nitrite in source water

[mgmine]

That is really bad advice.
Water testing is very important to determine water quality.

Mitch I know you are an advocate of testing the water. I at first disregarded the advice from my pond store which was "don't waste your money" but was more than happy to sell me a kit. I bought it and also bought into what I read on the internet. Test your water blaa blaa blaa. I soon learned the value of a $12 dollar kit when I took my pond water into the county testing lab, a real lab. The results on my drinking water and pond water tests were not even close to what I had tested. If I had tried to "fix" my pond water I would have messed it up so bad I probably never could have gotten it better. Even if the test was correct I would have added things that any new pond owner would add based on what is always repeated on the internet. A pond is a pond and not a swimming pool. No one tests farm ponds and they do just fine for the most part. My pond store doesn't test its water and they are in the business of ponds so I don't test mine and the carp (koi) do just fine. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to nature. Let nature take care of itself and see how the pond goes. A pond keeper can get into more problems by trying to fix something that will fix itself. I do partial water changes, turn on a UV light when needed and listen to real-world advice. I believe in what I can see and what others have experienced. I do not necessarily believe in what is repeated over and over again. If a fish gets sick I'll get rid of it instead of trying to diagnose it from what non veterinarian advice. If my water looks really bad or smells really bad I'll drain it. I earned from a goldfish bowl when I was a kid that importance of clean water.

 

[MitchM]

I am an advocate of testing water.
I also understand the frustrations of inaccurate testing results.

You live close to a large source of balanced water, so you can change your water with minimal disruption to your water chemistry.
Water chemistry is important to fish because their mucous covering is their main defense against their water environment.
A change in water chemistry will weaken their mucous covering protection.

I am more interested in the trend of numerous water test results instead of a single test number.

I've said before that I don't test water much any more, I rely on water appearance, fish behaviour, plant health and environmental conditions as indicators of my overall pond health, but that only only comes with experience.

Thanks for replying to my post, by the way. I was hoping I didn't offend you with my post.

.

 

[mgmine]

I am an advocate of testing water.
I also understand the frustrations of inaccurate testing results.

You live close to a large source of balanced water, so you can change your water with minimal disruption to your water chemistry.
Water chemistry is important to fish because their mucous covering is their main defense against their water environment.
A change in water chemistry will weaken their mucous covering protection.

I am more interested in the trend of numerous water test results instead of a single test number.

I've said before that I don't test water much any more, I rely on water appearance, fish behaviour, plant health and environmental conditions as indicators of my overall pond health, but that only only comes with experience.

Thanks for replying to my post, by the way. I was hoping I didn't offend you with my post.

.

No you didn't offend me in the least. I enjoy reading what you have to say.

 

[addy1]

I tested the hot tub pond, first time I have tested our pond water in 6ish years, but I did a huge water add after draining to catch that darn fish. The only things I tested for was ph, our water is very acidic, and hardness, our water is very soft.
Had to wait to add new fish until the ph and hardness went up. I killed a bunch of fish when I first built our big pond, poor things were thrown into a acid bath.

I enjoy @MitchM posts about water, even have learned a bit lol