When should I see something?

[TgM]

I was just wondering when I should see something from my water tests results. I test at least every week, sometimes every few days. They've always read 0, ammonia, nitrite, & nitrate. Figured I'd get some kind of reading sometime on something.

Am-0
Na-0
Ni-0
Kh-140
pH-8.2

Test new last summer, can't find an expiration date.

4 5-7 inch comets
2 7 inch goldfish
7 5-11 inch koi

I have a 4000 gallon pond built last September, enlarged this spring to 5500.

I have a 3600 gph pumps on skimmers ( actually 2 1800's ) feeding my skippy style filter (added two months ago) & a 4500gph feeding my 4000 gph pressure filter w uv. They've been running over 2 months ( since ice came off).

For aeration I've got the waterfall & an air pump with 2 air stones and 2 defusers.

For plants I have 14 lilies (thanks addy!), few water lettuce & hycintha, 6 or so iris and couple ht rush, and a few other plants.

No green water, small bit of carpet algae, bit of string algae.

No problems (as they say hope I just didn't jinx myself) fish act good, just thought I'd see something as my pond or filters cycled this spring.

 

[JohnHuff]

For the same reason, I've stopped testing my water, unless I think something is wrong.

 

[dieselplower]

If you never see ammonia you won't see nitrite and then you won't see nitrate either. With proper filtration and fish load it's possible to not register anything. I just tested my pond and ammonia and nitrate were 0. That's all I tested for.

 

[RobAmy]

Agree with the above. I never see Anmoina or Nitrate either this year. I think my filtration to fish load ratio is very good.

 

[JohnHuff]

Now I feel like we should all sneak by TgM's pond and pour a bottle of ammonia into it just so he feels he hasn't wasted his time.

 

[TgM]

RN pool is open, drinks are cold, summer's finally here - why not!

Honestly being a newbie I thought I'd see something reading wise. They'll surely be issues down the line so I should just enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[CometKeith]

Hey Tgm,The longer you have a pond you just kind of know what to look for and I think a lot of long time pond owners rarely test. The only time I ever test is in the spring when the weather can be unpredictable from cold to hot and back again and my pond hasn't cycled yet. Then if I test it and something shows on the readings it just reaffirms what I thought the problem was. If you see a fish that doesn't look healthy you should test right away. Also it's good for new pond owners to test frequently until they learn the art of maintaining healthy water for their fish. If everything is good then you are doing something right!

 

[Dave 54]

Hey Tgm,The longer you have a pond you just kind of know what to look for and I think a lot of long time pond owners rarely test. The only time I ever test is in the spring when the weather can be unpredictable from cold to hot and back again and my pond hasn't cycled yet. Then if I test it and something shows on the readings it just reaffirms what I thought the problem was. If you see a fish that doesn't look healthy you should test right away. Also it's good for new pond owners to test frequently until they learn the art of maintaining healthy water for their fish. If everything is good then you are doing something right!

Not testing your pond becomes bad practice you should test on a weekly basis that way your on top of everything and not caught out when things go wrong , only use the drop tests as the other test strips give widely varying results not all of them a reality as to whats happening in your pond

Dave

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Dave Now that makes me wonder how many people test on a regular basis like you. I would just assume that if someone has had healthy water and healthy fish for a long time then as long as there are no big changes why would anyone test? I haven't tested in a few years myself because there was no reason to. It would be interesting to hear from other people to see if they test every week like you or just once in a great while when needed like me. Maybe the difference is Koi versus goldfish. My guess is Koi owners need to be more vigilant because of their size and value. As having a pond with goldfish I don't like losing any but generally they do well without me doing much and if I see any not doing well in the spring I know what to do.