Pond Chemist by Play It Koi

Internal beta goal

Test whether the analyzer prioritizes the right issue, avoids unsafe advice, and routes complicated cases correctly. Exact aeration sizing and several threshold policies are intentionally not hard-coded yet.

Pond Chemist explains the numbers you enter. It doesn't test your water or diagnose your fish, and the only dose it gives is pond salt when nitrite is high.

1.Pond and test context

Your kit, your pond and when you tested all change what a reading means.

Pond

Pond name

Saved ponds keep future tests attached to the same history, even if you would otherwise type the name differently.

Add pond volume

Pond volume (gallons)

Pond stage

Water source

Test method / kit

Test date

When the water was actually tested. This date is used on trend charts.

Exact test time (optional)

Use the exact time if you know it. If you don't, choose the closest time of day instead.

Time of day

A broad time is enough when the exact clock time is unknown. It is kept as water-quality context.

Best for a test you are entering right after you take it.

Help us identify your test kit

Tell us the kit name if you know it.

Photo-assisted beta

Kit brand or name (optional)

If you know the name, enter it here.

Upload the test kit

A photo of the box, bottles, label, color chart, or instructions can help identify how the kit reports ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

In production: identify the kit, match it to the PIK Test Kit Library, then ask the customer to confirm the match.

Upload the test result

For colorimetric tests, the best photo shows the test tube and the manufacturer's color chart together in bright, neutral light.

In production: estimate the closest chart value, show a confidence level, and require customer confirmation before using it in the analyzer.

Planned production flow

Identify kit→Check PIK library→Confirm with customer→Load parameters + conversions→Interpret result

Beta note: This standalone HTML can preview kit, strip, and result photos, but it does not send them to AI or search the web. Photos are not saved with the analysis. Automated identification and the PIK Test Kit Library will be connected later through the hosted PIK integration.

I know how my kit reports nitrogen, or identification did not work

Manual reporting format

Use this only as a fallback. If you're not sure, leave it at “I'm not sure”. Pond Chemist then reads your ammonia and nitrite the cautious way, as the format that gives the higher result, so it won't under-rate a reading.

2.Water readings

Enter each number exactly as your kit shows it. Leave a box blank if you didn't test it.

Water temperature (°F)

Total ammonia (ppm)

Nitrite (ppm)

Nitrate (ppm)

KH / alkalinity

Morning pH (optional)

Afternoon / evening pH (optional)

The sample sat or traveled before I tested it

3.Oxygen and immediate hazards

What you see at the pond, especially around dawn, can tell you more about oxygen than your equipment's rating does.

Tap this if your fish are acting normally, your air and water have kept running, and nothing else below has happened. Otherwise, answer each question.

How are your fish acting?

Answer for now, or for the last time you saw them. Dawn is the best time to look, because that's when oxygen is lowest.

Has a fish died or seemed sick in the past week?

Has any pump, filter or air pump been off recently?

Count a pump that stopped working, a tripped outlet or a power cut. Don't count a waterfall or pump you turned off on purpose for winter, as long as an air pump or de-icer is still running.

Did your air pump, aerator or waterfall run all last night?

How much is the pond's surface moving?

Has a lot of algae died off recently?

Have you added city tap water that wasn't dechlorinated in the past week?

If your water company says your water has no chlorine or chloramine, answer No.

Have you added a medication or other treatment in the last 3 days?

Beta note: The engine prioritizes interaction rules before it generates actions. It will intentionally suppress “raise KH/pH” advice when measurable ammonia occurs with low pH or low KH.

What to do now

Need help from Play It Koi?

What Pond Chemist found

Your readings

Each gauge rates one reading on its own. Readings also affect each other, so the overall status can be higher than any single gauge.

Looks Good Monitor Needs Attention Act Now

Temperature is shown as context: it changes how much of the ammonia is in its harmful form and how much oxygen fish need, so Pond Chemist reads it with your other readings. It gets a rating of its own only when it is far outside the range a koi pond usually has, and then you are asked to double-check it. A missing reading is shown as Not tested, never as zero.

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Show rules fired and engine details