- Joined
- Jun 22, 2011
- Messages
- 4,685
- Reaction score
- 3,761
- Hardiness Zone
- 5b
- Country
Again? You must mean 'still'!Ya been on the oxygen again lol
(geez, @addy1 ; smilies have gone AWOL again...sigh)
Again? You must mean 'still'!Ya been on the oxygen again lol
Hi the last time I tested my water was 2013 but then I pretty muchI'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
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 expectIt can be, I used to test now and then and now have not tested in around 6 or more years.
Nice fish!
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.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!
Same here. The only thing I regularly test for is KH because that does drop over time and/or with lots of rain.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.
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!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 waterHope 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 ![]()
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.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.
when this thread was first started i was interested as to what the replies would be and its kind of what i thought, long time ponders dont test as often or ever as new ponders do, im not a new ponder i have been keeping "water" and fish most of my life but i still test i do this for a number of reasons i am constantly changing the fish, be that through growing on and adding or moving on to other ponds, growing fry and adding is another reason i test all the time, but the testing for me is a pat on the back for my hard work also its part of my weekly maintenance which is clean the filter ( i know most of you guys have bogs) 10% water change,test parameters and this is the important bit i sit with my dog and have breakfast at the side of the pond (normaly a sunday) read the paper have a coffee and just stare. i used to do this with my wife and since she passed its something i continued to do, another thing that intrigued me was since this thread was started there have been several people asking for advice and the first thing members do is ask for water test results so as better to advise. so i suppose i am a compulsive tester but that suits me and im quite happy testing compulsively![]()
As water gardener says, sorry for your loss ' Yorkie and may I commend you for keeping your water in good health.when this thread was first started i was interested as to what the replies would be and its kind of what i thought, long time ponders dont test as often or ever as new ponders do, im not a new ponder i have been keeping "water" and fish most of my life but i still test i do this for a number of reasons i am constantly changing the fish, be that through growing on and adding or moving on to other ponds, growing fry and adding is another reason i test all the time, but the testing for me is a pat on the back for my hard work also its part of my weekly maintenance which is clean the filter ( i know most of you guys have bogs) 10% water change,test parameters and this is the important bit i sit with my dog and have breakfast at the side of the pond (normaly a sunday) read the paper have a coffee and just stare. i used to do this with my wife and since she passed its something i continued to do, another thing that intrigued me was since this thread was started there have been several people asking for advice and the first thing members do is ask for water test results so as better to advise. so i suppose i am a compulsive tester but that suits me and im quite happy testing compulsively![]()
read the paper have a coffee and just stare. i used to do this with my wife and since she passed its something i continued to do,
Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?
You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.