Thanks DocJLo
How can GH be lowered by using Washing Soda? Is it safe for ponds? I thought people use water softeners in their home incoming water to have low GH and KH levels?
Washing soda is sodium carbonate (NaCO3). If you add it to a solution with high amounts of dissolved calcium (regardless of the source), it causes the calcium to precipitate out of solution by forming calcium carbonate (or limescale).
Ideally, you don’t WANT limescale, but it’s one way to do it chemically (and cheaply).
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The plus side is that you’d completely bypass concerns for nitrites and nitrates (since those are the result of bacterial metabolism); only con I see is the cost of recharging the resin, but that could be inexpensive for all I know. Heck, you could probably even have resins involved that completely remove chlorine and chloramine, as well. At that point, it’d basically be comparing costs of the chemicals we typically use versus those that involve recharging the resins (or replacing the resin cartridge entirely).
I’m curious though if any systems can still run without any sort of biological filtration, since I’m sure there is probably some underlying functions of biological filtration that we don’t regularly discuss outside of the nitrogen cycle (bacteria produce all sorts of chemicals - think of gut bacteria that help us digest certain vitamins and whathaveyou - some of which may be beneficial to the life of our fish).
Keep us updated! Pretty interesting stuff.
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I just thought id throw this in.... I have a GH of under 20ppm. Ive yet to own a kohaku that didnt get a shimi. I will also share that I have only ever owned 2.
You nailed it.
One of the concerns I had was that, though our bio filtration would easily handle the daily addition of water and thus an amount of ammonia, I did not want the downside of additional nitrate accumulation to do so. These tanks will have flow through systems which would normally be reducing nitrates but given our situation, potentially would be increasing them. It's best if the bio filters are only addressing ammonia generated by the koi.
So pulling some numbers and ideals from the Mike Snaden articles, I'm trying to get an idea of what we're
shooting for. So the theory sounds like what we should be trying to recreate is the habitat that the koi were
raised in at the beginning and where they were thriving, which seems like a great idea! Mike says his goals are
a TDS of about 84 ppm and a KH of 2.75 dH with as low a GH as possible.
My GH kit arrived but not the calibration solution for TDS meter so I can't verify those numbers but here's what
my water looks like:
Pond
KH 5 drops = 89.5 ppm
GH 5 drops = 89.5 ppm
Tap (well)
KH 6 drops = 107.4 ppm
GH 6 drops = 107.4 ppm
Water changes happen on a timer at about 35 gallons every 4 hours with the waste water drawn from the bottom
of the pond.
I can't warrant investing in a RO system to try and drop the numbers. Is there another route to try and reach a number
where if the GH is causing the shimmy issue it might help while still keeping a bit of KH to stabilize the pH? If needed we
can speculate that the TDS number is correct at about 57 ppm until I get the calibration fluid. What can I add to the pond
that might help with the shimmies? Or are there other numbers to consider in the calculation?
Apparently kichi are willing to invest a lot of time and money treating hard pond water to prevent shimis. So if someone could please fill in the blank for me a newbie:
The reason that I know that hard water causes shimis is ___________________________.
Thanks
I have more time than money but I know I just try to follow suggestions by people smarter than myself. And
I guess the reason I go to the effort is the fact that I don't know the answer to your question but I also don't
know the answer to:
"The reason that I know hard water doesn't cause shimis is __________________ ."
If it were a government form i believe the answer would be (N/A) but like ive said before, just because there is no scientific study done or paper published does not mean it's false. It means we dont yet have the data. I think this belief has to do with hard water being "better" for sumi. I heard someone retell a conversation with a breeder. It went something like the tissue and scales are like baskets that can hold pigment and the water hardness allowed for a tighter weave of those basket fibers. If this is the case, than it makes sense on a theoretical basis.
The real problem is our best souse of information is the breeders who gain knowledge through experience and then weave what they know into a hypothesis that we buy as truth. Remember when most medical professionals believed that small doses of radiation were therapeutic? But no one is going to fund a study on pigment cell propagation in koi.
I mean, we do treat people with small doses of radiation in certain cancers, but I digress .
The rest of it I agree with. A lot of everything we do (even in medicine) is actually art and experience first, then we go back and look at the basic science to see what might explain what we’re seeing in real life.
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