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I'm in Central Florida, just a little north of Tampa. Actually, most of the
rain fell in less than 45 minutes; the rest was just pre- and post- storm .
.. . pretty common around here in the summer (long sigh). And yes, I monitor
ORP. It isn't a drop test, it's a meter test. I thread the probe through one
of the outlets on my skimmer box, stick the probe in a piece of styrofoam to
float it, and watch the meter. It's on 24/7. The readings are an indication
of how much crud is in the pond or when pollutants are present, and it lets
you know when you need to make improvements, like clean the filters/bottom,
increase oxygen, etc. It gives instant feed-back to show whether that latest
tweak you did to the filters is actually doing something or not. The higher
the numbers, the better. A pond that registers 200 needs improvement; below
180 your fishes' health is being compromised. Above 280, and you're doing
well. I try to keep mine in the 325-370 range. If you get above 400, it's
"too clean", and again (for long term) your fish are in jeopardy. If mine
falls below 270/280, I look for the problem and tweak. I like toys!

Lee

"Mike Miller" wrote in message
news:%NEYa.93324$YN5.67131@sccrnsc01...
Where do you live that you get 3 1/2"/hour of rain?! Also, is ORP
something
you're actually testing for? Can you explain?

"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
I'm becoming suspect of rainwater! Last weekend, we had a deluge,
something
like 7 inches in about 2 hours. I monitor ORP in my pond (simple
explanation: oxygen reduction potential). The higher the number, the
better
your pond water. Mine usually runs in the 320-370 range. After the rain,
it
dropped to 130! That's how much pollution there was in the rainwater!
And
acid: it dropped my KH by nearly 100 ppm. I hope *your* rain is better
than
MY rain G!

I'm happy to know that I was able to help. The one thing I found out
about
this hobby is that ignorance is bliss: the more I learn, the more I find
out
I NEED to learn (long sigh).

Perhaps you can get yourself a long, tall, cool one, sit by the pond
(assuming a Zen attitude) and just gently "tease" the stuff from the
other
roots? That's what I do with the SA when it infringes on the WH roots .
..
.
Now granted, it may take a FEW long, tall, cool ones to get in the right
frame of mind!