Water Gardening: test kits, water quality etc, 0 by fredrump

fredrump wrote:
Ah, songs of joy ring loud and clear. I guess I'm just overly anxious to get this thing alive and well. I tried to do everything right except I now find out by reading for hours on the net that I should have used muratic acid several times to fill and empty the pond. Supposedly it neutralizes the lime from any resident concrete. I know there is lots of raw concrete in the caves the fish were supposed to be able to hide in. The recommendations are also for frequent partial water changes. I don't even know how to do that yet. I could let the filters drain but that would probably do more harm then good. I'll just leave things alone for a while and wait.

I do have some comets and gold fish in there along with a few small koi. The koi seem to have a harder time of adjusting. And nobody wants to eat. :-)

My pH is around 8.5 with hard water which is supposed to be OK. It's certainly on the high alkalyne side. I used http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofiltr.htm for most of my advice and used their filter setup. They say to wait 4 to 8 weeks before the pond will start to be balanced. My water is a little green which is supposed to be good as algae is forming.

I threw some anachris into the pond and now it lies there on the bottom held down by a ring of lead. Should I plant these in a little pot of clay?
I also picked up three hardy waterlilies at Wallmart and set them onto the bottom. I'm waiting for a plant delivery from texas water lilies too.

I bought (4) 25 lb bags of kitty litter also at wallmart and put that into large black plastic containers from nursery buys. I covered the holes with plastic material so the roots will stay contained. Just waiting for the plants to pot them. Need another 4 bags.

I have these three subpools which only have about 10-12 inches of water in them. What can I plant there? see pic

PS Jeri, I thought you were away for three weeks? As to a party? I'm not ready yet. I still have some work to do. I do have a group of people coming from all over the country on March 27th which will be a good christening time I guess.