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Oxygen is vital for a healthy aquatic environment for fish and plants.

Tetratest O2 lets you measure and monitor oxygen concentration to ensure proper oxygen levels for healthy fish and plants and efficient biological filtration.

Detect harmful oxygen deficient conditions and prevent potential loss due to oxygen-poor conditions.

30 tests.

Oxygen is vital for all organisms living in your pond. Fish, plants, and microorganisms all require oxygen for respiration. Low oxygen concentrations can cause fish to be increasingly susceptible to disease and cause biological filtration bacteria to work inefficiently.
The oxygen concentration in the water of your pond is dependent on a number of factors including: temperature (oxygen concentration decreases as temperature increases especially above 80°F), overstocking, heavy amounts of decaying organic matter, and poor circulation or surface film that interfere with natural gas exchange. Additionally, live plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis during light hours change over to oxygen respiration at night and actually add to oxygen demand.

The Tetratest O2 Test Kit was professionally developed to accurately determine the oxygen level of your pond water. The kit contains enough material for 30 tests, including two 9-ml test reagents (#1 and #2), one 10-ml test reagent, a test vial, color scale, instructions and recommendations.

How To Test
Note: In a non-aerated pond, the level of oxygen is lower in the morning than during the rest of the day. During the night, aquatic plants do not produce any oxygen, but consume oxygen. Therefore it is recommended to test your water first thing in the morning. Rinse the test vial with the water to be tested.

Fill the test vial to the 15ml (cc) mark with the water to be tested.
Hold the reagent bottle #1 upside down and add 5 drops to the test vial.
Hold the reagent bottle #2 upside down and add 5 drops to the test vial.
Press the lid immediately onto the vial and turn the vial upside down and back (once).
Sediment will then form in the vial. Leave the test vial to stand for 30 seconds (5 minutes for saltwater).
Remove the lid. Hold the reagent bottle #3 upside down and add 5 drops to the test vial.
Press the lid immediately onto the vial and turn the vial twice upside down and back again. The sediment dissolves and the test solution turns to a red-violet color.
Hold the vial and the color scale vertically and match the coloring of the test solution with the closest color on the color scale, Read the corresponding value.
Saturation of O2 in freshwater (values correspond to a 100% saturation)

Temperature
°C/°F O2 in mg
per liter
(mg/l)
5/41° 12.8
10/50° 11.3
15/59° 10.1
20/68° 9.1
25/77° 8.3
30/86° 7.6
35/95° 6.9
At any given temperature, you should ensure that the O2 levels in your water do not fall below 75% of the above saturation values. Regardless of temperature, the O2 level in freshwater and in saltwater must never fall bellow 2 mg/l. To ensure optimum water quality, it is recommended to maintain an O2 concentration between 5 and 8 mg/l when the water temperature is greater than 68°F and to maintain an O2 level between 8 and 10 mg/l when the water temperature is less than 68°F.

After the Test
If the oxygen content is too low:

In ponds, a 24-hour a day, aeration is recommended, as is the use of waterfalls and fountains.
If possible, ensure that there is constant movement on the water surface. At the same time create conditions favorable to plant growth since both of these factors will produce well-oxygenated conditions. Do not over stock your pond and do not over feed your fish.
Any ice forming on the surface should be cleared of all snow so that enough light penetrates the pond. With light, the aquatic plants will continue to produce oxygen. If possible, a "breathing hole" should be formed to allow vital gas exchange to occur. Large amounts of algae in the pond may also lead to an oxygen deficit that builds up during the night since algae are effective consumers of oxygen.