Can water testing become a compulsion?

[Jhn]

You sure it wasn't ME?? I CAN be acerbic, ya know! (just in acronymistic format, is all! )

I just get “accused“ of peeking, but not sure how anyone knows that since I purportedly peek purposefully while pondering why no one is looking. So if no one is looking then was I actually peeking kinda like the bear pooping in the woods or is that a tree falling in the woods. Its all good though until it’s not and you have this guy leaving you flaming bags o’ on your front porch.

 

[GBBUDD]

This poor poster is getting way more then they bargained for

 

[brokensword]

This poor poster is getting way more then they bargained for

...and we're JUST GETTING STARTED, GB! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

 

[GBBUDD]

didn't kill me but there's not much left it feels like these days either. Ok maybe i should say i pay a much higher price then i use to

 

[Gazzas pool]

...and we're JUST GETTING STARTED, GB! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Ya been on the oxygen again lol

 

[brokensword]

Ya been on the oxygen again lol

Again? You must mean 'still'!

(geez, @addy1 ; smilies have gone AWOL again...sigh)

 

[GBBUDD]

I got enough smiles for everyone.

 

[CometKeith]

I'm not knocking those Ponders out there whom start up a new pond and instantly buy a test kit, well I am if they get addicted lol.
I was about to purchase a kit to test the ppm parameters and still might though I am concerned I'm only doing it to fulfil a drive to make the new home I created a totally stress free habitat for the aquatic inhabitants.
But hay, I did put some thought into the very modest layout of this thing, and tried not to introduce any harmful or dirty stones, I'm aware of the hardness in our local water therfore I only did a gradual fill and relied on a rainy top up, lucky maybe. I think the pond hadn't cycled much though before I finally put fish in, naughty me, as the rocks around the edges were turning a reddy colour, like on some bird baths, a lot of birds do take baths in it but nowadays no red has returned. I have a suspicion the reddinous may have been down to a nearby conifer shedding dead spinnals, I fished a few out from the edges and pruned the tree plus vaccumed the sheddings. All I'm saying is as fun as testing could be, if I don't allow the fish n. o. s to harm the toxicity of the pond could I not just sit back and observe? Ps, I did get the card test from my local aquatic store, so I'm not totally irresponsible ;-) View attachment 141283

Hi the last time I tested my water was 2013 but then I pretty much
know what to look for. If your fish start flashing that’s a bad sign, sorry no acronyms here! Why do people make everything so complicated!

 

[callingcolleen1]

It can be, I used to test now and then and now have not tested in around 6 or more years.

Nice fish!

Me neither. Have not tested my water since late 1990's. Used to test when it was new pond. Now its all well balanced and runs same year after year after three decade's. You pretty know what to expect

 

[Gazzas pool]

Hi the last time I tested my water was 2013 but then I pretty much
know what to look for. If your fish start flashing that’s a bad sign, sorry no acronyms here! Why do people make everything so complicated!

Hope you mean constant flashing Keith coz I've noticed the odd flash when I've been crouched by my small pond hoping for a glimps of my ten tiddlers from the local park lake coz the water has murked up again.
After a recent water test from the aquatic store came back sound, I've just put 3 small goldfish in ‍

 

[WaterGardener]

I don't often test the water in my pond, but I do test the KH level maybe once a month or so, especially if we have a lot of rain. Rain here is acidic and it can use up my buffer more quickly than I would like, so I try to keep up with that.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I don't often test the water in my pond, but I do test the KH level maybe once a month or so, especially if we have a lot of rain. Rain here is acidic and it can use up my buffer more quickly than I would like, so I try to keep up with that.

Same here. The only thing I regularly test for is KH because that does drop over time and/or with lots of rain.

 

[CometKeith]

Hope you mean constant flashing Keith coz I've noticed the odd flash when I've been crouched by my small pond hoping for a glimps of my ten tiddlers from the local park lake coz the water has murked up again.
After a recent water test from the aquatic store came back sound, I've just put 3 small goldfish in ‍

Yes an odd flash is probably not a big deal. It’s when you see a new regular behavior from your fish it’s a dead giveaway something major is wrong with the fish and probably the pond too. Oh as long as it’s not spawning! There is a pretty big difference!

 

[yorkshire pudding]

Hope you mean constant flashing Keith coz I've noticed the odd flash when I've been crouched by my small pond hoping for a glimps of my ten tiddlers from the local park lake coz the water has murked up again.
After a recent water test from the aquatic store came back sound, I've just put 3 small goldfish in ‍

maybe you need to get a test kit and test your water

 

[Criscar]

It can be, but at least, in the beginning it’s the best way to learn about the nitrogen cycle and to appreciate the relationship between everything that goes on in a pond.

I'm with Turtlemommy here. I would argue testing is important when starting a new pond to monitor the nitrogen cycle so you don't have to rely upon fish dying or massive algae blooms to know if something's not going smoothly, but I can't see why frequent monitoring would be needed after cycling is complete if there's no sign of problems, nor why using a kit in the beginning would lead to compulsive testing down the road in a mature pond? I already had an API master test kit from my aquarium so I just used that when the pond was cycling.