Last Updated: 8/6/18

1. It was a super hot day on 7/1/18 so I did my chores in my bathing suit. The 1800 gallon pond was at 81 degrees F while the 153 gallon pond (which has a higher depth to surface area ratio) was only 74 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials and took out the Matala in the Biosteps filter to squirt that off. I tried to pump out that filter but the pump was broken so I bailed it out. I changed the PondMaster filters. It was too hot to do more.

2. It was a nice day, about 80 degrees F with lower humidity on 7/8/18. The 1800 gallon pond was at 76 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 72 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials, topped off the ponds, and put in additives. I put fertilizer in the waterlily pots in the big pond.

3. I did pond chores on 7/15/18. The 1800 gallon pond was at 72 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 75 degrees F. The air temperature was 80 degrees F at 11 am. I put some barley straw in the big pond. I topped off all the ponds, put in additives, and squirted all the filter materials. I removed one two gallon pot where some plant had died. It began to rain as I was cleaning up. I had not rained in weeks but did because I had been planning to mow. It was just enough rain to thwart that but not enough to really help the plants.

4. I did pond work on the morning of 7/22/18 because it was supposed to rain that afternoon. It would rain that afternoon but not until after I would have normally done the pond chores. This always happens. At 10:30 am, the 1800 gallon pond was at 71 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 69 degrees F. I surely did not need to add water as we had gotten 5 and 3/8 inches of rain the day before! I squirted all the filter materials, changed the floss around the main pump, squirted the bioballs, changed the Ammocarb, and changed out the oyster shell in the filter. I need to order a new basket for the pump as it is torn enough that it will soon just fall apart.

5. I seem to have changed to doing pond chores in the morning now! They are more important than cleaning the house anyway. Plus, this time of the year, it is cooler in the morning. The only downside is that I have to change afterwards since I have to then work inside cleaning. On 7/29/18, it was 76 degrees F outside at 10:30 am. The 1800 gallon pond was at 73 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 72 degrees F. Since it had rained for more than a week every single day, everything was still wet, and the humidity was 100% but it was not raining! I squirted all the filter materials, changed the PondMaster filters, squirted out the Matala in the Biosteps filter, and put in additives. I replaced the plant basket holding the main pond pump with a new one as it was cracked pretty bad. I uprighted the hardy canna which had blown down in the storms. I had one tiny Chromatella hardy waterlily flower. There was a bud on the waterlily next to it but it seemed to have died before it opened.

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