Water reading

[MrsE88]

I tested the pond water and I’m a little confused.
It looks like I have a slight ammonia reading .25, 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrate. Ph is also higher then normal.

I haven’t added any water in at least a week. I know I have ammonia in my well water, but normally in a couple days it’s not detectable anymore.
I’d assume the pond cycled back up since I’m reading nitrates, but I don’t get why there is an ammonia reading.

The pond is roughly 2500g
Stock is 2- 2” goldfish
9- 2”-3” green terrors

If it makes a difference temp is 70F

 

[jaws7777]

I tested the pond water and I’m a little confused.
It looks like I have a slight ammonia reading .25, 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrate. Ph is also higher then normal.
View attachment 1373278
I haven’t added any water in at least a week. I know I have ammonia in my well water, but normally in a couple days it’s not detectable anymore.
I’d assume the pond cycled back up since I’m reading nitrates, but I don’t get why there is an ammonia reading.

The pond is roughly 2500g
Stock is 2- 2” goldfish
9- 2”-3” green terrors

If it makes a difference temp is 70F

Maybe Its just the pic but it looks like 0 to me.

 

[MrsE88]

Maybe Its just the pic but it looks like 0 to me.

Does it?
The picture is exactly how it looks in person. I even tested twice and it came out the same.

 

[jaws7777]

Does it?
The picture is exactly how it looks in person. I even tested twice and it came out the same.

Showed my wife... she says closer to .25

But shes ALWAYS wrong lol

 

[Coryloach]

It looks like zero to me too.

The best way I used to distinguish zero from 0.25 is by looking at the surface of the liquid in the tube. If it's greenish, there's a tiny bit of ammonia.

 

[MrsE88]

Showed my wife... she says closer to .25

But shes ALWAYS wrong lol

Haha

It looks like zero to me too.

The best way I used to distinguish zero from 0.25 is by looking at the surface of the liquid in the tube. If it's greenish, there's a tiny bit of ammonia.

I’ll have to go retest and look at it from the top then.

 

[MrsE88]

Hmmm
This way looks completely yellow to me.


But this looks exactly like .25 I think.


Which one is right? I feel like I never have this much trouble reading test tubes. Lol

 

[jaws7777]

Hahah 0 to .25 is a nightmare for me too so dont feel bad.

 

[duanes]

Because fish are constantly producing ammonia (along with other products of metabolism in a tank or pond), a 0.25 amount of noise is quite normal, although the beneficial bacteria fast, but well....
Below are 3 vials about to be run on a photo spectrometer, the left is tank water, middle a 2ppm standard, right, a DI water blank. If I remember right with all the stuff going on in the tank it read 0.2ppm.

 

[MrsE88]

Hahah 0 to .25 is a nightmare for me too so dont feel bad.

It is a nightmare. Lol Glad I’m not the only one struggling to read the difference. Haha

Because fish are constantly producing ammonia (along with other products of metabolism in a tank or pond), a 0.25 amount of noise is quite normal, although the beneficial bacteria fast, but well....
Below are 3 vials about to be run on a photo spectrometer, the left is tank water, middle a 2ppm standard, right, a DI water blank. If I remember right with all the stuff going on in the tank it read 0.2ppm.

Thank you, that is helpful.
I won’t stress over it then. I’m not worried about the current stock, but I’m trying to keep things cycled so when I’m ready and we start getting koi everything is ready for them.