Koi Pond Care
Koi Pond Carbon Dioxide
CO2 can exist in koi pond water independently of dissolved oxygen. If the level gets too high, even with normal dissolved oxygen levels, koi illness will result.Many atmospheric gases dissolve in koi pond water to some extent and carbon dioxide is one of the most important. It dissolves readily to form carbonic acid, giving a weakly acidic solution. This chemical reaction has important consequences, not only for the eventual chemical content of pond water, but also for other chemical and biological reactions that occur in the aquatic environment. The naturally acidic nature of rain allows it to bring other, less reactive, substances into solution. (The pH of naturally formed rainwater is about 5.6 but, as we shall see, local atmospheric and landscape variations can alter it significantly before it gets anywhere near our koi ponds.) The affinity between carbon dioxide and water has many far-reaching effects on koi pond water quality, playing a major role in plant and koi respiration and pH buffering.