What is your pond's normal ph range?

[Lolafish]

Go ahead and feel free to elaborate.   

[addictinganimal]

I just tested mine and it's 8.2 with no additives, straight from the hose.

[Lolafish]

I just tested mine and it's 8.2 with no additives, straight from the hose.

Lucky you!  Is your KH in the 100+ range then too?

Mine hangs around 7.6-7.8 range, even if I buff up to 8.5+ after a WC....it drops down to the mid 7's and then stays there.

[cori93437]

I have to buff up regularly... the nitrification cycle eats up the Kh. I've only had one near catastrophe. No one was harmed but it taught me to keep a close eye on the Kh.
Hopefully once the big pond is done... which is taking longer than I'd like because it keeps getting bigger somehow(about 2500gal planned at this point)... this won't be an issue as I'm changing the type of filtration method I use, and the new system is not supposed to experience Kh and Ph shifts. At least those using it have not had any Ph crashes, and don't have issues with needing to buff up regularly. I'll keep testing to make sure nothing happens of course. 

[Kintaro]

The ideal pH for goldies is 7.4 which is the pH of their blood.  This is an irrefutable fact. 

However the caveat is that this is assuming that the pH remains completely stable.

Herein lies the problem.  In most tanks, the pH starts to slowly decline.  A pH below 7.0 has a potential for disaster while a pH of 7.9 is much much safer.

IMBO I feel it is good to have an extra cushion erring on the high side of 7.4.  That is why I believe 7.6 - 7.8 range is the "ideal" pH.

Don't err too much though.  pH scale is not linear but logarithmic.  A pH of 7.0 is 10x more acidic than a pH of 8.0.  A pH of 6.0 is 100x more acidic than a pH of 8.0.  This is known as a pH crash(a sudden drop of 2 points or more) and will probably kill most goldfishes.
On the flip side, if you go from 7.0 to 8.0, you just made the water 10x more alkaline, which is stressful also to the fish.