What is the ideal KH level in my koi pond? 

Cheers Richard, thanks very much 🍻🍻🍻

Cheers Pal, you to Sir 🍻🍻🍻👍🍻🍻🍻

Thanks a lot, i appreciate that 🍻🍻

Thank you very much mate, onwards & upwards 😁

Thanks a lot mate 🍻🍻

Thank you Rex

Hi Rich, I think thats a great idea. As you say, I don't change a thing but I can certainly talk about the options and why I do what I do.

Thanks Carol, Merry Christmas to you 🎅👍🎅

Thanks Lau, hopefully 🤞

Cheers Wayne

Cheers mate

Thank you, much appreciated 👍👍

Thanks very much Andy

Thanks mate, yes no problem, I'll put TDS on my video list sir 🍻🍻

Hi Andrew, yeah 2 and 7.7 are spot on. If they level off at that when everything is mature and finds its own balance you will be in good shape. Probably wont know for sure until early next summer now but so far so good mate 👍👍

Hi Mark, getting back on track now pal, thank you. I'm going to post an update soon as I've been missing a while now. Tempest is still working great, yes. Not had any issues with it at all yet 👍

Hello there mate and thank you, sorry for the delay, I'm struggling with messages at the moment. This is a question asked a lot. In my opinion you DO count the first drop. The titration uses the total number of drops needed so the first is definitely part of that. pH of 7.5 and a KH of 5 is pretty much bang on, it doesn't get any better than that mate

Hi Mark, yes I trickle in straight from the tap. I've never had any measurable level of chlorine in my pond, even trickling in well over 100% a week.

Hi mate, yes that's a good point indeed. I will talk about that in my health video when I get on to treatments 👍👍🍻👍👍

Hi Chris, I haven't heard of any particular filter system requiring more KH than another as essentially it is consumed by the bacteria so in theory, any filter would use the same amount as your bacteria colony would grow to the same size, to consume your ammonia level. I think the trickle in is a good place to start though. They are beneficial for many reasons. Once you get it up and running and its left consistent for a couple of weeks you can then have a look at what your natural KH level is and if you need to intervene. Consistency is key though so you can know exactly where you are starting from.

H Richard, you know your tap water isn't going to offer you much of a top up of KH so you need to monitor your pond and if you deem that you need to add to it to keep it in the correct range your only real option is to start adding small amounts of bi carb regularly until you work out what you need to add regularly and consistently to keep it safe.

Hi there, and thank you. I don't run oyster shells, no. My pH is naturally around 8 so I just leave it well alone. If you can avoid adding things it is best. What pH do you have in your pond when you leave it to nature?

Hi there, baking soda has a pH of around 8.3 so adding it wont take your pH above 8.3. You should be able to add baking soda and raise your KH if you wish, without having much impact on your pH.

Hi mate, really sorry, I missed a load of comments, your being one of them 😒 Did you get your answers to this now or are you still looking at it?

Hi Ian, no mate, I would always leave everything running all year round if you can. You may get some ice forming at the return which can sometimes lead to water ending up going over the side of the pond rather than back in but if you clear it regularly you should be fine 👍👍

Hi Shona, what is your pH first thing in the morning and at dusk? This will tell you your natural pH range and if you have an issue. The two readings will be different. In 26 years I'm yet to see a pond that had pH that genuinely needed lowering so please verify your measurements before adding things to the water.

Hi mate, its 3 degrees of hardness. It may or may not correlate to drops, depending on which kit you use.

Hi Eric and thank you. Its not really that kind of pond. I like natural ponds where people try to mimic nature but this is more akin to a fish tank where the environment needs to be spotlessly clean and almost sterile. Soil and bacteria etc that come with plants don't work in this type of pond.

aghh sorry to here that. Was it pH that dropped? The reason I ask is that a drop in KH wont kill your fish on its own.

@DazzleKoi ye a little poorly described above. The ph had a drastic change due to my lack of buffering knolage. I was replying on my trickle in to provide buffering. I belive the tribute was our mains water suply had switched source (happens a couple times a year hear) the kh went from 5 to 2 and gh from 8 to 4 within 2 days. Combined with me using an algi floculant thst day I belive it just turned my water over reguarding the ph. Due to lack of buffering & being excessively soft water . I well and truly blame my self for how thst played out. If I had known better I would have not used a floculant with low kh water and I would have also put more time into checking my tap water peramitors weekly for any hardness changes.

Hi there, I think you are being harsh on yourself there. Not many would have prevented that I dont think. We all rely to some extent on our providers doing a good job of keeping things consistent. Sounds like a lot of things combined and the timing was bad. A 'perfect storm'.

Hi Rolland, you would have to go extremely high to have a negative effect on health but colour can be affected by water chemistry. pH, hardness etc, different levels favour different colours, sumi, bene etc. I think that people just accept that if its higher they wont suffer a pH crash but in reality it doesnt always have to be so high.

Hi mate, Mike is coming from a completely different level. That video is predominantly about RO and mimicking mud pond water chemistry. He is running on a knife edge and dealing with koi worth hundreds of thousands of pounds where the name of the game is realising every last drop of potential. If you contact him I can guarantee he wont advise you jump in and run your pond at 1 KH. Most people will recommend 5 or 6 KH plus. I'm saying you can go down lower if you learn how your system operates and you are vigilant. Nobody, Mike included, would advocate running at 1 unless you have the correct equipment and experience. I agree completely with him on the benefits of low KH but that video is misleading if you have taken from it that you should run your pond at 1 KH.

Thanks Anthony. Had a blip but 2022 is going to be better than ever 👍👍