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  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    water tests results

    have not tested for a while so thought i would have a test today, things have not changed too much which is encouraging,

    PH 7.5
    Ammonia 0
    Nitrite 0.25
    Nitrate 20
    KH 4 (1st drop plus 3)

    fish seem happy and eating well, i will cut back a bit to see if i can get the Nitrite down but it has always been around this even in the summer, I have also turned the trickle in on a slow feed to refresh the water over a week, just been outside and the sky is clear looks like another frost, pond water holding at 10.4 currently, water looks nice and clear the jap matting definately looks cleaner than what it looked like back in the summer, unsure if this is the poly covers keeping the pond clean of pollen and other air born particles or if the bio has died back a bit due to the colder water temperature? cheers Steve.



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  3. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion davethefish1's Avatar
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    i must admit i've lapsed a bit in my water testing,
    it's been a week or 2 before christmas since i done them last.

    though i'm in my filter house everyday for one reason or another, and my ph and temp are monitored so i always check that everyday.
    and ph shows up any drop in Kh.
    but i do get a bit complacent with the ammonia and nitrite tests as they are pretty much the same every time...

    ...must make the effort this weekend and do a full test...

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  5. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Did my water tests yesterday. First time for a month.
    All ok in the pond. So I fed them. First feed for 4 days.
    How ever on the grow on. Slightly higher nitrite.
    So did 30% water change. Just goes to show.
    To keep doing them. The water testing.
    Fred

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  7. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Same as Dave my Ammonia is thankfully always zero and nitirite 0.2 to 0.25 approx this is my opinion as the colour charts do not show anything between 0 and 0.5 for nitrite its either clear or a shade of pink at 0.5 so anything between you have to guess !, its a shame the colour charts on our drop tests do not offer more colours to check against in between current parameters, does anyone else's kit have colours to choose from between 0 and 0.5 on the nitrite check ?? cheers Steve,

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  9. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by freddyboy View Post
    Did my water tests yesterday. First time for a month.
    All ok in the pond. So I fed them. First feed for 4 days.
    How ever on the grow on. Slightly higher nitrite.
    So did 30% water change. Just goes to show.
    To keep doing them. The water testing.
    Fred

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    Hi Fred yes just shows doesn't it I have turned on my trickle due to my nitrite reading, its not much different to normal but the fact its there has made me turn the trickle on...… personally I think small traces of nitrite will always be evident in our waters this time of year when feeding apart from summer time when the bio is full of goodies..... Steve

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  11. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Hi Fred yes just shows doesn't it I have turned on my trickle due to my nitrite reading, its not much different to normal but the fact its there has made me turn the trickle on...… personally I think small traces of nitrite will always be evident in our waters this time of year when feeding apart from summer time when the bio is full of goodies..... Steve
    Hi mate my pond does not show any .
    But saying that I did nt feed for 4 days.
    Fed yesterday and today.it was on my grow on the slight nitrite. Not the main pond.
    Will test again tomorrow to see lol

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  12. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Mikeh83's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Same as Dave my Ammonia is thankfully always zero and nitirite 0.2 to 0.25 approx this is my opinion as the colour charts do not show anything between 0 and 0.5 for nitrite its either clear or a shade of pink at 0.5 so anything between you have to guess !, its a shame the colour charts on our drop tests do not offer more colours to check against in between current parameters, does anyone else's kit have colours to choose from between 0 and 0.5 on the nitrite check ?? cheers Steve,
    Api kit starts at .25 my old Colombo was .50




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  14. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion davethefish1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Same as Dave my Ammonia is thankfully always zero and nitirite 0.2 to 0.25 approx this is my opinion as the colour charts do not show anything between 0 and 0.5 for nitrite its either clear or a shade of pink at 0.5 so anything between you have to guess !, its a shame the colour charts on our drop tests do not offer more colours to check against in between current parameters, does anyone else's kit have colours to choose from between 0 and 0.5 on the nitrite check ?? cheers Steve,
    the API nitrite charts show .025ppm and to be fair show the difference between 0.25ppm and 0ppm quite clearly.

    the ammonia is more difficult to distinguish, i had to do tests with very pure RO/DI water for a comparison to be sure of the difference between 0ppm and 0.25ppm

    water tests results-pond-nitrite-jpg


    water tests results-pond-ammonia-jpg

    pond nitrite.jpg

    pond ammonia.jpg

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  16. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by davethefish1 View Post
    the API nitrite charts show .025ppm and to be fair show the difference between 0.25ppm and 0ppm quite clearly.

    the ammonia is more difficult to distinguish, i had to do tests with very pure RO/DI water for a comparison to be sure of the difference between 0ppm and 0.25ppm

    water tests results-pond-nitrite-jpg


    water tests results-pond-ammonia-jpg

    pond nitrite.jpg

    pond ammonia.jpg
    To my eye dave on the colours of both tests. I class them as zero.
    Might need my eyes testing. But look good to me lol

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion davethefish1's Avatar
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    Yes mate both at 0ppm or not enough to be detectable.
    But then biomass is still maturing and running very well at 19°C

    When I added the last fish (kujaku) I tested everyday for a week.
    I didn't detect any ammonia increase but nitrite went up to 0.25ppm after 3 days for a few days before dropping back to 0ppm.

    But then low temps massively effect bio performance even below just 15C.

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  20. #11
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by davethefish1 View Post
    Yes mate both at 0ppm or not enough to be detectable.
    But then biomass is still maturing and running very well at 19°C

    When I added the last fish (kujaku) I tested everyday for a week.
    I didn't detect any ammonia increase but nitrite went up to 0.25ppm after 3 days for a few days before dropping back to 0ppm.

    But then low temps massively effect bio performance even below just 15C.
    Once my pond matured fully. Even in winter
    Been good on water testing. Always zero on all tests.
    I am not heated. Last year was first time I put a cover on. In 30 years of keeping koi.And pond was always between 8c and 10c. And I fed the same as summer time.
    And never had a problem with water tests.
    Always zero ammonia. Zero nitrite. And it's the same this year. Bit colder this year. Except for the last few days. Pond has dipped as low as 7.5c. Once 7c. Now back to 9.0c and tests are all good.
    I feed only above 8c so this year. Maybe missed about 9 days of feed if you add it all up. And the tests are all good. I have used other test kits as well to make sure
    All is well.
    At the moment I am experimenting with flowing my top pond into the lower main pond. To add a chill factor.

    Reason last year I shut top pond down and flowed the return back to pond on a bypass in pond line.

    But I ended up having parasites problem for the first time ever. Flukes and whitespot. Around the end of spring time.
    I believe they came from top pond plants
    Because of water being dormant through winter. Even though it was all cleaned and left for 24 hours with PP. And then dumped and cleaned again with pp.

    So I thought I would experiment with it this
    Winter.
    To see if it alters anything. And sacrifice a couple of degrees in temperature. And see if it happens again in the spring time.
    Up to now all has been good. Still feeding fish and water testing done. And always good readings . And the fish are happy. So it looks like I will be able to keep the top pond flowing every winter.




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    Last edited by freddyboy; 05-01-2020 at 02:48 PM.

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  22. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    thanks Mike and Dave for your pics, i will look into this API kit when i next need one...... Cheers Steve.

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