Pond Water Tests.

It is a good idea as your garden waterfall pond matures to do pond water tests.

Ranging from very simple to quite complex there are many things you can keep tabs on. What I'm presenting are just the basic elements you will want to be aware of.
Aquarium 5-1 strips are a good starting point. They usually test for hardness, alkalinity, pH, Nitrite and Nitrate. The only thing I worry about on these tests are nitrite, nitrate, and pH. Though the pH test is very general I prefer a much more exact pH meter. Ammonia, Phosphorus and oxygen levels are also important indicators of water quality.

As always, a well designed water feature or garden waterfall once established should stay basically trouble free. Any problems that do arise should be obvious usually due to algae blooms. This is when tests are the most useful.

It is nice to be able to watch a new water feature ‘cycle’ watching the different elements rise and fall until the nutrient cycle is complete. Another type of water quality test that can be done is the fecal chloroform bacteria test. This is mostly for swimming ponds it is the test that municipalities use to determine if the water is safe enough for swimming. 200 parts per million and lower is acceptable.

After a water test it is determined that some adjustment needs to be made there are some things to consider. For example, if ammonia levels are high is there a lot of leaf debris etc. falling into the pond, and is the skimmer being cleaned out regularly? Also, if nitrite levels continue to stay elevated it could be that your biological filter siply isn't big neough for your particular situation.

Another thing to consider is the fish load. Too many fish can create a lot of problems for a water feature that doesn't have adequate filtration. I think that may be fairly obvious. A larger Bio filter may be all that is required.

I'll be the first to admit that pond water tests are not 100% necessary, but for the committed backyard waterfall garden pond enthusiast it can be very helpful and at very least extremely interesting.

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