Granted, nobody really enjoys testing water. It’s time-consuming and sometimes you’re not sure which colour on the chart your water result matches. But water testing really can be lifesaving – at least for your fish!
Water can contain toxic substances even when it looks very clear. You can’t see a pinch of strychnine but it’s still deadly poisonous. Likewise high ammonium and ammonia concentrations in the water can only be determined by water tests. Beginners need to test the most important parameters of their water every 2-3 days. This includes KH, pH, NH3/NH4 and NO2. If the (acceptable) water values stay stable for one month a monthly measurement will be sufficient. When you can clearly see problems (algae, fish gasp at the water surface etc.) an immediate check of the water values is strongly advised!
By the way: even if you only have 1 minute and 3 seconds to test your water you can carry out a sixfold test with the most important water values using your mobile! JBL PROSCAN Hold the test strip in your pond water for 3 seconds, start the (free) JBL ProScan app on your mobile and take a photo of the JBL ProScan colour chart (available for purchase separately) with the test strip lying on it after a 60 seconds waiting period. The next moment you will receive the GH, KH, pH, NO2, NO3 and chlorine values displayed.
