Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Which water testing kit is right for me?

First off should i just get my water tested by the local ag office? Will they do it, i dont know? Do i need my own kit, if so which is the right one to get? I've got a .89 ac. pond for family enjoyment and i am not looking to spend money unless i really need to. Right now i dont see any reason to believe i have a water problem. That being said i have 2500 FHM, 500 BG, and 160 RES already in and plan to have 3-400 crawfish, 30 LMB fingerlings and 20 LCB spawning size added very soon. I dont want to find out afterwards that i had a problem that could/should have been fixed before hand. Instead of using a WAG i thought it would be better to find out for sure if there is a problem i should be aware of.

Hatcheries usually have the kits to do this stuff. The good kits are kinda expensive. Realistically, your water clarity will tell you most of it. Build a sechi disk and wade in.

I bought one thinking that it was going to tell me everything. All it told me was the solids in the water which was around 300. It was actually a tester for testing drinking water and had no feature to report the alkalinity.

I got my test kit at a pool store. Actually what I did was just buy refill dropper bottles to test alkalinity. I looked at the booklet inside the test kit at the store and copied the directions. So I paid a few dollars for each pair of bottles that test alkalinity, instead of paying $20 for a bunch of stuff I would have no use for.

You may not even need to worry about alkalinity though, because I think most of Florida has pretty "hard" water. You could have a water test done and that would cover all kinds of things like iron and other metal concentrations. I think its just a general drinking water test, but Im not 100% on that.

Thats my issue. I dont know if i need a test or if everything is fine. Everything looks ok, just didnt want to miss something important.

Hey RC,

I am no water expert by any means but water testing once again "All Depends" on what you want to do with your pond to some extent.

The one main thing that needs to be right for sure is your PH levels. If they are to low or to high that could be deadly to your fish. A good PH level is anywhere from 7.0 to 7.8. You can buy PH test kits almost anywhere. Pool place, Walmart some sporting good stores. As far as Nitrates and Nitrites and hardness and total alkalinity goes I don't know much about them. I think it's Nitrates that need to be above 20ppm before you can fertilize without having to lime first but like I said thats not my area at all. Good Luck.

Thanks for the help, i'll check out the ph and go from there.

most important parameter to check is alkalinity- need it above 20 ppm.

Thanks Greg.