July 2012 Pond Conditions
7/4/2012
water temp 78*, air temp 75-98*, pH7.8, Ammonia .25, Nitrite .8, Nitrate 10
Went on vacation for a few days and about 24 hours before I returned my fish sitters were unable to restart the pump after emptying the leaf basket. Fortunately there was air running in the pond. So without the circulation the Ammonia and Nitrite spiked up again. Added some old matting back for extra surface area to help nitrification. changed ~200 gallons.
7/6/2012
water temp 80*, air temp 75-100*, pH7.8, Ammonia < .25, Nitrite .8, Nitrate 10
Ammonia coming down but not yet gone. Have reduced feeding
7/7/2012
Monthly Potassium Permanganate treatment. 11 grams in filter with media removed turned brown in less than 1/2 hour. Added 5 grams more which lasted couple of hours. Veggie filter likely took most of the power away in the first round since it tends to build up debris. The veggie filter is where I suspect most nasties would live anyway since it has a few areas where stagnant water can occur. water change 150 gallons before treatment, 150 gallons after.
7/8/2012
water temp 78-80*, air temp 75-95*, pH 7.8, Ammonia 0, Nitrite .3, Nitrate 10
7/11/2012
Water temp 76*, air temp 75-90*, pH 7.5
Water and air cooler this week due to rain. Added pH 7.5 buffer to the pond to see if I can keep it from dropping below 7.5.
7/12/2012
Water temp 76*, air temp 75-90*, pH 7.3, Ammonia 0, Nitrite .1, Nitrate 5
Pond conditions improving, may be due to rain changing out 50-100 gallons daily. Water is clear. PH Buffer doesn’t seem to be working or I may need to recalibrate my meter again. Need to buy some ph 7.0 testing solution.
7/14/2012
pH 7.3, Ammonia 0, Nitrite .3, Nitrate 10
weekly clean out of filter.Did not do mid week dumps due to rains but should have. Lots of poo.
07/19/2012
pond temp 76-78*, 75-95*, pH 7.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrite .3
Adding baking soda to water daily to push up pH after it fell to 7.0. Searching for real crushed coral or oyster shells. filter dump every other day. May try microbe-lift PL bacteria to see if I can reduce nitrates. Supposedly contains a de-nitrifier.
07/21/2012
pond temp 76*, air temp 78*, pH 7.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrite < .3
Added Microbelift PL yesterday. Seeing reduced Nitrite.Normal filter cleaning shows brown heavy gunk below pads while water remains clear. Have had UV light off for about 5 days and water is only slightly murky green. Getting lots of rain.
07/23/2012
OOPS. left the water on for a long while and likely added and overflowed 50% or more. Good news is my nitrites are now zero. Added more microlift PL. If nitrites stay at zero then I will credit it with eliminating my nitrites. If not, won't buy it again.
07/27/2012
water temp 82*, airtemp 78-97*, pH 7.5, Ammonia 0, Nitrite < .25
Getting some nitrite readings but they appear to be very low finally. Feeding less due to heat.
Did small filter clean on Wednesday but pond is beginning to green up in the hot weather. Adding clay every couple of days too. Will add more air to filter this weekend.
Expenses
Fish sitters: $30
Saki Hikari Growth Food - $56
pH Buffer 7.5 16oz - $18 (waste of money)
pH 7.0 calibration solution - $10
Nitrite test kit $9
Microbe Lift PL - $35
