Originally Posted by
koiman1950
Well,basically what you've been told and products you've been buying are nothing more than BAD, VERY BAD information. I've had a water softener installed for the house/pond for the last 5 years! It reduces the (GH) General Hardness, but does nothing to reduce the (Kh) Calcium Carbonite hardness. My source water measures right at 300 ppm Gh and 140 Kh. After running through the softener, my Gh reads 25ppm and the Kh still reads 140. I have two lines running to the backyard/pond supply, one is mains water and the other is soft water. I use two valves to allow mixing of the two water sources to produce roughly 150ppm Gh. That's what my pond reads and the Kh reads between 120-140ppm. The Kh is what's important to know for bio film development and Ph steadiness.
Adding bottled bio bugs is nothing more than throwing your money out the window. And, unless you have a very low Kh, the calcium product is a waste as well. If your Kh is below, say, 100ppm, then just use good ole' baking soda to raise it and buffer your Ph at the same time.
Mike