I have another confession to make...

[JohnHuff]

Bless me...... for I have sinned.

Reading this forum has never made me guiltier in my life. OK, here it goes. I don't test my water.

A lot of answers to questions start off with "what are your water readings?" When I first inherited my pond I used to test the water but the results always came back negative so I pretty much stopped. I very occasionally test my water now after making big changes like adding fish or taking one of my filters off line but I generally don't.

So how ponders here actually regularly test their mature ponds? And if you do, what is your rationale for doing so?

 

[sissy]

I have sinned also as I don't test as much either .Last time was after my well went out and had no choice as I could not add any water for over a week and it was hot and I had a leak also and before that it was over 2 months ago .But also think newer ponds should be tested more often until they get established

 

[don't ask]

Only when something seems a little out of sync or out of whack... and generally only ammonia... i know they are important but ph which goes up and down during the day....phosphates and nitrites always stay at zero.. kh is usually at about 74

 

[blessedfamily]

I have tested twice in 5 years so I am with you JohnHuff.

 

[buckry]

I never tested my goldfish pond, but I've been testing the new pond weekly, but I totally see the rationale. How many good test results do you need to see to realize you're keeping a balanced pond? I've done 3 so far, zeros across the board, 8.0 PH, normal hardness. I'll probably keep it up the rest of this season, then we'll see.

 

[j.w]

I'm guilty also, I confess!

 

[JohnHuff]

I feel better now knowing that I'm in the company of people who don't dechlorinate their water or test their water!

 

[addy1]

Me either no testing. Just checked the hardness to see if I needed more shells, our water is soft. Tossing in another 100 pounds

 

[ididntdoit99]

Well water, so no dechorinator, and my test kit ran out of a couple of things a few months ago and I havent bothered to replace it, I probably should get one on order just in case soemthing seems weird and I DO need to test, but *knock on wood* havent really had any reason to. Fish are happy, water is clean, scoop out my skimmer every couple of days and feed the fish twice a day, and thats about all i've put into it.

 

[crsublette]

Most own a car just to have something nice, drives well, makes ya feel sexy when driving a really nice one. I would suppose ponds are not much different for folk.

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Curiosity gets the best of me, I like learning why things change when they do change, and I like to tweak things so these are reasons why I test my water with kits and with what I see, hear, smell ... and maybe taste. :razz:

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I think testing is important just so ya know what ya are dealing with. Beyond this, I bet a fella never tests or just tests once a month .... or until there is a problem, which I think is a bit too late to then start testng.

I think it depends on what ya are actually doing with your water's ecosystem.

I think ponders likes to say they are doing much in their water, wanting to convince themself, but they really are not doing much to cause a change in the water's ecosystem ... so most don't need to test ... unless ya have very soft water as Addy mentioned about the shells.

New pond's ecosystem will be quite weak so water should be monitored if wanting to add just a big influx of fish at the start; otherwise, I would not be suprised when spotting dead or slowly moving, ill fish.

Also, we're most likely talking goldfish, even koi are quite hardy and feeder goldfish (comets) even more hardy, but still they can get sick due to reasons involving what happens in the water.

Testing really does not take long unless you're just a clutz. PetsMart and test strip water tests are really fast. Get fancy with alot of liquid tests for more precision taking around 45 minutes or less.

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CO2 is one major variable that causes pH to fluctuate from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn. Algae and oxygenators contribute to this. I am told that a pH change from dusk and dawn more than .3~.5, within 24 hours, is no good by attacking fish's immune system; so might need water changes or more KH.

If ya have algae, then ya likely will never register much phosphorus, if any. However, if there is more decomposition present versus algae present, which allows Phosphorus to gain, then ya might be setting your self up for an algae bloom if other variables of water chemistry is positive for a bloom.

 

[don't ask]

i think it comes with time and more or less experience when it comes to testing.. when you walk out to your pond and see the water, plants and fish you get a "feeling" if things are right.. yes we may see something that is not the norm and then check water but to constantly check water weekly after you've had a pond up and running for sometime would to me be like watching water boil.. you know it will and checking the pot won't make it happen any sooner..but you know to not let the water boil all the way out which is kinda like instinct on when you need to check your pond water...

 

[crsublette]

Some folk's water boil much faster than others.

 

[addy1]

I got bored with testing it, after the first summer the constant good readings, tested less and less, now seldom. I know our main problem is acidic, soft well water, with it as hot as it has been and temp going back up to 100 I have to add well water to keep the pond full. So keep an eye on ph, i.e. maybe once a month check it. It too does not vary, but I have a nice ph meter, takes a second.............lol

 

[buckry]

Tested twice yesterday due to odd fish behavior, both tests were perfect. I can see how you might get bored with this, but since I'm still only 30 days into my pond I'm going to keep testing.

 

[addy1]

Tested twice yesterday due to odd fish behavior, both tests were perfect. I can see how you might get bored with this, but since I'm still only 30 days into my pond I'm going to keep testing.

When my pond was new I was a lot more diligent about testing, This year I tested the water at the beginning of the season after being off for the winter, and once since then.