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jane_24_gw

Help ASAP water testing

jane_24
13 years ago

I have had my pond for several years, but really don't know what I am doing. I just stopped at Lowes, and decided to buy a pond water test kit as we are having heat advisory weather. Right now it is 94 and is 6:30 pm.

They only had one type. strips. it test for

and what my readings were:

PH 80-85

Alkalinity close to 720

Hardness soft

Nitrite 0.5

Nitrate 20

The weather has been like this for days.

I have an areator

HWLP what do I need to do........

Comments (9)

  • nkm56
    13 years ago

    How many fish do you have in your pond? What kind of fish - koi, goldfish, other? How large is the pond? Do you have any shade? Plants? How often do you feed?

    Is the temperature you mentioned, 94, water temperature or air temperature? The air temperatures here reached 97 yesterday, but my water temperature was 80 degrees, which is acceptable.

    I'm not too concerned about the Ph. Mine tends to run about 80, the fish are accustomed to it. Sudden Ph changes can be stressful, but if it stays consistent, I wouldn't worry about that too much unless it goes above 85. Then you may want to consider Ph Down to slowly bring the Ph to a more acceptable level.

    Your more pressing problem is the nitrites, which are toxic to fish. This is caused by the ammonia excreted from the fish waste, even from their gills. Your nitrites are not extremely high at this point, but you may need to add an ammonia binder to detoxify it while you work on bringing the levels down.

    Nitrates are not harmful to fish, but at high levels can lead to other problems, such as methane gas production, which is not good.

    I would stop feeding the fish for a few days, do a partial water change, and clean out any debris that may be decaying in the pond. If you're overstocked, as many of us are, you may need to look into increasing your bio filtration or rehoming a few of the fish. I'm not an advocate of adding bottled bio bacteria, since it is a naturally occurring bacteria, but you may want to do this to help bring your bacteria concentration up to help deal with the load. If you have a UV, turn it off until the bacteria has settled, a few days should be more than enough time.

    Also, if the fish have been spawning, that will also bring the nitrite levels up.

    Keep the aerator going.

  • jane_24
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    thank you for responding
    I am on well water and very hard water and full of minerals
    but do have a water softner.
    I don't understand most of this and the other things that I read on here. My water is clean and there is NO rocks or decaying mater in the pond.
    I do not know my water size, it is preform, was given to me used, had it for years and very odd shape so no way of knowing the size but not too large, Kinda Kidney shape, with shelves, 18" deep wildest is 6 1/2 ft and 13 ft long.
    I have one water lily and a 2 blog plants.
    Part shade and part sun.
    94 was outside temp.
    1 Butterfly koi 7 inches
    1 comet 5 inches
    and 3 comets about 2 inches
    I have a small outside filter.
    They probably were over fed last weekend.
    I usually feed once in morning and once in evening.
    Just tested water again
    PH 8.0
    Alk 300
    Hardness soft
    Nitrite 0
    Nirate less then 20 (about 15) strip just has 0 or 20)

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    13 years ago

    Hey there. Nancy gives good advice. You really need to measure the temperature of the water since it affects all the other measurements. Ideal temperature range is 65oF-75oF and acceptable temperature range is 35oF-85oF. If the temperature rises to/above 85oF there is a big reduction of oxygen in the water. Agitation can add oxygen as a fountain, waterfall, spitters or an air stone. The air stone will not raise the water temperature as much. A cup of Hydrogen Peroxide will increase oxygen. Add it slowly. A slow drip from your primary water source can reduce the temperature without much harm to the fish although large amounts quickly are too shocking.You may see the fish playing around the area where water is dripping into the pond. Artificially softened water is not usually the best for a pond and it is expensive. Unless your well water is above 8.5ppm it would be fine for partial water replacement. Fish seem to do fine at 8.0ppm.

    Is the filter a bio filter or just a mechanical filter? Often mechanical filters become bio filters. Temperature can affect the action of the bio filter. Even clear water has chemicals like ammonia you cannot see. That is why you need the test kit. Strips are notoriously inaccurate. Don't waste your time and money using them. If you say the outside filter is small you could think about up-sizing it in the future.

    I have attached a link to help you figure out the size of your pond. Another way to figure volume is to add salt but since you have artificially softened water it isn't practical.

    Norm Meck has an article on water chemistry that you will find very useful.

    http://koiclubsandiego.org/library/preface.php

    Here is a link that might be useful: sizing irregular pond volume

  • jane_24
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    My outside facet has developed a small drip, so the hose has been in the pond for the last two days. What I meant by small pump is that it isn't a skippy or a skimmer. I have upgraded 3 times on the pump and filter, and I believe it is ok. I know the water temp is ok, I have several plants along the outside edge of the pond that have runners a couple runners hanging into the pond also, maybe 5 total that have a nice roots tiny roots on them, I trim them back when they get more then a few inches long, have for years.
    Well water is the hardness there is, according to water tests.
    I have 4 air stones and a water fall. One of the air stones has quite working so last night, I had a very small pump that I wasn't using and I put it in so just move the water around. You can't even see that it is working until you bring it up to the surface.
    There must have been a small shower last night sometimes as the deck had signs of rain, but not much.
    I have never added salt before, I do have some string algea starting to form, I did had about a cup of peroxide last night, which was all I have on hand. I am not close to a town, to go get anymore, but will tomorrow.
    The fish are NOT hanging around the edge or the air stones,
    I have not fed them today or last night.

  • drh1
    13 years ago

    Hi Jane,
    I'm assuming you may have dropped a decimal point on some of your readings, i.e. pH = 80 is 8.0, etc. The only reason I mention it is for your alkalinity reading since I'm not sure whether you really mean it is 300 or 30.0. I suspect, given your pH of 8.0 that your alkalinity reading is closer to 30. I second the issue associated with using the strips since many have a relatively short shelf-life and often you can't know how long they've been sitting in a warehouse somewhere. The presence of nitrite may or may not be of any significance. When did you take the measurement? If you took it say an hour or two after you fed your fish then I'm not surprised - it just represents the partial conversion of the ammonia excreted by the fish after they have eaten. With respect to your aerator...if you don't see bubbles coming to the surface it is not working. The motor may be humming along but either your stone is too deep (and the pump is unable to pump against the pressure at that depth) or the pump is old and either needs to be replaced or rebuilt. Rebuilding a pump is not difficult but sometimes it is easier just to buy a new one. I would probably add "a bit" of baking soda to boost the alkalinity (if it is, in fact, at 30.). How much? Add a 1/4 cup, let it dissolve and mix around for a few hours and then check your alkalinity. Once you're above approximately 70-80 mg/L (ppm) you should be fine.
    ---David

  • jane_24
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    No the alkalinity was 750 now it is 300 or a bit lower, that is what the strips says.
    No, it wasn't after feeding them, since my last sentence was "I have not fed my fish this morning or last night"
    The best that I can tell my pond only holds between 300 - 500 gallons. I guess my only mistake was buying the strips and even checking the water. I have had the pond for about 18 years without knowing the size or testing the water.

  • mike_il
    13 years ago

    Jane 24,
    You have gotten some good advice and some that not so good. With the well water that you have I would guess that your PH is about 8.5, alkalinity about 450 as with the hardness. Your test kit may or may not be correct on the nitrite. But I would also want an ammonia reading also. I would guess that you could also have some ammonia. I would use some salt about 3 to 5 lbs depending on the amount of water. If you have 300 gallons then 3 lbs. You may need to look at filtration or the number of fish. The PH and alkalinity will be fine. Stop putting soft water in the pond as the fish and filter needs some hardness.
    Mike

  • jane_24
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks, Mike
    When adding salt.... do I put it in the filter or just add it to the pond......?

  • mike_il
    13 years ago

    Jane,
    It doesn't matter where you add the salt. When it dissolves it will get mixed with the rest of the water in the pond.
    Mike