Before introducing fish for a water garden pool, some basic understanding for water quality is necessary. This involves the terms pH which stands for “potential hydrogen” concentration.
In 1927, history was made when a chemical engineer by the name of M. William G. O’Brian, vice-president and secretary of William Tricker, Inc of Independence, Ohio realized that the pH and fish health were related. This led to his introduction of the first pH test kit for aquatic life. Decades of evidence found that Mr. W.G O’Brian was correct with his concern for the pH of the water correlating with fish health. Today, testing pH for water quality is routine and is performed around the world in aquariums and water garden pools.
The pH is the measure of the quantity of acid or charged hydrogen ions (H+) in the water. The pH scale is from 0 to 14. Seven represents a neutral reading. Any pH number lower than seven is increasingly acid and any number greater than seven is increasingly alkaline. Most species of fish live in a pH range from pH six to pH eight.
If the pH of the water garden pool is not within the correct range of pH 6 to pH 8, then chemicals can be added to bring the pH into range. Using chemicals to adjust the pH should be a temporary situation. It is important to try to find out why the pH is not in the correct range and correct that situation without chemicals. The pH should not change more than 0.1 to 0.2 units per day.
Get your Testing Kits and chemicals at Tricker.com