Well George, my training or the websites of the experts I suggested aren't
going to change your mind, obviously, so you tell people what you want and
I'll do same. You don't attack my opinion/position, I won't attack yours.
How's that? ~ jan



On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 02:34:21 GMT, " George" wrote:


"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
.. .
Ok, so the kit worked fine. Then the problem isn't with the kit.
Operator
error? Who knows?

I highly doubt that, considering the source. Knowing him he repeated the
test several times to make sure and he had reef tanks prior to going into
ponding.

No, I haven't taken the Koi Health Advisor training thru AKCA. Don't
need
to. I've been raising fish (fresh water and salt water) since I was 11
years old (about 35 years).

And I've had fish since I was 18, so 33 years total, doesn't mean squat.
I
learned so much from the KHA program, more than I ever did in those first
28 years. In fact, the other KHA mentioned above, has only been doing
ponds
for 5 years. He taken more time to research and get even more involved
and
take more extensive classes. I go to when I've got a question. Personal
experience doesn't always cover all aspects.

My current pond is three years old,

Not very old really. Things tend to bite us in the backside around years
5
to 8.

My last pond was up and running for 10 years.

pH - 7.5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0
KH - 90
GH - 120
Temp - 78

Doesn't mean much, because the things that water changes remove we don't
test for, such as heavy metals and fish pheromone, to name a couple.
Clear
water doesn't always mean clean unfortunately.

Heavy metals aren't a problem if the water you are adding has less than
allowable levels, and are nothing that activated carbon and regular
maintenance can't take care of. As for fish pheromone, why is that a
problem? It certainly isn't a problem for fish in the wild. Of course
clear water doesn't always mean clean. We are, after all talking about a
pond, not an aquarium. If you want 'clean' water, a pond is not for you.

No offense intended, but I suspect someone at your training class must
work
for the local water company if they are recommending such frequent water
changes in large ponds.

The class was taught by people not even in my area, and water is the
cheapest thing a person puts in their pond. The teachers were fish vets
and
teacher/hobbyists had backgrounds in everything from biochemistry to
construction. Thus they taught the course that was their background
specialty. The course was via internet and took 9 months, and we were
tested tough, then we attended a full weekend wet lab class.

You want to find out the hard way, continue on, but it isn't the
recommended way by those who have far, far, more experience and expertise
than you or I combined. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

I've already found out the hard way. You don't have to turn your pond into
an expensive lab experiment to have successful results. Common sense will
do in most cases. It's not like Koi and goldfish are the hardest animals
in the world to raise. They most certainly are not. Try maintaining a
reef tank and keeping those critters alive for any length of time.


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~