I've finally got round to testing my water- help needed!

[dampflippers]

My stickleback pond still has really green and sort of slimy water despite adding daphnia and telling myself it will clear soon- and I can't really see anything alive apart from a few baby sticklebacks.

I decided to test it today- bought an Interpret kit for pH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrate. (yes I know I should have done it before)
I have done ammonia- 0.1mg/l - ok
I am doing nitrite and it look as if it will be a really low reading (10mins wait)......yes 0mg/l
Nitrate between 0 and 10mg/l
but the pH is 8.5 or 9!
I have concrete slabs around which I sealed a couple of years ago, but maybe it has worn off. We don't have hard tap water.

Now the question. I have the remains of a Lotus test and treatment kit, but no instructions. It contains an alkaline buffering powder (well a bit solid now).
Does anyone happen to know the dosage?I've looked online, but they seem to have been taken over or no longer exist.

If all else fails, th box says enought to treat a 500 gallon pond, so I could try to work it out from that.

[dampflippers]

Do you think I should do a partial water change before powering the pH?

[dampflippers]

I meant lowering the pH not powering.

I have done 1 hr 45 mins of pump out, added half a sachet of bio start and sludge buster, and added about 3 scoops of alkaline buffer (about a third of it I think), and now am refilling with a sprinker.

....oops, forgot the tap water conditioner.....I'll do that now!

[alison]

Oh the joys of having a pond Hope all goes well and it cleans up into a lovely place for the wildlife to live.
My filter needs a good clean out as well, in fact I think I will have to do weekly ones for a while to clear all the debris that has built up coating anything and everything. I just don't fancy doing all that squeezing out of all the sponges.

[Tricia]

Last week Gordon and I cleaned the pump and pressure filter. They hadn't been cleaned for months and they were absolutely clogged with sludge. It was a horrible job cleaning all the sponges. Like you, Alison, I am going to have to clean the filter once a week or so too - although the water tests are fine so the fish are not complaining .

I even think the water is a bit clearer now, so it has already made a difference.

[dampflippers]

I don't have a filter, but the tights I put over the pump to pump it out got pretty disgusting!
I'll watch it for a waeek then do another test and see if there is any improvement.

How long should you wait if you think you need another partial water change? A few days? a week? a fortnight?

[dampflippers]

In Saturday I made use of the heavy rain by doing another part pump out and attaching the hose to the waterbutt for a constant trickle fill.
What a novelty! Yesterday I saw some tadpoles! This was at the refilled end. The other end is still quite gloomy, but at least I know there's something alive in it.

The other pond (the fish free one) still has alot of newts in. On a sunny day if I carefully lift the water lily leaves they are usually lurking there.

[alison]

Your tadpoles are a little late aren't they? Even so some do stay tadpoles for the year and only change the following year for some reason. I would love some newts in my pond.

I had a lovely surprize in my pond yesterday as I too decided to do a partial water change. The sponges on the filterbox were so disgusting and had become so full of sludge that the water wasn't clearing at all in the pond. I think it's called flotsum? or something like that and it was covering the bottom of the pond and all the plants etc so even when I cleaned the filterbox a couple of weeks ago it had completely clogged it up again. This meant that the water returning into the pond was just a trickle instead of the stream it normally should be.
I set too and gave it a complete overhaul. Actually I quite like cleaning the sponges as it is lovely when you suddenly see the green of the sponge instead of the brown mud like substance covering them. The only thing is that there are about 8 large sponges so it does take a little time.
My back didn't appreciate it though and I kept having to stand up and stretch

I thought if I just put the sponges back in and didn't empty any of the old dirty pond water out then I would be doing it all over again in a couple of days so as I have two pumps one for the filterbox and one for the waterfall I kept the waterfall pump going but put the pipe outside the pond to empty onto the ground. My pond has a good 7ft of shallows and it always empties that area first but it enabled me to hose down the bottom of the pond into the deep area with the waterfall pump taking away quite a lot of the muck. It is amazing how many empty baskets and stones were there hidden away. Goodness knows where the plants went from inside them but it gave me the opportunity to take them out and I will be able to fill them with new plants at another time.

I have had to cut back all my Iris as the winds we have had lately have completely wrecked the plants and had them lying all over the pond surface. Luckily they have already flowered so I cut them back to base and put them back into the pond. I was surprized how many frogs were still in the pond as everywhere I moved things, a frog would suddenly appear and when I went to take out the baskets of Iris frogs were jumping out of them. I just talk to them all and they sit calmly as if they are listening. They do like to sit on the roots of the Iris so they will be able to do it still even though they won't have the coverage until the leaves grow again.
Now the pond is much clearer. The entry back into the pond is a fast moving stream again instead of a trickle and is much easier to see the fish.

We have 2 small shoals of sticklebacks which I feel a little sorry for because when anyone went near the pond they would dive into the mud on the bottom of the shallows and hide. Now they will have to use their little stone nursery. ( I have quite a few large slate stones all together where the sticklebacks make their nests).
Anyway a job well done.