mlinden84

Hello - I just read your thread about testing the water in a lake. Since I'm currently in school in Minnesota and taking lake ecology I thought I would send you a mesage! Its normal for lakes to have 0 nitrates as the over abundance of plants and algae in the water keep it that low. The more important levels in a lake are oxygen content and pH - these change througout the day and at different depths/temps. I have been testing lakes and ponds all over Minnesota and it is quite interesting! Lakes have an immense amount of bacteria and zotoplankton in them which makes their water chemisty much different then our fish tanks. Lakes also rely completly on boilogical filtration as they have no filters - Lakes are also constantly changing temps and getting ever changing sunlight exposure. Its a miracle any fish can live in lakes!

Anyway - just bored at work and thought I would send you this long winded FYI!