Question
QUESTION: I recently moved to east Texas from Pa.  I had 4 ponds there and never had a problem.  Here the ph of the pond water is really high.  On my test strips it goes to red instantly.  The highest reading on the strips is 8.4. It's a pre-fab pond, 133 gal.

I thought the strips were faulty, but the tap water shows the same ph.
I used 1 bottle of ph down, no change.
I have used a whole bottle of Green Clean ph down.
I used them over a period of time and checked the ph everytime before adding them.
The goldfish are doing ok and actually had some babies, but the plants are doing terrible!
Every lily, tropical and hardy had flowers at first and then nothing.  My pickerel weed leaves are all brown on the edges.  the red spider lily never bloomed.  The horsetail rush (two times I tried)died.
I was told to use muriatic acid, but I'm concerned about hurting the plants even more and the fish.
I tried water changes before I discovered the tap water has high ph.  I used planting media for the plants, not soil.  I fertilized them according to instructions.  The weather has been really hot here this summer.  90'2 and 100's.  But two of the lilies are "tropical" so I wouldn't think the heat would bother them?
Can you help me?  PLEASE!!
Thanks,
Jim
I have a Laguna pump and outside laguna pressure filter with uv.
Also the alkalinity is real high.

ANSWER: Hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) is the best approach to solving your problem.  Your alkalinity and general hardness are probably way too high.  Carbon-based causes of alkalinity finds a pH of about 8.2-8.3.  The pH down product introduces phosphates in order to buffer the pH at a lower point, but a high alkalinity is a much stronger buffer than any phosphate-based compound.  Also, be sure to avoid any ammonia building up as Ammonia is extremely toxic at a higher pH.  Also, if there is a lot of Ammonia in the water, the pH will quickly lower as the alkalinity disappears.  The water used to fill and refill the pond is probably loaded with minerals and nutrients, and this often makes pond upkeep a more involved process because you have to constantly soften the water and too much softening requires more water changes.  You can try collecting rain water in barrels and use that to top off your pond, but understand that having alkalinity is hugely important for pond life.  You should aim for about 3-5 ppm.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I GOT THE WATER COMPANY'S REPORT, MAYBE THERE'S SOMETHING YOU MIGHT SEE HERE THAT WOULD HELP ME WITH THE HIGH PH & ALKALINITY?
IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THE WATER IS HARD?  I THOUGHT HARD WATER GETS THE MINERAL BUILDUP, BUT THE TEST STRIPS SHOW IT AS BEING VERY SOFT?
I COULD SEND YOU IT AS AN ATTACHMENT IF YOU NEEDED TO SEE IT?
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP WITH THIS.
JIM ENSLEY

ANSWER: Hardness is often an ill-defined parameter.  Hardness, I suppose, could refer to all three elements: carbon, calcium, and magnesium.  I'm not sure why, but probably to make the testing process easier, they have been separated into carbon (KH, alkalinity) and magnesium & calcium (General Hardness).  It's possible that I am way off the mark here with what the water's problem is; but I believe, with a pH that high, that there is high alkalinity.  It's awesome that you don't have hard (mg + ca) water because that can be a real pain.  Also, alkalinity gets used up in the pond water.  So, if you were to not mess with it, and the wildlife survived everything okay, eventually the alkalinity would be back to normal.  It could take a while depending on what the levels are at now.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It's been 3 months since I put the pond in and the ph, alkalinity hasn't changed yet.
I'm thinking of getting some rain collecting barrels hooked up to my downspouts and collecting it for pond use.
here are some of the readings for our water system:
2007/2008 total alkalinity as CaCO3 -412 ppm  max level is 550
2006 total hardness as CaCO3 is3 ppm   amx is 3 ppm
2009 calcium  2.3  max 2.3
2007/2008 pH  8.1  max 8.1
2009  magnesium  0.6  max 0.6
2009  hardness as Ca/Mg 8   max 8

zinc, sodium, manganese, iron, copper, nickel, calcium, 2009  aluminum are all at the max level.
2007/2008  sulfate is 26  max  38
2007/2008   bicarbonate  502  max  671

Answer
That bicarbonate and Calcium carbonate alkalinity are off the charts.  I've never seen anything like it before.  The highest I've ever witnessed is 220 ppm.  In that situation, I recommended the owner buy a water purification unit to refill the pond.  You have to get a certain type, however.  Any good brand will offer you the option to custom-build your system, as different waters need different filtration.  You should be able to choose from sediment filters, carbon blocks, R/O membranes, and D/I cartridges.  You would probably want a sediment filter, followed by an R/O membrane, followed by a D/I cartridge or two.  Most store-bought filters only consist of a carbon block, and will rarely even include a D/I cartridge.  Here is a link to a company that sells the best ones on the market.  http://spectrapure.com/St_rodi_systems.htm
They're very overpriced but should give you an idea of what to look for at a lower price point.

All that said, you still could easily use rain water.  The only problem is that you may not always have rain water on tap when you need it.  It is better if you get multiple short barrels than one tall one, as you will collect more this way.  There's no quick fix to this other than replacing 90% of the pond water with water from another source.  Even this must be done gradually to avoid killing fish.

My one last, radical idea is that one thing that holds alkalinity in place is a balanced ratio of Calcium and Magnesium.  If you were to raise the levels of one, the alkalinity would be used up in order to satisfy the balance.  It's worth a try if neither the acid nor the purifier appeal to you.