Guess I have been lucky for the last 10 years and never had trouble with the ph level in pond till now....
They said it was where it needed to be how often and how do you keep a check on this??? This is new to me....

You can buy a test kit at your local pet store. ALso, you can get something called "Neutral Regulator" and that will put the pH at 7.0 :)

I have a new pond and am new at ponding so you can't really go by me, but I am checking the ph twice a day, am & pm. I have been having problems getting it stabilized.
This is a good question and will be interesting to find out what the others do that don't have the fluctuations. I am sure someone will post about it :)

You say you have trouble with the pH now? Is it too high? There are a few other threads about other ponders with similar problems. Mine was also a little high. I suggest first establishing your normal pH readings. That might mean testing at dawn and dusk every day for a week. Once you know what is normal, then testing weekly is fine. I actually only rarely test my pH until something seems wrong like it did a few weeks back. Then, I run all the test kits that I have (pH, hardness, alkalinity, salinity, oxygen, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate). I have multiple test kits for the same things as well, dip sticks and liquid tests, old and new. When I found my pH was over 8, I added pH down (sulfuric acid) for a few doses and tested daily for a while. Now that it's below pH 8, I've slacked off testing again.

My ph was low so low the fish were dying with minutes of putting them in ...I want to say it was around 4 or 5... and should be 7.5 right? the lady said to add baking soda and wait a couple of days and test it again It was perfect!!! I got two koi and so far so good....I will check it everyday from now on..hope my new babies live...

I've been forgetting to do the tests, finally got around to it tonight and it was over 9!! I put in enough Ph Down for a 600 gal, waited a half hour and NO change. I 'side tested' a bottle of pond water and did a major bump up with the Down just to see if the tester was good. Ph sunk like a rock, in the moringing I won't forget to test. The algaecide I put in a few weeks ago made it go nutso. Now I know why one of the 4 hyacinths died..I thought it was the fish eating it. But what also red flagged me tonight was I saw floating fish poop, a first for my pond...so somebodies major upset.

A pH of 4 or 5 is certainly deadly. An ideal pond pH is between 7 and 8 but fish should survive from about pH 6 up to pH 9 or so short term. Baking soda will raise the alkalinity, and, with enough of it, it buffers the water around pH 8.5 (so don't add too much like I did). Adding base like sodium hydroxide (pre-diluted) which may be what's in pH up (I don't know since I haven't bought any to look at the bottle) is a better way to just raise the pH and not raise the buffering capacity (alkalinity) or hardness.

pH 9 is too high long term though so I hope you can get it down SadieMay. Do you have anything that could be leaching (like mentioned in that other thread with someone who had bricks that were raising the pH)?

That's what I've been trying to figure out. Here I was worried that the 2 junipers I put in would drop the ph and the dang thing is going up. The retaining wall I put in is at least 2 ft away from the pond, with 1 foot of dirt before the pond liner. Even with the rain we've had, the runoff sinks before it gets to the pond itself, and it's no where near the waterfall/stream. okay...stupid question......can a plastic pot leach?? I put in 2 thick plastic plant pots ( lilies) but the hosta and the pot I cut for the filter is the cheaper/thinner plant pots. I've never used the thinner types before. <_<

Sadiemay, what do you mean when you say "I cut the pot for the filter"? Did you make a filter out of the pot? :unsure:

Plastic pots should not alter the pH. They mostly will leach plastisizers (chemicals used to make the plastic) and monomers (plastics are polymers; monomers make up polymers; monomers are toxic) but at such low levels that it shouldn't matter.

I made a skippy filter in a trashcan barrel but I didn't have a ledge inside for the plastic grate to stay up. I cut a pot to slide on the pipe to balance on the crossbars and to hold up the grate. It's wicked cheap thin plastic pots. Just don't know of anything else that can keep the ph so high.

My pond pH has always been at 9.0 or higher, never lower. My fish have survived for 5 years. I just recenty tried to lower the pH, by adding murratic acid, for a few days. I got the pH down to 8.0 and stopped adding acid. A day or two later it was back to 9.0. I have no lime or concrete leaching from out of the pond but now I am wondering if some of my gravel or rocks migh be limestone or something. I am doing a test right now, one bucket with just water, one bucket with pea gravel and water, and another with septic gravel and water. The septic gravel isn't from a septic field, it's just what they call it. It about 1" dia. stones. I'm under the impression that before I can get the algae out of my pond water I have to get the pH level under control, is that true? If I find my gravel or rocks is causing the problem, I don't know what I'm going to do. Anybody got any ideas? CF :ph43r:

Sounds like you're in the same boat as I am Clownfreak. lol I even made a 'stew' of rocks and I drowned my PLASTIC duck in it to see if that was leaching anything. lol My stew's ph has been normal the whole time. In my case I think it must be the algae. My water is alittle clearer but I'm still in the pea soup stage. I pieced together the top of my trellis, gotta get hubbys opinion before I buy the bolts to screw the whole thing together.

A pond with a lot of algae often has a higher pH but, if the pH is up to 9, it's probably more than just that. What is the pH of your tap water? Some tap water has a high pH. I would see how your tests with the buckets of various gravel go first before worrying about possibly having to remove those. Test the pH at the same time each day in the pond and the bucket because it may be lower in the morning if there's any algae or plants in there. If it's just the rocks in water, it shouldn't fluctuate as much but it's good to be consistent. If there's a real pH problem in the pond, and you're adjusting it, I suggest testing at dawn and dusk until things are stable. Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid. For some reason, pool companies call it muriatic acid instead.

Algae may raise the pH slightly at least during the day (and perhaps lower it overnight) but the algae also like it when the pH is off because the plants don't do as well. If one problem is improved (pH or algae), then the other should be easier to manage.