Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry so I tested my water

I tested my pond for the first time today. I used a pool/pond tester AquaChek truTest.. My PH was 8.0, my chlorine was 0.0 and my Alkalinity was 180. I have a bit of an FA problem, but my fish are doing great.

What do I do with this information? Should I react to anything?
I also checked my water clarity and it was about 7 feet with a secchi disk.

Those are good. Keep track of the changes over time.

Does the water have a green tint to it?

not really. Kind of green tan. Should my FA still be growing?

Coach, did you get a water hardness reading? Your PH and alk. are excellent. I think a fishes natural Ph is about 7.6, and any alk reading over 50 but less than 250 is considered real good. Your Ph will change depending on time of day (sun light on your water) which equals water temp changes, but the alk sould stay pretty constant.

My visability is about 2-2 1/2 feet, but I still have a nice controlable alge bloom.

Sounds like you need to sit back and enjoy your pond.

Our ground water here is pretty hard. My test kit does not have a hardness tester. Can I just use my fish tank tester? I think it has a hardness tester. Do I have to get a water sample from a certain depth?

Owning the pond is great. Every day when I go out there, even though I am battling cat tails and a troublesome neighbor, my blood pressure drops and everything seems right with the world.

Coach, if you have a public pool in your area, and the person running it is AFO (Aquatic Facility Operator) certified, they should be able to do a excllent test on your Ph, alk, and hardness. My wife is an AFO and runs a 420,000 gallon indoor facility. She controls the pump room, trains folks in CPR, AED operation, and red cross certs. the city employees in CPR, etc., and has a professional grade testing kit for her water (which gets tested hourly). My point is, a pool with an AFO should be able to help you and it shouldn't take more than 2-3 minutes at no cost to you. Some of these pool test kits that use paper strips, etc. just don't give you the accuracy I think you may want. The test kit that my wife uses is about a $300.00 proposition and she is required to keep her chemicals date checked for freshness. Peoples lives, and safety depend on it.

Long way to get to: "Have it done professionally", but it will give you what you need, and should be very, very cheap to get done.

I can ask at the pool down the street. thanks for the info