Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Best water test kit

Can anyone recommend the best water test kit. My ph seems to be getting low. I want to buy a good kit and start watching it closer. Not just ph but hardness and alkalinity also.

Flame, sorry I missed your post. I have the API freshwater master kit 800. I "think" that will cover what you want. It's around $25-$30.

Thank you sir and I hope you had a wonderful birthday Al.

I did, thanks.

Bumping this up. I haven’t seen anything on this within the last year or so.
I’ve seen the api products at Walmart, I’m interested in do, alk, nitrate/nitrate , etc. is the api a recommended product still? I’m willing to spend a little more If there is something that is easier to use and/or more accurate than a $25 kit..

I recently purchased the CHEMetrics K-7512 Dissolved Oxygen Kit, 1-12 ppm Range and had the chance to borrow an expensive electronic DO handheld device to cross check it and the CHEMets kit was found to be very accurate. The only hold back, which is not very critical, is that if the color of the test sample falls between the colors of the comparison vials you just know the actual result is in between somewhere. Once again, not a big deal and very easy to use. Shipped to your door about $60.

I also purchased the API Pond Master Test Kit for checking pH, ammonia, nitrite and phosphate. Easy to use, but once again, sample colors that fall in between the color chart colors are not accurately identifiable. This is only important if your test parameters fall on the edge of being good/bad. About $30 for the kit.

I have not bought the alkalinity test kit as it would seem if your PH stays stable throughout the day, repeatedly, that alkalinity should be good. My pH is very stable, but my Phosphates seem to bounce around the good/bad range and I think a more accurate test for that parameter would be beneficial if I knew more about what I was doing. So, I am also interested in knowing of a better/more resolute phosphate kit.

Thanks QA.

QA, I just bought a LaMotte colorimetric PH kit. The numbers should be very accurate.

As far as pH is concerned, the DO meter that I borrowed also checked pH and it matched the API pH test results very well. Once again, the DO meter would give you pH to a 1/10th of a unit where as the API drop/test tube test only yielded whole number colors on the chart with the concept of "somewhere in between".

Where I ran into trouble was when my Phosphate test resulted "somewhere in between" Zero and 0.25 mg/l (same as ppm). According to a fellow PB member..."Phosphorous in a perfect water body would be between 0.02 and 0.1mg/l, depending." Well, I can't tell where my pond is at with such low resolution from the API test. The same could happen for PH, I guess, but I don't think it would be as critical.

I am a slow learner when it comes to chemistry. I think the API test kit is a good affordable way to start testing, but it lacks with respect to the fine phosphate line that I have found at my pond. At least I know I am close and that is good enough for me, for now.

All the test kits mentioned, are adequate for our needs. In my opinion, the DO test kit, Chem or meter, is the most valuable parameter to test along with water column temperature(s).

Accuracy to the hundredth isn't really necessary in most cases but when you test is. Test DO in the morning when it is at its lowest for comparison to the late afternoon when it should be peaking. Test ammonia in the early evening when it should be peaking. Test phosphates and nitrate/nitrites after a rain event to see if your watershed is nutrient rich or a few hours before and after feeding to gauge feeding effects. It is also a good idea to test your watershed to know the water quality entering your pond.

Also, maintain a log and include parameters like time of day, outside temp, pressure (high, low, ambient), weather conditions, etc. What you are looking for, rather than pin point accuracy, are the environmental conditions that impact your body of water. If you know what causes adverse changes to your water chemistry, you are better able to mitigate those impacts and prevent a fish kill.

JQ - what will you do should you find your DO levels sagging and fish piping?

Thanks QA---will purchase that exact item

TJ
Glad to find you on a recent post. I am a green rookie to the site--my first day. Sent you a PM earlier about pond leak and Soilfloc--hope you are still involved

Well, TeehJaeh, that is why I am an advocate of consistent water quality testing. I realize it is not for everyone, to each their own.

Long before the fish are piping, your water will tell you, if you know how to "listen", there is a problem. A thousand things squared happen before the fish start piping and a good pond manager will read those signs before it happens.

The best way to to manage fish, is to manage the water. Healthy water, most likely, equals healthy fish.

What pond management techniques would you employ to influence your water chemistry or DO levels considering the vast quantity of water in your pit?

Joey, not prying in here but one of the things that has been pounded into my head for nearly 27 yrs now is the best way to manage your fish is to "manage your fish according to their condition". I realize most state agencies look at things different than the private sector but we've got some pretty salty dudes involved here. The condition of the fish may determine a particular water quality condition over time, but managing the fish to a point they survive and prosper in those conditions is how we handle it. Carrying capacity varies greatly by BOW and there is no measuring "device" for that.
If a higher than normal balance of healthy fish were to experience one element of hundreds-out of whack- that play into this, it is possible to have a morning surprise of a pond covered in dead fish if conditions are right. One series of 2 cloudy days with calm conditions with high biomass-then add a die-off (Planktonic in nature)it can and has caused a kill in one night with no warning and absolutely nothing could have been done to prevent it in time to save anything. I've seen this a couple of times in impoundments that were monitored on a regular basis.
TJ is a very sharp man, very good at what he does, and has very high success rates in the work he does. Cutting on him has to stop, his success speaks for itself.

I’m going to be dealing with a water table pond, so understanding the water flow in and out is something I want to know before I stock the game fish. Mostly WRT DO. I don’t plan to feed today and I don’t have any farm runoff, but lots of organic sludge. I think I’ll do the API kit and see if I can get predictable results. Thanks for the input guys.

Good luck, FLX Much Man, you are are on the right path. Let the water dictate the fish, not the other way around.

Just a side note...The most detrimental impact on most ponds is, feeding. The more you feed your fish, the more you impact your water quality in a negative manner.

Fish food is notable for its "Crude Protein". Crude protein is an estimate of total protein and protein contains nitrogen from both protein and non-protein sources. Crude protein is estimated by multiplying the nitrogen content by about 6.25.

In essence, for every 10 pounds of fish food you put in your pond, in most cases, you are adding about 1/2 pound of nitrogen and 0.1 pounds of phosphorous.

What pond management techniques would you employ to influence your water chemistry or DO levels considering the vast quantity of water in your pit? To simplify - so through testing you become aware of an impending issue, let's say it's low DO conditions due to phytoplankton boom and bust - what steps would you take on your own BOW to impact the threat of a kill event? Knowledge of water chemistry is one thing, the ability to adjust it is the art. Considering the unique characteristics of your BOW I don't know what I'd do to turn things around.

I apologize, TJ, I would be happy to answer your question on how I mitigate environmental impacts. My "Pit", as you so eloquently refer to it, is still under the guidance of the "Reclamation Plan" mandated in my state for the reclaiming of mined lands. Therefore, all my environmental mitigation plans must and or have been, approved by the county and the state.

To avoid your catastrophic event, I took control of the watershed through my property. First, I slowed it down at the entrance with successive rip rap designs then, with the use of wetland plantings (mostly cattails now) I filter the water. I then use only the less turbid and nutrient poor water (relative) at the top of the water column, to "fertilize" my "pit". I actually encourage phyto blooms, at times.

By testing and controlling the water to my pit, I have mitigated the nutrient pollution that causes your phytoplankton kill event.

Also, my property contains 3 springs, plus however many are at the bottom of my pit (unknown). I am prepared, should I ever need to, to flood the pit with a fountain of 57 degree spring water, should the need arise.

I hope that answers your question(s)?

Is it like chicken and egg? I've been doing this for zero years, and I know the questions wasn't posed to me, but I have no idea how to fix the problem of low DO after a bloom crash.

Is it possible to say that you may have prevented the bloom if you had the Phosphates and nitrogen at a level that didn't support the bloom? If the clarity was adjusted with dye? With changing aeration depth or timing to affect water temp? All things that can be measured?

Again, I am asking the question, not suggesting there is a link or purposing course of action. I may be taking crazy. My understanding is still very limited.

Edit: Looks like JQ responded at the same time I did. Interesting debate. JQ, how deep is your BOW?

To be honest, I am not really sure? I have tried measuring it with weighted lines through holes in the ice during winter but once you get so deep, you're never really sure if it's at bottom, hung up on something or still not at bottom.

The "Reclamation Plan" hints at it being just less than 100 feet but talking with one of the men who worked there, he estimated "maybe 80 feet".

It is deep enough, my biggest worry is it turning over like that lake in Africa and I am sleeping on the bank!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos_disaster

I didn't realize you were sensitive about having your strip pit referred to as such. I forget many are new to our world - in the pond management realm we often refer to abandoned mining operations as "strip pits" - as the mining operation stripped the land of minerals and left a pit on the face of the planet which flooded over time. In the Midwest we often refer to BOWs under 5 acres as "farm ponds" - although many of these ponds aren't in any way associated with agriculture. In Texas my friends often refer to their ponds as "tanks". We don't intend these as pejorative terms.