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  1. #1
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    Pond health check carried out today

    I had Lee Burrows come round today and do a pond health check and was expecting some major issues.

    All went really well considering the Eazy Pod was only fitted on the May Day bank holiday weekend so not fully matured yet.

    KH = 8.0
    PH = 8.0
    Ammonia = 0.0
    Nitrite = 0.75
    Nitrate = 20
    TDS = 320
    Salt = 0.01
    Temp = 17.6
    O2 = 9 mgl
    Chlorine = 0.0

    He did scrapes on 4 fish and all came up clean just had to remove a couple of damaged scales on a couple of the fish.

    So apart from the Nitrite being a bit high which he put down to the filter not fully matured and both of us getting soaked while trying to catch and do the scrapes it was a good result all round. He came round before a few years back and he found some flukes and some trichodina which was treated and cured at the time.

    When I tested last week the readings I got were showing a very small amount of Ammonia and about the same amount of Nitrite. I've got them written down somewhere so will add them on here for comparison later on.

    He's a really nice guy to deal with so well worth getting him out should you need him for anything even as a second opinion to set your mind to rest. He doesn't charge a fortune either which is great as a lot of these so called specialist seem to charge what they like and the final bill looks more like a phone number than an invoice total.



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  3. #2
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Jussai RJW2012's Avatar
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    Pond health check carried out today

    Good for you, always nice to get a ‘clean’ bill of health - Lee knows his stuff also.

    Just don’t change anything now, just work on that TDS - what’s your tap water TDS?

    Rob.


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  5. #3
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    Thanks Rob.

    Lee reckoned a few more regular water changes would help with the high readings but wasn't concerned about the TDS reading just the Nitrite.

    Don't know what the tap water TDS is as he didn't check it, probably because he wasn't worried about it?

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    May I ask where he’s based?
    thanks

  8. #5
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    Near Epsom race course I think.

  9. #6
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    After a few small water changes and filter cleans I tested again today and had some good results I think.

    Readings taken at 11:30 am
    PH - 8
    Ammonia - 0
    Nitrite - 0.25
    Nitrate - 20
    KH - 7
    GH - 15
    Temp - 24 degrees C (not sure if that's right as it didn't feel that warm today)


    Previous readings I took a few days ago on the 3rd of June at 3:20 pm
    PH - 7.5
    Ammonia - 0.2
    Nitrite - 1.0
    Nitrate - 60
    KH - 8.5
    GH - 13
    Temp - 29 degrees C

    Just need to get a TDS meter and an O2 tester now. Was recommended an API test kit for the O2 readings.

    So it currently looks like things are going in the right direction now after fitting the Eazy Pod

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  11. #7
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Jussai RJW2012's Avatar
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    Looking good...


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  13. #8
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    Thanks.

    I was most surprised to see the Nitrate had dropped as I thought our tap water was giving a reading of 60 to 80 when I last tested it but that was a few years ago now.

    I think I did a slightly bigger than expected water change yesterday as I looked in the shed this morning when I fed the fish and found the floor was flooded I hadn't shut the waste valve on the Eazy Pod properly yesterday afternoon when I flushed it out I thought I saw something moving in or under one of the boxes on the floor this morning and found it was a frog, probably came in for a swim last night

  14. #9
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    Correction it wasn't an API O2 test kit it was a Tetra O2 test kit. Probably explains why I couldn't find any on ebay just now.

  15. #10
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    I have Lee round once a year in May, for health check/scrapes on the Koi, he's a nice guy, who knows his stuff.

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  17. #11
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    Yes I totally agree as that is the second time he's been round to me.

    For what he does and considering it's a bit of a specific or specialist job he's very reasonably priced.

  18. #12
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    Just tested the water again tonight and the readings were almost the same as they were on the 15th except the Nitrate was up slightly at about 30

    I've cleaned the filter twice and flushed it about 3 times so was surprised to see the Nitrite hasn't dropped. The pump was clogged up with blanket weed and the flow through the filter slowed down noticeably but was cleared out a couple of days ago so that might explain the lack of drop in the Nitrite regarding? I pulled out quite a bit of blanket weed when I cleaned the pump and was going to use some Aqua Source Blanket Answer but only once the Nitrite had dropped to 0

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  20. #13
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Jussai RJW2012's Avatar
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    Background Nitrate in your tap water? Mine is what I’d consider quite high, but the water company say its ‘safe.’

    Can you get a trickle tower/shower going, might be an option?

    Milaz is your man for that!

    Rob.


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  22. #14
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    Thanks Rob gives me a job for tomorrow - test the water coming out of the carbon filter and see how the readings compare. Certain readings I can rule out or ignore as the filter system for the pond will be dealing with them but all readings side by side will be interesting.

    I've got a DIY barrel filter turning up next week hopefully which may help with the bio side of things that the Eazy Pod can't cope with if the feeding level goes up.

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  24. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by RJW2012 View Post
    Background Nitrate in your tap water? Mine is what I’d consider quite high, but the water company say its ‘safe.’
    You know they are not being 100% honest with you when you have a pond full of fish with 3 eyes or 2 heads lol

  25. #16
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    Tested the tap water this afternoon and got some strange results

    PH - 8
    Ammonia - 0
    Nitrite - 0
    Nitrate - 2.5
    KH - 12
    GH - 20
    Temp - 23 degrees C

    I wasn't expecting to see Zero readings for Ammonia and Nitrite plus the Nitrate was much lower than expected too. KH and GH were higher than expected.

    Checked the pump again and it was clogged up with blanket weed again so need to get rid of the the weed. I've got some Blanket Weed Resolve but not sure if it's a good idea to use it with a Nitrite reading of 0.25?

    Going to do a couple of small water changes over the next couple of days and retest the water so as long as the pump stays running and doesn't clog up again hopefully the readings will be good for early next week to use the blanket weed resolve.

  26. #17
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    BTW These results were from the water coming out of the carbon filter that fills the pond up and not directly from the tap unfiltered and with full fat chlorine still in it

    Got to see if I can find my DPD4 tablets so I can check the carbon filter is OK still.

 

 

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