Find Out The Ph Level Of Your Koi Pond
Written by Peter Naumann
One of the most basic but probably the most important factor in the chemistry of your koi pond is the ph factor and water hardness. Often this gets neglected and your koi fish will meet almost certain doom.
The ph is a scale that is read from 1-14, with anything below 7 being acidic and anything above seven being alkaline. A reading of 7 is often said to be neutral. A koi ph level should be between 7 and 8.5. Koi fish prefer their ponds to be on the alkaline side of things.
If however, your koi fish pond ph level drops below 7 and becomes acidic, it is very important that you don't raise the ph too quickly. This can cause the ph of the water to become unstable and this can be detrimental to your koi.
To raise the ph levels slowly in your koi pond, you should place a coral or oyster gravel in your filter or under a waterfall where moving water can pass through it and raise the levels slowly. With evaporation, rain and replacing water from your hose, the ph level can drop very quickly and the above gravels should be maintained in your filters at all times. Depending on the size of your pond, these gravels should be replaced every 12 months.
If the ph of your koi pond drops below 6, the gills of your koi fish can burn often suffocating them. Also the nitrifying bacteria will stop functioning properly and wastes cannot be broken down. If you raise the ph too quickly, ammonium can quickly change to ammonia which spells disaster for your koi.
To protect your hobby or investment, it is absolutely essential that you have a ph test kit to regularly test your water. If you don't have one you can find a range of ph test kits here.
