Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Complete water test

Bill Cody, I read a post from last fall where you stated that you do complete water tests. I am anxious to have my newly purchased 8 acre lake water tested for the normal ph, alkalinity, hardness etc. as well as for micro-organisms. After reading your many posts on this site, I have respect and trust in your work. Can I please send you a sample? Will you tell me how to do so? And trust me, I'm not asking for something for nothing. Thanks in advance, JB

jb - Not sure where you read I do complete water tests - please relocate it so I can also read about it. I try not to advertise chemical testing on this forum. I do specialize in analysis of algae/phytoplankon, zooplankton and many of the benthic invertebrates. I will help those with difficult, seemingly unsolvable problems.

Since you are a pilot and obviously literate and trainable I think you can do your own simple water chemistry testing and then later do routine water quality monitoring as you see a need or just for curiosity. Go to a well stocked quality pet shop. Buy test kits for pH, alkalinity, and hardness (read the simple instructions). Pool testing kits will also suffice if you already have them. The ones with simple drop titration methods will provide fairly accurate results; paper test strips are less accurate. Those 3 tests are the most important parameters if you are going to fertilize. If you are not going to fertilize I would not worry about those three parameters unless you are having special problems with your eight acres. We will see what other experts think about that one and their rationale for necessity of general water testing without fertilization.
If you do not want to do it yourself and if you are curious and just have to know, see if you can get the chemistries done locally. It will be cheaper & easier than shipping water.

I will do your "mico-organisms" since they are not a simple do-it-yourself type test.
Do you know what type of "micro-organisms" you want tested? The type you want tested will depend on how you collect and preserve the sample. If I'm not solving a problem, I'm not sure which ones should be tested to give one the most "bang for the buck".

Bill, my mistake. I hunted for the old post I was refering to and can't find it. Chalk it up to old age I guess. I'll order/buy a test kit today. I'll also keep your offer in my back pocket for now on the micro-organisms test until I have a valid reason to check them. Thanks for the help! JB

jb - What type of watershed supplies water to your pond?
Is there any stream influence?
Any idea how old the pond is?
Average depth? and maximum depth?
Has it been fertilized?
What are the maximum and minimum water transparencies? Did't I have you do some water clarity tests? If you have posed these earlier, just note the post so I can relocate it.

You might check with the county soil and water office to see if they know what the 'normal' pH, alkalinity, and total hardness for ponds in your general area. This way you will know how your test results from your pond 'stack up'. Come back to us with comments if your results are not similar to those around you. Alkalinity and total hardness are relatively stable throughout the day.
Keep in mind that pH will sometimes be lowest early in morning and higher in late afternoon, early evening. Less pH varation occurs as alkalinity and hardness increase and phytoplankton densities decrease (approx.40 and 160 respectively).

Bill, I was unable to find a test kit locally. I'll need to order one. Any suggestions?? To answer you questions: The lake is 7-8 acres, 20 years old, never been managed or fertilized. It was stocked 20 years ago and hasn't really been touched since, aside from a little fishing. It is fed from several heavy springs and gets rain runoff from about 100 acres. Some of that is from a tobacco field. There is a large influx of water into the lake, much more than the norm around here (45m SW of Richmond VA). 1/2 the shoreline is surrounded by hardwoods and some pines. Visibility is currently 30 inches, but decreases due to silt after a rain. Max depth is 18 feet, avg is 7-8. I added a Vertex areation system in the fall just after I moved in. I have never had the water chemistry checked. I believe that the lake is holding significantly less fish than it should be able to if properly managed. There are some common bluegill and shellcracker of all sizes in the lake (up to a full lb.) We kept records of all we caught. They exhibit normal weights for their lengths. There are a few LMB that are of normal to slightly thin weights (-5% max), but none we have caught over 2 lbs. I added 300 channel cats in Dec. There was a significant bluegill kill last summer. The old, and I mean old, previous owner/lake builder said that numerous large bluegill died in August. I'm betting my areation system that oxygen depletion killed them. The lake has a weed problem (mostly Naiad) and tons of leaves in it. The local extension office said that aquaculture ponds in the area generally have a neutral pH (right at 7), but very low alkinality and hardness (both below 20)...My goals and thoughts: like most of us, to grow the big bass. I do intend to fertilize, but suspect I'll need several truckloads of lime first. That was the reason for my initial question. As a studious new pondmeister, I'm guessing that my fish population is low partially due to the infertility, low alkinility and hardness of the water. True, I have not had the lake shocked to count fish, but two months of feeding only ever brought a few bluegill to the surface, and only about 30 bass were caught as the water cooled in the fall. One more thing, the local state biologist recomended 70 grass carp which I just put in, and I have been adding man-made structure as fast as I can find time. -JB

jb - If you are going to order first look at www.aquaticeco.com They advertise in Pond Boss mag. They have chem test kits mfg by LaMotte & will be beter than you would get at a pet shop. They are pretty accurate, inexpensive and will be your best choice if ordering. Reagents are repalceable. Individual test kits are available for pH, alkalinity & hardness; plus kits for broad spectrum testing.

With other pond alkalinities about 20, you will know how your pond compares. Alkalinities and hardness below 40-50ppm(mg/L) will allow wider changes of pH during periods with higher densties of phytoplankton.

With inflow from "several heavy springs" you should have constant outflow. The retention time of the pond water should also be fairly short depending on inflow. Flows from the springs should have prevented the summer kill of fish. Puzzling.
Frequent and constant outflow may shorten or reduce the affects of the liming. Combined affects of liming and outflow was addressed some where in this forum check it out.

Personally I would have added 300 large bgill or coppernose instead of 300 catfish. Bgill would have provided forage for bass; cats will compete somewhat w/ bass.

If you fed bgill at only one spot in 8 acres only a few showing up is not surprising. Sometimes it takes time to get lots of fish utilizing the feeding resource.
You should see noticable reduction in Naiad at the end of this summer and summer of 2004.

Bill, Thanks again. I'll order the test kit first thing tomorrow and I'll let you know the results. I'm puzzeled about last summer's fish kill also. Hopefully that won't happen again with areation and the care the lake is now getting. I agree with your recommendation on adding large coppernose or bluegill. I am currently trying to find a local source for adult coppernose. I've found one for bluegill but would prefer coppernose. I had no idea how many to add so I appreciate the 300 suggestion. Hopefully that will give me a new start for a forage base, then next year I can add more LMB if needed.