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Overview
Water
testing of your ponds is a sometimes neglected part of your overall pond
maintenance. It's importance to good pond husbandry is only second to water
changes. Testing, will give you early warning signs of impending disaster.
A reliable test kit from a good manufacturer is needed. Liquid test
kits have an average shelf life of 1 Year, dry test kits somewhat longer, check
the documentation.
Test strips are a very convenient way to test water,
but not as accurate as most of the liquid and tablet kits. With strips, it's
important replace the bottle seal quickly, as humidity will change the test
results and render the strips useless.
Why
Bother?
It is very helpful to keep
a log book with your dated readings, after a period of time you will be amazed,
at the correlation between new fish additions, temperatures, water changes and
the like. Test your water at an even temperature above 65 Degrees
F. even if you have to bring the water indoors to let the test vial warm up.
Failure to do so, will skew your test results
Nitrogen
Cycle
This pictorial representation of
the Nitrogen Cycle will give you an idea of what your tests
represent and how they relate to each other.
Smell
Place your hand in the water and then bring it up to your nose, does it smell
fishy or "off"? Water should have an earthen smell, similar to the smell after
a good rain on a summer's day. Fishy or strange smells, warrant further immediate water
testing, as high Ammonia, Nitrites or Dissolved Organic Compounds (DOC) could be present. Other odors could include
detergents or pesticides, or just a general "off" smell.
remedies.
Appearance
Is your water cloudy, milky, green or brown? A simple test is to fill a clear
glass with pond water and place a white paper behind the glass. Observe the
color of the water, a slight green tinge is normal, cloudy, milky water may
indicate a bacterial bloom, brown water indicates decaying plant material e.g.
Tannins or iron rich water.
Small particles floating in the glass indicate an inefficient, undersized
or poorly maintained filter system.
Chlorine
or Chloramines
If you have city water, chances are, it is
treated with either Chlorine or it's deadlier and more persistent cousin
Chloramines. Adding de-chlorinators should be done before filling your pond, a water change,
or topping off your pond. Chlorine, while being deadly to fish can be
easily eliminated with commercially available de-chlorinators i.e. Aqua Safe(tm).
Chloramines are harder to eliminate since most commercial preparations will
neutralize the chlorine part but, in doing so, release Ammonia into the water.
Amquel(tm) from Kordon will neutralize the Chlorine and bind the Ammonia until
your bio-filter converts it to nitrates.
If you want to dechlorinate water here is a
stock solution to can make yourself:
4 ounces (1/4 lb) Sodium Thiosulfate crystals
dissolved in 1 gallon of distilled or deionized water. Use 5 ml of the
solution for each 10 gallons of makeup water to neutralize up to 3.75 ppm
chlorine. One cup of the solution will treat 500 gallons of tap water. (The
entire one gallon of solution will treat about 7500 gallons of tap water.)
Shelf life of this solution is limited to 6 months in a cool, dark location.
PH
Ph is a measure of
alkalinity or acidity of water. Ph should be tested at the same time every day, as there
will be ph swings from morning to dusk. Optimum for Koi and pond fish is the
7.4-8.2 range but ranges from 7.0 to 9.0 are tolerated provided the fish are
acclimated slowly. Changing Ph to either higher or lower is of no benefit,
unless you are a breeder or are keeping Champion Koi. Quick Ph changes can
harm, stress and in extreme cases, kill, your fish. High Ph makes Ammonia
more toxic, so your ammonia levels should be monitored more closely if you have
high Ph.
Ammonia
NH4
Ammonia,
the first stage of the Nitrogen cycle, is constantly exuded by fish as urine,
feces and is also produced by decaying plant material and can kill or stress
fish, especially at high Ph levels. While Ammonia is ever present in a system,
if your Bio-Filter is working correctly you should never see any readings.
Ammonia readings should be taken on a daily basis, when the pond is first set up
and filled, or ponds that have had a 50% or more water change, or new fish are
introduced, It is not necessary to test for Ammonia in established systems
unless your Nitrites or Nitrates show high readings since these compounds are
interrelated. Ammonia
can be eliminated by Zeolite ,or any of the
commercial preparations I.E. Ammo-Lock (tm). Read more on
Ammonia testing.
Nitrites
NO2
Nitrites,
the second stage of the nitrogen cycle, while being less toxic than Ammonia, are
still a detriment to your fish's health, can cause brown blood disease and
should be tested for on a weekly basis. As with Ammonia, high Nitrite readings
indicate a problem with your bio-filter, or fish load, or water quality. High
Nitrate levels can be lowered by water changes.
Nitrates
NO3
Nitrates,
the third stage, of the Nitrogen cycle is the least harmful compound and will be
absorbed by aquatic plants as nutrients. A low nitrate reading is generally
thought to be harmless.
Hard or Soft?
Once
you've tested your water supply, the hardness of your water will be reported
in grains per gallon, milligrams per liter (mg/l) or parts per million (ppm).
One grain of hardness equals 17.1 mg/l or ppm of hardness.
Alkalinity
or KH
Measures carbonates and bicarbonates in your pond. These two
compounds act as a buffer to keep your Ph stable and are consumed by your bio
bacteria. A rubber lined pond will require some additions of baking soda to keep
the KH between recommended levels of from 120 to 170 PPM. Concrete ponds by
virtue of their construction, usually leach enough of these compounds into your
pond. Add your baking soda in small amounts, over a period of several days and
discontinue feeding your fish for this period.
Temperatures
A
good pond Thermometer is a wise investment. Koi and Pond fish are hardy
creatures, but fast changes over 5 degrees F, especially a
lowering of temperatures, should be
avoided as it will stress your fish and increase the possibility of disease.
There
are other tests, Salinity, Dissolved Oxygen, Oxygen Redox Potential, to name but
a few. They are valuable in their own right for more specialized water chemistry
knowledge, but require expensive dedicated
metering equipment and some Chemistry knowledge and are beyond the scope of this
article.
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