Diary of Events 3/30/26

This is just the cleaning list. To see information on the 153 gallon pond's statistics, history, and past cleanings, go to my 153 Gallon Pond page.

I used the 2025 pond cleaning page as a guide to write this 2026 one but did change everything that was relevant or changed. It may look the same but it is not!

Overview of the Day:

On 3/30/26, I cleaned out my 153 gallon pond. I got up at 6:30 am and fed all the animals. I started hauling supplies out for the pond cleaning at 8:44 am. The air temperature was 54 degrees F at 8:44 am. It was at 60 degrees F at 12:20 pm. All day, the winds were moderate and not good. They blew supplies off my table.

It was not until 9:38 am that all the supplies were in place.

The 153 gallon thermometer read 49 degrees F at 9:38 am.

I put an outdoor glass table and a folding table next to each other. I covered them with a plastic birthday tablecloth. I set up the lid of a larger storage container that had a lip on the table. I put the containers for the animals, the clock, my phone, my list (where I record numbers of animals as I find them), tissues, and so on on the table. I also brought over a patio chair so I could sit on occasion. I used buckets for solid waste and for rinsing plants and dumped buckets away from the work area with the waste water (that had gone through nets to remove solids).

I bail filled three kiddie pools and two holding buckets (one for fish and one for frogs). The pond had a huge amount of anacharis and no hornwort this year. I shop vacuumed the water level down somewhat to where I would not just be sucking up water. From there, I hand sifted the entire pond.

When I clean the pond, I bring up buckets and then go sit in the chair or stand and sort the slop. When I start, there is little debris so I pour it through an aquarium net and then look for movement. I hand pick out the frogs, snails, tadpoles, salamanders, and minnows. In the process, I miss some of the snails, tadpoles, worms, and insects. I am sure I did not miss any frogs or tadpoles this year.

At about 11:56 pm I went in to eat lunch. I came back out at about 12:20 pm. I did not fully empty the 153 gallon pond until 12:59 pm.

I squirted out the empty pond and used the OASE Pondovac to get all the rest of the stuff out. I replaced one brick that was falling apart.

I started refilling the pond. I added the following additives:
About 1 cup of pond salt (~50% of the recommended dose on the container for ponds with plants), a little bit of baking soda, a dose of pond Stress Coat, a partial dose of aquarium Stress Zyme, and some BZT. I let the Luft pump aerate and put in the PondMaster filter. I put a small barley straw bale in the 153 gallon pond and one in the 1800 gallon pond.

I continued to fill up the 153 gallon pond to the level it was from the bailed water.

There were four plant pots. In the overflow was one two gallon pot of purple flag iris. In the marginal area was another one of those plus a two gallon and a one gallon both with lizard tail. I repotted all of them.

I put in all the contents of the three kiddie pools and the frogs.

I put the pots back, and I topped the pond up all the way. I put the fish back. I did not record the time.

I cleaned out the 20 gallon pond which only had algae and a small green frog.

Next, I cleaned the back pond. I netted out the leaves, sticks, and debris. It smelled horrible per usual, and I filled the wheel barrow with the stinking leaves. Half the rocks from the edge had fallen into the pond (i.e. the raccoons dumped them there!). I filled the pond back up and was done with that pond at 4:05 pm.

At 4:05 pm, I started regular afternoon animal chores. At 4:46 pm, I started putting pond supplies away. I finished at 6 pm. Then, I could finally shower after a very long and dirty day.

Plants:

A lot of anacharis!

Here are the potted plants:

There were two two gallon pots of purple flag iris in the two shallow areas. There was one two gallon and one one gallon of lizard tail in the marginal area. I repotted those with fresh dirt (that the groundhog had dug from under the porch), fertilizer, and pea gravel.

In the 153 gallon pond.

• One two gallon pot with iris on the overflow shelf. Purple iris. Repotted.
  
• One two gallon pot with iris in the marginal area. Purple iris. Repotted.
  
• One two gallon pot with lizard tail in the marginal area. Repotted.
  
• One one gallon pot with lizard tail in the marginal area. Repotted.

Animals:

Here is what I found in the pond! I had to hand pick through every bit of slop to get all these animals.

• 1 3” goldfish moved to the big pond - how did he/she get in there?! This was the surpise of the day!
  
• 38 fathead and rosy red minnows - 4 female or immature male rosy red minnows, 31 female or immature male fathead minnows, 3 I think male fathead minnows

• 21 green frogs - plus one that hopped away
  
• 2 small pickerel frogs - one was anorexic
  
• 29 green frog tadpoles
  
• 1 two-lined salamander (adult) missing its front right leg
  
• A few pond snails (literally only picked out two but some were in the plants)
  
• 3 dragonfly larvae
• No mayfly larvae, water striders, predaceous diving beetles, crane fly larvae, aquatic worms, wood frogs, wood frog eggs, salamander larvae, etc. were found.

Dead friends:
3 dead pickerel frogs (about 3”, 2.5”, and 2”)
2 frogs too rotted to tell anything except one was 2.5” long

The photos have not been processed and likely never will be as I have not had the time in a decade.

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