Larry - I think that if you add more lime to make whatever is absorbing the carbonates to become saturated then the alkalinity will begin to increase. If I were doing it, I would first do this as a test in 5 to 10 gallons of pond water to see how much lime(teaspoons or tablespoons) is needed to increase the alkalinity. There 16 level tablespoons per cup, one cup weighs about 0.5 pound.
When successful extrapolate or expand this amount to your pond volume. If plant activity is causing the carbonate binding then you may have to add more lime than the calculation. But I think the test addition of lime in a smaller volume of water will give you a good idea of where to start as a beginning amount.
Bill, I'm using pelletized lime, so I'm not sure how that test would work. I guess I could get a bag of ag lime to do the test with and extrapolate the results. I'll be in town tomorrow and pick some up to do the test. Thanks for your input.
