A question but not for the experts

[LeeB]

If you could only have one test kit what one would it be and why ? This is not for our experts to answer.
chose from the list below
Ammonia ??
nitrite ??
nitrate ??
PH ??
oxygen ??
Chlorine ??

[Dazza115]

Nitrite seems to be the one I use more often.
Ammonia usually sits at 0 during the course of the year and seems to cope with any overfeeding I do pretty well. Nitrite is the one that tends to hover around 0.2 and can spike quite easily if i'm not careful.

PH regulates well, hard water area and tap water is a ph between 7 and 8. Oxygen again pond is pumped full of air 24/7 and chlorine I add a conditioner after every water change. Nitrate I very rarely bother with if i'm honest.

[mel]

Hi Lee

I know which one i would have .....but if i don,t answer that means i,m an expert so i,m not telling

Anyone else ?

[brian1962]

for me it would be ph

[LeeB]

Hi Mel I know you would know you have a good few years experience now,the idea of this is to help newcomers and the less experienced.I will let it run a while before giving the answer and the reasons why this one test kit is the most essential.

[mel]

Sounds good to me mate

Perhaps change it to a poll mate ? ...then peeps can vote on it

Not sure how you do it , Karen altered my cuttlebrook 4 fish vote into a poll and i got more replies

[johnsb00]

well i vote for nitrite
i think that a high nitrite reading would need controlling with water changes so that would eliminate the need for testing for ammonia
the nitrate level in my pond would be controlled by my planting and is of little consequence to the fish
PH is very stable thanks to a high KH and GH levels due to water hardness in this area
oxygen is abundant in my pond even in the height of summer thanks to over the top pump and air discs
and i would not need to test for chlorine as i filter all my top ups with purifiers first
so do i win a prize or not??

[Tinca Tinca]

Tricky question here goes
Oxygen because I think its essential for the growth of bacteria in our filters and without this we would have nothing to break down the other nastie's.
Aslong as you don't feed to much and have the correct filtration I think the others should all fall into place.
Chlorine maybe isn't a issue if you use the correct stuff to treat it.
Ph usualy comes out the tap at 7.0 doesn't it ?
Ohwell that's my little essay
Cheers

[brian1962]

I chose PH as a PH crash will kill your fish and filter (for us soft water areas) its something i need to check regularly

[Ralph]

You know what i don't know.

Maybe i am lucky because i have a larger pond that appears to take care of itself, in the 8 months i have had it i have had no spike or problems what so ever but i have been removing fish regular.

I would hazard a guess at Ammonia as in effect this is fish waste and would go with if its high then filter isnt doing what it should be and could cause long term effects on the pond ??

nitrite though i do water changes so again i have never really had a problem with it and cause of my larger pond again with potential lowish stock level (compared to someone who has got.

Maybe O2 though cause not enough O2 and fish are dead whether you like it or not