I tested the water params in the pond outside and this is what came up:

Ammonia= 0
Nitrite= 0
Nitrate= 0
Ph= 7.6

There is ALOT of algae in the pond, along with a lot of leaves, sticks, and a big fire ant bed right next to it. I will try to get a pic today and post it. The water, of course, is a lot colder in the pond than in the tank, not sure how cold as I don't have a thermometer to test it. The owners took the fish out of it last week. There were three of them. I am not sure how the pond "runs". There has been no pump on it running, but I do see a "spout" where where comes out somehow???

I think it's impossible to have 0 nitrates in water sitting outside.

My pool has nitrates in the 20ppm range.....

any pond owners out there ever have an estabilished pond with zero nitrates?

I made sure I was reading it right. It was definately zero nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia. Maybe all the algea has something to do with it?

yeah with alot of algae thats possible!

Or maybe the nitrate kit is unreliable? Is it a strip?

Nope, it is an API Master test kit; drop kind. I know it works because it detected the .5% nitrate I had in my tap water at my old house.

You should see the algae in my pool. It seriously looks more like a pond than a place to swim.

The algae in the pond is really amazing. It covers EVERYTHING in the pond, the sides, the floor, the leaves and sticks in the pond, everything has a nice shaggy, green carpet on it! LOL!

It's the principle behind "green water". If its the right balance its perfectly possible to get zero nitrates in a pond. My upstairs green water tank now finally has zero nitrates. It has taken ages but we are there. No filtration just plenty of aeration. The green algae filtrates the pond. Did you see Oliver Blacks swimming pool thread? Zero nitrates. A gazillion healthy fish and their babies

Thats a perfect pool for a few commons/comets

when it used to be summer and when i still had green water, i have really low nitrates:D the water was really easy to keep. i still have a filter for it though, it was suppose to get rid of the green algae but nope, lol. But now, it got colder and the green disappear i miss it, lol

oh, the pond sounds so nice, cant wait for the pics

hmmmmmmm. Guess you got a good thing going then Nic!

I posted some on another thread in this forum.

I wonder if I will mess that balance up if I clean the pond out of debris? Like the leaves and sticks? I am seriously thinking of putting Hammy and Jaws in there if I can figure out how it works as I don't know where the pump is, etc.