"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...

"Josh" wrote in message
om...
Again, i just wanted to thank everyone for their great advice. I am
hoping to finish my pond this weekend and fill it up! I had aquariums
as a kid for a long time, so I am expecting some of the initial
goldfish may not make it, but this will be my first water home with
city water. I have been told letting it sit for a few days will take
care of the city crap in the water.

Before you toss your fish in, spend the $15 to get a kit and test for
chlorine and chloramines. It's well worth the money, and that way you can
ensure your fish are safe. Chlorine dissapates fairly quickly, but the
chloramines do not appear to do the same. You are playing with disaster by
not testing.

Testing as BV says is good, but if you find any chlorine, as measured by the
chlorine test kit, which is also in chloramine, then you need to use a
chlorine detox. There are a number of different ones that will take care of
the chlorine, but if you have chloramine, then the other half of the
chloramine is ammonia. For a new pond with chloramine, you can have a
significant ammonia spike, so testing for the ammonia spike to clear and the
subsequent nitrite spike should be done prior to the fish being introduced.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html