Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Wood ashes in pond?

I have a 1/4 acre pond that has 6.5 pH water. I'd like to raise the pH and see if the clay will settle out.

Just wondered if anyone has tried throwing wood ashes into a pond to do this, if it would work, any possible hazard to the fish?

thanks

Potash
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PotashThis article is about Potash. For The Sports Reporter, see Dan Potash.
Potash is the common name given to potassium carbonate and a variety of mined and manufactured salts that contain the element potassium in water-soluble form[1].

Potash has been used since antiquity in the manufacture of glass, soap, and soil fertilizer. Potash is vital for agriculture because it improves water retention, yield, nutrient value, taste, colour, texture and disease resistance of food crops. It has wide application to fruit and vegetables, rice, wheat and other grains, sugar, corn, soybeans, palm oil and cotton, all of which benefit from the nutrient�s quality enhancing properties.[2]

The name itself derives from the old method of producing potassium carbonate by leaching wood ashes and evaporating the solutions collected in large iron pots. The white residue left in the pot was called �pot ash�. Later, potash became the term widely applied to naturally occurring potassium salts and the commercial product derived from them.[3] To further confuse the terminology, potash imports/exports etc. are reported in 'K2O' equivalent. In actuality, fertilizer never contains potassium oxide, per se, because it is both a caustic and a highly reactive chemical. It is so reactive that is must be stored under kerosene, like metallic potassium.

The following table lists a number of potassium compounds which use the word potash in their traditional names:

Common name Chemical name Formula
Potash fertilizer potassium oxide K2O
Caustic potash or potash lye potassium hydroxide KOH
Carbonate of potash, salts of tartar, or pearlash potassium carbonate K2CO3
Chlorate of potash potassium chlorate KClO3
Muriate of potash potassium chloride KCl
Nitrate of potash or saltpeter potassium nitrate KNO3
Sulfate of potash potassium sulfate K2SO4
Permanganate of potash potassium permanganate KMnO4

It is the K in common NPK fertilizer aka potassium. It is not usually in short supply in ponds.

So, do you think there'd be some danger from increasing the K level a bit? No fertilizer has been added to the pond. I assume that the fish and food waste have added some nitrogen, but no algae so far. My "plan" was to broadcast 3 or 4 5-gallon buckets from the shoreline.

I tend to think of wood ashes as pretty innocuous. I usually spread them around the garden- mainly on asparagus and daffodils and cole crops.

In a bucket of water, they settle out in an hour or so leaving clear water that I assume is pretty alkaline.

BTW, 1/2 ton of ag lime (2 tons/acre rate) was spread around the bottom before the pond filled last summer.

I don't think a small amount would make a difference but without a soil test baseline that is a WAG. It might be slightly acidic as most E TX trees are.

The topsoil here is close to neutral, 7.1 or so. I did expect it to be more acidic because of the pine trees, but not so, according to the testing I had done last year, at TAMU and a private soil-test lab.