Any strange weather recently? What has changed recently? Those are the sorts of things I question if the water parameters are good.
@@Ozponds birds stopped eating the fish because I put an ugly net over that pond 😑 yes I understand it's difficult to diagnose fish problems - from close as well as afar I reckon! Fish look normal and healthy (even the dead ones). Nothing at all has changed here... No unusual going ons. That's why I am at a loss to explain it. 2 more sitting on the bottom now, so I expect more dead tomorrow 😔
😞
@@kymbo72 bro with a pond pH that high go with African cichlids or live-bearers that's really high goldfish usually like 7
Hey Kev, I just filled up a new pond about 5x5 metres. A week later the water is turning green which I kind of expected. I have no fish in the pond, just plants, and there is a 10 metre stream leading to the pond. I don't have a filter as I don't have fish. The pond is in full sun. So my question is will the green water go away on its own or do I need to race out and get a UVC which will be expensive? I was hoping if I just added plenty of plants, the green water would correct itself. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks 🙂
New ponds are always so unpredictable! In my experience the green is caused by a lack of bacteria and being that the pond is so new that makes sense. The stream, the plants and all the rock and gravel will get colonised by bacteria. How long it takes to stabilise I can’t say (they are all different). I’ve had success using a flocculent to help clear green water faster and if you haven’t already maybe add some bacteria. Hope that helps.
@@Ozponds ok thanks I will do that
I figure a goldfish isn’t going to know or care how big it ‘should’ be- unless they start publishing Goldfish Vogue magazine 🤣
The little mermaid has done in repairable damage to how goldfish view their bodies. 😉
@@Ozponds 🤣. Quick question about a skimmer bucket for a large round pre formed poly tank pond: do you think setting the the bucket lip just above the water line with a simple cut out section on part of the rim will be enough to form a surface tension draw across the the water’s surface? I am thinking if I go for a black bucket to match the poly tank colour and maybe build up some larger rocks around the other sides of it it will shield the ugliness of it a little. Cheers
Sounds good to me 👍
@@Ozponds cool. Will give it a go 😊