Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry alkalinity

When SEP stocked some fish a few weeks ago they also took a bottle of my water with them to test. they said that the alkalinity was 21 ppm. We had just had a lot of rain and the pond was muddy. will that be a good time to get an accurate reading? Also they claim if i add lime that it will help settle the mud.

Any thoughts?

It is better to test when the water is static with little change for a while. But it can be done as SEP did and will still give data which can be used. Most of the time the test is done on the spot. Did they forget their test kit? Some ag lime will help your alkalinity and many times (but not always) it can help clear the water.

I dont guess they forgot it, it wasnt a planned deal for them to test the water. we just got to talking about it and he said he would take a bottle back with him. didnt know it had to be done on the spot. american sportfish told me once to mail them a bottle of my water for a test(never got around to it though).

Alkalinity can be tested later like that but that is not the normal way its done. Usually pond side. Never had any of them show up without the test kit.

I got a question for you guys. I just had my 3 year pond tested by the County Extension. The SW end of the pond Ph was 7.1 and the NE end was 6.2 So I will add more lime the the NE end to about the center of the length to get them both in that 7.0 - 7.5 range. The pond is the shape of a bent pointer finger. The thing I don't remember is the range on alkalinty. Both ends were 25.
Thanks guys.

Ph changes a lot and quickly (hourly) while alkalinity changes very slowly (mths). If the alkalinity is 25 you could use a little lime. See this


SRAC 0464 Interactions of pH, Carbon Dioxide, Alkalinity
and Hardness in Fish Ponds

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/3766418-464...a661f7d1e435728

http://srac.tamu.edu/getfile.cfm?pubid=112

hey ewest

I'm out in the boonies with dial-up. But our dial-up is only 26.4, so downloading anything, threads and such is almost impossible. What would be a good range for alkalinity in a pond? Like I said, mine is at 25 and I'm already adding more lime (about 1/2 ton yesterday. I've got 3 more ton being delivered first of next week.

Min. of 20 and best range is between 75 and 200.