Last Updated: 7/28/26

1. It was so hot that on 7/4/26, the new aerator was bubbling in the morning but it was dead a few hours later! I took it into the garage. I pulled out my old Luft air pump, lines, and air stone, and got the lesser amount of aeration going on this nearly 100 degree day! By nightfall, the Webb's Water Gardens aerator was working again inside. I put it back out in the morning. They confirmed that heat can make it stop working right when we need it the most!

2. I did pond chores on 7/5/26 at 12:36 pm. The air temperature was a toasty 88 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 82 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 78 degrees F. I squirted off all the filter materials. I added water and additives.

3. The power went out on 7/5/26 at 11:10 pm after a minor storm. There was a major storm the night before that did not take out the power. I got the generator going by 7/6/26 at 12:08 am. The pond was saved. I got one hour of sleep, took colonoscopy prep at 3 am, and went and did that for the first time while under massive stress due to the power being out. A neighbor was kind enough to fill up gas cans since I could not drive. The power returned on 7/7/26 at 6:49 pm for a total of 42.7 hours.

4. I did pond work on 7/12/26. At 1:30 pm, it was 80 degrees F out. The 1800 gallon pond was at 77 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 75 degrees F. First, I used pruners and gloves and removed two full wheelbarrows full of weeds from the waterfall and stream, mostly Japanese stilt grass. Not only are they not supposed to be there but they wick water out of the pond (and use it directly). They also though convert the fish waste to plant mass.

I squirted all the filter materials, and I changed the main filter floss around the big pump. I changed out the bag of oyster shell with fresh oyster shell. I discovered that my spent yellow waterlily flower had leaves coming out of it. It's viviparous! Now, I guess I have to pot it up, eventually?

5. I noticed on 7/15/26 that the Biosteps filter was just drizzling. I figured the intake was clogged. I got in the pond after work. The intake was off. I had to unscrew four screws to open the face plate. There was just a little bit of the filter floss wrapped around the impeller. It was not a lot but it was enough that the water flowed like it should after I removed it.

6. I did pond chores on 7/19/26. At 12:43 pm, the air temperature was 81 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 79 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 75 degrees F. I changed the PondMaster filters. I squirted all the filter materials including pulling out the bags of bioballs and lava rock. They were so heavy with pond slop. I removed a mostly empty two gallon pot from the big pond. The fish had dug out most of the rocks and dirt that had been in there. I have no idea what plant was in there. You know, when I first started my pond, I wrote the identity of the plants on the pots so I would know. Guess what? After a week or two, you can't read anything because new pots become covered in algae and pond gunk. These days, when I pot something up, I'm using an old pot, covered in algae already.

7. I went to the fish store on 7/20/26 to get discus. The only other live thing I got was some American frogbit. I put that in the stream overflow.

8. At 1:24 pm on 7/26/26, the air temperature was 82 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 73 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 72 degrees F. I squirted out the Biosteps Matala and all the filter flosses. I put in water and additives.

I planned to spend an hour pulling Japanese stilt grass from around the pond but then a black wasp stung me. As I am typing this about 52 hours later, my leg is swollen, red, hot, and painful. That wasp venom is potent! It turns out there was a wasp nest inside the mouth of my male metal frog decoration! I have found nests in there a few times in the past when I put the doohickeys up in the fall but I didn't know there was an active nest. I must have bumped the frog will pulling grass. I will need to stuff the mouths of the male and female frog with something to prevent this from happening again.

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