Testing Pond Water ... Is It Important To Test Fish Ponds Regularly?

Judged by the thousands (millions maybe) of test kits and test reagent refills sold every year there is a lot of testing happening or else the test kits are left in the garage just in case they're needed one day.

This is exactly the problem with pond testing ... people only do it when they think the have a problem. As most books and experts advise ... if you suspect a problem with water quality then immediately test the water and there is nothing wrong with this excellent advice so long as a history of test results for your pond is available for comparison.

If there is no history pond testing probably creates more problems than it resolves.

At the best of times pond water quality test results are difficult to understand and once the result is known what is to be done next anyway? Is the result right, wrong or in between and what must be done with the information. Properties like pH and hardness for example are difficult o measure and they are interdependent and also in the case of pH time of day dependent.

My Pond Testing Recommendation

My suggestion is quite simply do NOT test the water at all unless you intend to do this regularly and record (ideally put on graph paper or computer spreadsheet) every test result you get. Also test at the same time every day to remove some of the variables that impact upon your results accuracy and/or interpretation.

Always use the same test kit and do not use time expired reagents.

Important parameters such as pH, ammonia and nitrites within the pond itself change during the day and especially just after feeding. Test results thereof will also change depending on time of day and when you fed the fish for example.

The Problem With Testing Your Fish Pond Occasionally

You get a result and it has negative implications. What do you do?

In good faith and because this is what you're told to do ... you add a "correctant" to your pond to find on a later test it has not helped. You therefore add more or add a "counter-correctant." Eventually you go around in circles and actually create a real problem from one that didn't exist in the first place because of the testing complexity itself. Initial results may be TOTALLY wrong ... hence the need to build up a history of your pond test parameters so that you can spot true variations form the norm.

When you see such a variation it is vital that you keep testing and make other observations before resorting to treatments.

The best test kit by far is the behaviour of your fish.

I do recommend you test because after all pondkeeping is a wonderful and challenging hobby and one from which lots can be learned but do follow this advice ...

Get the best test kit you can find .... Like many things price is probably the best determinant of quality of test result. Then build up a trend record by testing every day at the same time ... this way you'll start to understand changes which is more important to observe than actual absolute values